I'm trying to gather my thoughts and emotions on this incredible and historic day. About two hours ago, STS-135 rocketed from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. It has taken me about that long to almost feel I could begin to articulate my feelings and thoughts. Seeing the shuttle launch was a 30 year dream for me. Ever since those first test flights of Enterprise and then STS-1 in 1981, I have always hoped I could find a way to see a launch. Despite traveling to Florida a handful of times, I was never able to time the trip when a launch was scheduled. About ten years ago, I discovered NASATV over the Internet, and despite a lack of coverage on television, I was able to follow several of the missions and watched many launches and landings over the years. About a year and a half ago, I even got up at three in the morning to watch the shuttle fly over New York's eastern sky on launch. Then of course sharing the final missions of Discovery and Endeavour from launch to landing with my students. Not bad, I'd say. Hadn't I fully experienced it?
Well, old dreams die hard. With one last chance to see a shuttle launch in person, I began to feel that itch again to travel to Florida to see it. It wasn't so much that this was the final shuttle launch, but my last chance to see it in person. If you've been following me on this blog or on twitter, you know that I put my name into the lottery for the NASATweetup and the chance to be a special guest of NASA for the launch. When I (along with more than 5000 other "Tweeps") weren't among the lucky 150, I couldn't imagine how I could get there. With a lot of encouragement and family support, I found tickets and arranged transportation not only for me, but the whole family!
I was about to embark on something I had thought would never happen!
I can't believe I finally witnessed it in person!
I can't believe I got to share it with my family!
Had I fully experienced a shuttle launch? Definitively, No. I still find it difficult to find the words, but there is something in witnessing a launch in person that simply does not get felt watching on video. I have been deeply moved and felt such excitement watching launch videos, but this was a completely different level.
The hours preceding the launch were full of excitement and nervousness. It is a strange mix of emotion. On the one hand, you want desperately for the launch to go. I had invested a lot of time, energy and money to be here. At the same time, one never wants another shuttle crew to be unnecessarily put at risk due to weather constraints at launch. So we held our breath with the 30% chance of launch as we watched the weather conditions change every 15 - 30 minutes from red "no go" to green "go" and back to red "no go." I followed the updates of the changing conditions through Twitter, trying to remain optimistic, but also seeing the dense cloud cover surrounding the skies over Cape Canaveral. We even witnessed a couple of flyovers by Astronaut. Rick Sturchow as he flew the "shuttle training aircraft" through the clouds to get first hand observations of the conditions the shuttle would have to fly through.
We came up to the 9 minute hold and then the clock resumed. Were we really gong to launch? Conditions continued to go back and forth and the 70% "no-go" for weather held. Then the 2 minute hold... and the clock resumed. We are going to launch! And then at T-31 seconds, the clock stopped! The entire crowd stopped, held their breath in total confusion. Did the clock really just stop? What was wrong? A collective "oh no!" We strained to hear the calls between launch directors and technicians at the Launch Control Center. Then we heard launch director Mike Leinbach's voice say, "resume the count on your mark." and the emotional, choked voice of the woman with countdown, "T-31 on my mark, 3, 2, 1. T-30, and counting..." and the crowd erupted in cheers and applause.
We watched the main engines ignite on the jumbotron television, then at zero the solid rocket boosters light. That's the point of no return. Atlantis was going! In a few seconds a bright yellow-white fireball erupted from the tree line as Atlantis climbed skyward. We followed Atlantis and the flames of the SRBs as she left a trail of grey and white hanging behind her. Then she disappeared in the clouds and the reappeared just before going supersonic and then she was gone in the clouds. But wait, the sound! We were 6 miles away, so it takes a while for the sound to reach you. It begins as an inaudible pressure wave that you feel in your entire body. Then the chest begins to rumble, and finally the thunderous roar begins to reach your ears as it rolls to you. And it keeps coming, and coming, and then, slowly, begins to fade. We watched on the screen as the SRBs finished their burn and then separated. We watched as the external tank continued fuel the main engines, then MECO (main engine cutoff) with the liquid fuel in the orange tank was finally consumed. Cheers, tears, hugs, smiles. There is nothing like being there. Experiencing it with ALL your senses! As the crowd started to quiet again and people began to disperse, we watched to giant column of exhaust widen and drift, and then get pulled into a zig-zag pattern with the wind shear aloft. The plume hung in the air for more than a half an hour after launch, reminding us all that yes, we really did just see Atlantis escape Earth's gravity and rocket into space! I learned on twitter that those at the NASATweetup cold smell the rocket fuel in the air about a half an hour after the launch! ALL your senses!
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