Originally Posted by
SASless
I regret not seeing one the Moon Flights launch or a Space Shuttle launch.....that would have been a real thrill!
I did get to see the 747 piggybacking the Shuttle fly by....which was pretty cool too!
Never got to see a Saturn V launch (the last Saturn V launched while I was still in high school), but my job in the early 1980's frequently had me visiting the Pratt facility outside Palm Beach Florida. As a result I was able to witness a couple Shuttle launches. About the closest you could get (without credentials of some sort) was across the Indian River from the cape - ~10 miles away from the shuttle launch pad. Drove up the night before, parked along the Indian River and slept in the car for the shortly after sunrise launch (yes, there was a large crowd).
It was impressive - we were able to see the Shuttle for about a minute before it disappeared above the high cloud deck - which corresponded almost exactly with the when the sound got to where we were. Even that far away, the sound was overwhelming and you could feel the pounding on your chest - in many ways the sound was more impressive than the sight.
Roughly ten years ago GE had a CF6 operators conference in Orlando that I attended. One afternoon, we adjourned early and GE bused us all to Kennedy Space Center - we toured the facility - and then had dinner literally sitting under the Saturn V
