Glad the launch went well. Best wishes to Artemis for the rest of the mission. I agree with the 'America at its best' comment.
I too watched a night Shuttle launch from a hotel in Orlando - lift off on TV, then watching the fiery exhaust trail through the window. Fantastic!
I'm old enough to remember as a kid watching Sputnik 1's booster as it overflew the UK. What a surprise! At school the booklet accompanying the BBC Science for Schools radio broadcasts featured on its cover a photo of a satellite from the USA's Project Vanguard. The assumption was that this would be the first satellite to be launched into orbit. But the Soviets beat them to it!
On the night of the Apollo 11 moon landing I was watching the live feed on the TV in a pub in Shaftesbury (England). I heard 'contact light' and so was first person there to realise that the landing was successful before it was announced by the commentators. What a moment! On the 50th anniversary the
Times UK newspaper published this diagram summarising the mission.