Somewhere a few miles from the Kennedy Space Center. March 1988
We were in Orlando visiting Disney and heard there was to be a space shuttle launch. I am not sure if it was recommended we drive down toward Cape Canaveral to see it or we just decided on our own to do it. The drive was not that far and we laughed because much of it was through "Indian River" where at the time most of our citrus up north was coming from (especially grapefruit). We drove through endless groves of orange and grapefruit trees and finally broke out onto swampy land and a river that indicated we were getting near the coast and its barrier islands. A lot of others had the same idea and everyone drove as far as they could until hitting the government roadblock for the launch. People just pulled off the road and parked. We were still so far away!
There was a carnival atmosphere at the unofficial viewpoint - clearly other people had done this before. We stood on a bridge that put us just a few feet higher than the river and the endless marshes. Someone pointed in the distance to a small blip which was the launch pad. I am pretty sure we saw it through a stranger's binoculars to verify it. My heart sank. I thought this was the biggest waste of time for our short Florida vacation. People listened to their radios to be sure the launch was on time. No delays or cancellations - we heard the countdown over someone's radio. Then we saw a flare in the distance and the shuttle climbed on a plume of solid fire into the sky. It was impressive to be sure, but it was still extremely far away.
Then the shock wave hit.
Like an explosion that continued for several seconds it washed over us. The bridge SHOOK! The whole crowd erupted in applause. Brian and I stood there dumbfounded. What sheer power and energy!! We wondered what it would have been like to be in one of those viewing stands much closer to the launchpad. I was surprised those people weren't literally blown out of their seats!!
In the end, the experience was worth some of our limited time since we witnessed a small piece of history. In March 1988, we saw one of the space shuttles launch. It was never on my to-do list, but wow I was so glad we happened to be in Florida at that time. I must say it is in the top impressive displays of raw power I have witnessed in my life!
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