We woke to a beautiful blue sky and knew that it was going to be literally a blast at the beach.
First task of the day was my visit to the dentist across the street for my post surgery check up and then I returned home to prepare the picnic for our big day in New Smyrna Beach. With a full picnic basket and a well stocked cooler, Denis and I headed for the beach to view the last launch of Discovery! We left the RV around 11:30 to make certain we had a good spot to view the launch.
We spend the day in gorgeous sunshine, no cloud in the sky and a westerly wind blowing which kept the heat down to a reasonable 80 degrees! Keisha was finally able to run on the beach to heart’s content and enjoy running into the water! We watched many boats head around the point to the open Atlantic sea where they would wait like us for the launch. At 4:48 Denis and I stood ready with camera and binoculars and nothing happened. I said to Denis what happens if it’s a no go!! How will we know? We don’t have a radio. But before he could answer the question there it was, a huge fireball in the sky. As you can see from the pictures it was big considering we were about 25 miles from the launch pad.
We saw the external fuel tanks fall from Discovery, and at that moment I thought of Challenger almost 25 years ago. I thought of the people watching from beaches, boats, piers, backyards and balconies like we were today, what most believed would be a normal launch only to see the horror of the Challenger exploding before their eyes.
With the sun setting behind us we looked into a dark blue sky to see this shuttle head into space for the last time. There are two more missions, one in April and another in June. We will be home in Canada but as I watch I will think about our day and our experience.
This is another life experience to scratch off the bucket list. Enjoy the pictures.
When I heard on the radio that the Shuttle had launched I was so happy. I'm so glad you were able to experience it!
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