Full Circle

View of shuttle launch from house

I spoke with Jen Friday and I could hear the excitement in her voice. They were on their way home from watching the final space shuttle launch. Just talking to her brought so many memories flooding back. The space shuttle program began shortly after we moved to Florida. That first launch was so exciting. I was stunned to realize we could see the vapor trail from our house 100 miles away. Jen was almost 5 years old, and from the beginning it was a family experience.

As exciting as the launch was, what I remember most of all was the landing. Astronauts had gone up in rockets before, but we had never tried to land a plane from outer space. I was so nervous I could barely watch. How in the world could they bring a plane back through the atmosphere? How in the world would they be able to bring it down on a landing strip? That was a far cry from dropping a capsule somewhere in the ocean. And most of all, how could they expect a pilot to land a glider, a plane that had no propulsion of its own, in such a precise spot? Well, it worked! After an interminable radio silence, the static broke and the commander spoke. Shortly afterward, the chase planes located the plane, the TV cameras zeroed in and we all watched as John Young brought the shuttle down.

(This video is 3 minutes long, but is great. Notice about 1:50 minutes you'll hear the twin sonic booms that always heralds its arrival, and the response from the crowd.)

I may have been nervous, but John Young was ecstatic. It was almost an hour before the shut down procedures were completed and he was allowed out of the plane. I've never forgotten the image of the pilot circling the plane, looking up at it almost in awe. Young walked all around it, looking up, pacing, and just staring at it. His actions mirrored my feelings. This article tells a little about how he felt. http://www.johnwyoung.org/sts1/sts1pg31.htm

Many years later I decided to go over to the east coast to watch the launch from the intercoastal waterway. Trying to watch a launch is always risky because you never know if it will get scrubbed due to weather or a technicality. We were lucky. Jen, Jan and I drove down to US 1 and parked the car. We walked up to the highway that ran along the intercoastal waterway. Across the water was the launch pad with the shuttle poised for takeoff. People had set up lawn chairs in the median of the highway and in parking lots. Lots more just stood around. We sat on the Jersey barriers between the water and the road. It went off without a hitch. Even though we had a clear view and it looks relatively close, we were probably at least 3 miles away; perhaps more. (As big as the shuttle looks, when it rises into the sky it is really just a glowing speck atop a fiery plume.)

But what happened next was the coolest part. We saw the flash of light, the flame, the plume of smoke. We saw the shuttle begin to rise. And THEN we heard it. What a lesson in the speed of light! The rumble was slow and distant, like thunder. The rumble became louder. You could actually feel the sound approach. The water was quiet at first and then small ripples formed. We watched as the shuttle lifted above us in the air. We saw the water begin to bounce. We heard the rumble get louder. We felt the rumble wash over us as the water bounced rapidly. The rumble rolled on behind us, the water quieted, the shuttle was disappearing into the clouds. It was an amazing example of sound waves.

I was fortunate enough to see 2 more live launches, one at night. As I spoke with Jen today the memory of that first launch and those live launches came flooding back. She had taken Nicholas, who is almost 4. Although he has seen the vapor trail, this was his first live launch. They lined up along the road, the launch pad bigger than life across the waterway. The final shuttle launch took place right on time. I wasn't there, but I know they saw it first, and then they heard it.

She was 5 when she saw the first one. He was almost 4 as he watched the last one. Full Circle. As they walked back to the car, Jen asked Nicholas what he liked best about seeing the shuttle launch. "Feeling it." he answered. How cool is that!