Just Another Day In Spaceport Florida

[Bloozcat]

As I was driving north to work yesterday morning along the beautiful Indian River Lagoon, something suddenly appeared out of the low clouds in the sky. It was a shiny object that glistened in the sun. Trailing it was a bright white flame and a dense bluish-green plume of smoke. As it raced along it's arc to the east, I quickly realized that it was a rocket leaving Cape Canaveral for space.

Turns out, it was the deep space probe DAWN that NASA launched towards the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It's supposed to travel over 3 billion miles before it's through, and do some detailed analysis of a couple of known asteroids in the belt.

As I was looking skyward with a big grin on my face, I noticed that no one else was even acknowledging what was happening. They were just driving along, completely wrapped up in their little worlds.

It's a shame when something as remarkable as this occurs right in our own back yard and hardly anyone notices. Such is life when these things happen on a regular basis, I guess. But I for one, will always be amazed when I see a launch. Maybe it's just the adventurer hidden away deep inside me that can't help but be excited and elated at such a marvel. And maybe it's just the kid in me that has always loved the whole idea of space travel. Either way, it was a sight to behold.

[Tim]

From what I read about the event it was launched from Cape Canaveral. These are normally military sponsored launches. They are not advertised as much as launches from Kennedy Space Center. You seem to know more of the mission than I read from the internet or heard on TV.

Now tell us what you really experienced the very second you saw the speeding metal object ascending above the thick low lying clouds???? How fast was your heart beating?

[warren0728]

i also watched the launch...justhave to walk out my front door and looked up and there were a couple of other parents outside with their kids (it was time to get our kids to school) and i mentioned it a couple of times and some of them didn't even bother to look up....amazing....

ww

[Spudman]

Crud. It looks like they left without me again.:messedup:

I wish we got rocket launches around here. All we have is UFOs.

[Robert]

Yeah maybe we could get a gig between Mars and Jupiter, Spud? I'd come along - I could play bass and let you do the shredding.

Not too many UFO's Up here in Canada - all we have is the Sasquatch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot).

[duhvoodooman]

I wish we got rocket launches around here. All we have is UFOs.
Tone can help you with those. He's TheFret.Net's very own "man in black"! We should call him "T" from now on.... :D

[Tim]

Don't you all know that Sasquatch is an alien that was caught sometime ago and then he was tared and feathered. He finally broke free and hid in the "outback" of Canada. You now see the results of his torturers.

[Tone2TheBone]

As I was driving north to work yesterday morning along the beautiful Indian River Lagoon, something suddenly appeared out of the low clouds in the sky. It was a shiny object that glistened in the sun. Trailing it was a bright white flame and a dense bluish-green plume of smoke. As it raced along it's arc to the east, I quickly realized that it was a rocket leaving Cape Canaveral for space.

Turns out, it was the deep space probe DAWN that NASA launched towards the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It's supposed to travel over 3 billion miles before it's through, and do some detailed analysis of a couple of known asteroids in the belt.

As I was looking skyward with a big grin on my face, I noticed that no one else was even acknowledging what was happening. They were just driving along, completely wrapped up in their little worlds.

It's a shame when something as remarkable as this occurs right in our own back yard and hardly anyone notices. Such is life when these things happen on a regular basis, I guess. But I for one, will always be amazed when I see a launch. Maybe it's just the adventurer hidden away deep inside me that can't help but be excited and elated at such a marvel. And maybe it's just the kid in me that has always loved the whole idea of space travel. Either way, it was a sight to behold.

That's because most people are on autopilot and are not as romantic as us. Some people just don't snap.

I love space threads. :Dude:

[sunvalleylaw]

The space program captivated me as a 6 and 7 year old and will always seem amazing to me. As I was growing up, books such as Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" and songs like "Rocket Man", and "Major Tom" just would put me in a different place. Interestingly, this launch gives me more of a charge than a shuttle launch that necessarily will stay closer to Earth. That is really cool you guys got to see it.

[SuperSwede]

Crud. It looks like they left without me again.:messedup:


Dang.. well, we can always hope that they bring back more people like you.

[Bloozcat]

OK, I'm ready for blast off. I picked up my 2007 Star Trek Christmas tree ornament last night. Enterprise NCC 1701 D with three nacelles...should do warp 10 easily....:D

[Algonquin]

Atta Boy!...

I'm sure your family will treasure it for 'Generations'.

:beer:

[helliott]

Cool story. I'm jealous, again. Reminds me of the night in Fort McMurray Alberta years ago when my wife was driving home and saw a meteorite cross the treetops just down the road. Gave her a scare, and I missed it, of course.
Seriously, who'd go if they had the chance? I would. Have to check it out with the spousal unit, but I'd be up for the trip, as long as I could take my Strat and Mesa aboard.

[luvmyshiner]

Very cool Bloozcat. I read that DAWN has three ion propulsion engines. TIE fighters only have two.:D

[Bloozcat]

Very cool Bloozcat. I read that DAWN has three ion propulsion engines. TIE fighters only have two.:D

Yeah, and I wish George Lucas would explain how the ion propulsion system in the TIE fighter was able to achieve the acceleration it did...

The three ION propulsion engines in DAWN are each the size of a basketball. With the three together, it will take DAWN 4 days to go from 0-60 MPH. Not exactly fast enough to evade an X-Wing fighter, let alone come close to anything approaching warp speed.

But for a long, deep space mission, DAWN's engines are remarkably well suited. While at the end of 12 days it'll still only be going 180 MPH, after a year it'll be going 5,500 MPH, and reach a terminal velocity of 23,000 MPH after 5 years.

Pretty cool, but still not fast enough to outrun a Borg cube should they encounter one...;)

"Atta Boy!...

I'm sure your family will treasure it for 'Generations'."

Well Algonquin, being the life long Star Trek fan that I am, I have every years ornament since they first came out. That is, except the Deep Space Nine station that came out a few years ago. It wasn't an ornament at all. It was a goofy stand alone piece that hung from a hook/stand. It was the only ornament in the series so far that failed to sell out the year it was introduced. Apparently, a lot of people thought it was goofy.
So my Christmas tree has a definite theme to it, you might say...:D