Traveling up the East Coast of Florida, we have had the opportunity to view 6 different launches!
Pictures above are in order of when we saw them. We have an App called Space Coast Launches. Anyone can download this and watch the launch via the app. You can hear announcers commentating on the launch, the individual team members giving the go ahead, and the Launch Director giving the Final :go: or :no go: decision. The Launch Dates we saw ranged from, (March 19 – Fort Pierce), (March 31 – Daytime and nighttime – Titusville), (April 5 – Coquina Marina, Daytona Beach), (April 24 – Port 32, Jacksonville). And one we just watched – no pictures. The last picture above is a screenshot of the map depicting the furthest area we spotted a launch from which was the Jacksonville area. You can spot Cape Canaveral on the map as well.
We also toured the Kennedy Space Center when we were in Titusville. The first two pictures shown below are of the Vehicle Assembly Building/VAB. It was designed to assemble large space vehicle components for the Saturn V Program, the Space Shuttle, and the Space Launch System. It is the largest single-story building in the world as it has no other floors or levels. Most of the launches were on Space X Falcon 9’s for Starlink . We did see the launch that the 4 astronauts went into space to orbit the Poles. It was a nighttime launch and we were in Titusville. We listened to the commentary, saw the horizon lite up, and the rocket go up. We also saw the rocket booster returning to the earth! The last launch we saw was for the Amazon’s competition with Starlink, Project Kuiper. Viewing these launches has actually been quite thrilling for both Pete and me. When he went to school in Daytona, he could see the launches from there but they weren’t as frequent as they are today. What adventures we have had!
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