Space Shuttle Endeavour

Heavens, (!) does this make me wish I'd been a better student. Spent the day at Kennedy Space Center.

With better tickets, one can take a bus to the open causeway where the view includes the launchpad. I was grateful for the cheapos, it was about 99 degrees and we could at least take refuge in air conditioning.

The sound! Not so much thunderous as anticipated, but rather the loudest of crackling and snapping. A KSC spokesman told us that anyone hanging around within 800 feet of the launch would be killed by the sound waves. And the nearby fauna?

Photoshopped.

That tiny white speck in the middle lower third is the shuttle, probably over Africa as it reaches speeds of over 17,000 MPH within a minute or two. A comment heard on TV regarding the incidence of drinking amongst astronauts: they're basically taking off on a giant stick of dynamite. That would make me ponder a glass or two of merlot...