About sharks…

#1. Do not wade out into canals.
#2. Do not hang a stringer of dead and dying fish from your belt.

Well, I was young and bulletproof.

The following morning, our picnic table was gone and there were about 2,000 more people than the night before. At time of launch, I headed back out to the canal and stood on one of the granite blocks that lined the bank. Apollo 11 was just visible above the distant trees. The base lit up and the plume was white and huge. The rocket moved and I felt the vibration shaking the granite. The ship rose and that was when I heard the ignition. The thunder, even at such a distance, drowned out all other sounds. Apollo rose, and my only thought was a repeat of the word “GO!” over and over in my head.

That ship was definitely built to go places.

It was a good vacation trip. When the Eagle landed, my Dad had it on the car radio as we cruised around Lion Country Safari.

Good times.

I grew up on Air Force Bases. I’ve had B-52′s fly over our quarters a thousand feet off the deck. You can feel it in your teeth. Can’t imagine what a launch is like.

I saw several Saturn V moon missions go up, from Tampa, about a hundred miles away, including the one Dan refers to, but all I could see was the rising star of the exhaust and a contrail.

I can see launches here in S Florida, even though the Cape is about a couple of hundred miles away, but they are very low in the north.

The most spectacular launch I’ve ever seen was from Vandenburg AFB, I was observing and had my telescope set up on Alpine Road, on the ridge between Palo Alto and the Pacific, between San Jose and San Francisco. I wasn’t expecting it, I am an amateur astronomer and I had set up my 8″ reflector there. It was probably a military launch, because there was nothing about it in the news. They launched north, and I watched what must have been a stage separation almost directly overhead. Of course, I didn’t get a chance to put my scope on it, but even as a naked eye event it was phenomenal, and very colorful.