Watching a Rocket Launch
Discussion
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/upcoming.htm...
Anyway along the seafront will get a good view.
https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/
If you check a month before you go, you should have a good idea what to expect.
They're fairly fickle beasts though, so allow some leeway to cover weather or technical delays.
You're not going to see a NASA flight of their big SLS rocket. The next one is not launching until September 2025.
You might see a Vulcan or more likely an Atlas V launch from Florida (they operate from the same pad), they have several due this year. Probably on a monthly basis.
Luckily, you have an extremely good chance of seeing a SpaceX launch. They've done 5 so far this year alone; 3 of which were from Florida. In fact they have another one from Florida tonight; The Ax-3 Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station.
If you do the bus tour from the NASA Visitor Center, it'll take you out to the Saturn V building past the Vertical Assembly Building, down the crawlerway and past SpaceX's hanger at Pad 39a.
If you check a month before you go, you should have a good idea what to expect.
They're fairly fickle beasts though, so allow some leeway to cover weather or technical delays.
You're not going to see a NASA flight of their big SLS rocket. The next one is not launching until September 2025.
You might see a Vulcan or more likely an Atlas V launch from Florida (they operate from the same pad), they have several due this year. Probably on a monthly basis.
Luckily, you have an extremely good chance of seeing a SpaceX launch. They've done 5 so far this year alone; 3 of which were from Florida. In fact they have another one from Florida tonight; The Ax-3 Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station.
If you do the bus tour from the NASA Visitor Center, it'll take you out to the Saturn V building past the Vertical Assembly Building, down the crawlerway and past SpaceX's hanger at Pad 39a.
I saw a shuttle launch many years ago, I think it was STS-101 from memory?!?!
You can book a ticket (which we did) to get into the space centre to watch the launch from a designated viewing area. Now STS-101 was a morning launch, so we had to be there somewhere in the region of 4am, you had a breakfast included and few little bits of memorabilia for this specific launch, you were then ferried off on coaches to effectively a grass verge by the side of a lake and in the distance you could just see the tower(s) above the tree line. What was disappointing was the closest joe public could get was something like 7 miles from the launch pad, so it was a long LONG way away, and given the distance there was an seemingly immense lag between seeing the rocket boosters flames to actually hearing the noise (which was deafening as I recall).
It was expensive, maybe 20-30 dollars but you're talking 20+ years ago now.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-101/
You can book a ticket (which we did) to get into the space centre to watch the launch from a designated viewing area. Now STS-101 was a morning launch, so we had to be there somewhere in the region of 4am, you had a breakfast included and few little bits of memorabilia for this specific launch, you were then ferried off on coaches to effectively a grass verge by the side of a lake and in the distance you could just see the tower(s) above the tree line. What was disappointing was the closest joe public could get was something like 7 miles from the launch pad, so it was a long LONG way away, and given the distance there was an seemingly immense lag between seeing the rocket boosters flames to actually hearing the noise (which was deafening as I recall).
It was expensive, maybe 20-30 dollars but you're talking 20+ years ago now.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-101/
+1 for the above, exhilarating watching a launch and you feel the ground shaking. Yes you are far away from launch pad but that is for safety reasons, you do not want to be closer if there is an explosion.
Don’t think you will be able to park on smaller roads in area, we got moved, in no uncertain terms, by a giant of a policeman armed to the teeth, we did not argue
Trip around the launch site is worth it although some of the displays when we saw them were out of date.
I hired a Cessna 172 and flew down the main runway (at 500 feet) god, it is a long runway, could have landed across it! Don’t know if you can do that now this was before 911
Don’t think you will be able to park on smaller roads in area, we got moved, in no uncertain terms, by a giant of a policeman armed to the teeth, we did not argue
Trip around the launch site is worth it although some of the displays when we saw them were out of date.
I hired a Cessna 172 and flew down the main runway (at 500 feet) god, it is a long runway, could have landed across it! Don’t know if you can do that now this was before 911
You might even catch one (or two) landing as well.
Mercdriver said:
I hired a Cessna 172 and flew down the main runway (at 500 feet) god, it is a long runway, could have landed across it! Don’t know if you can do that now this was before 911
It's a big one. The alligator sunning facility is "15,000 feet long and 300 feet wide, with paved overruns on each end" according to wikipedia.I saw a shuttle night time launch back in the early 90's. This was from the top of the fin of HMS Couageous when we were parked at Coco beach.
Booked a trip to watch the launch back in 2009 from the space centre whist on holiday in Florida. But it kept being scrubbed and I had to fly home before the launch, not good!!
Booked a trip to watch the launch back in 2009 from the space centre whist on holiday in Florida. But it kept being scrubbed and I had to fly home before the launch, not good!!
One thing as well - a night launch is even more frickin epic...
If you do get to see one of those, wait. As it passes through the ionosphere (iirc), you get the 'space jellyfish', which is really cool.
I've been fortunate enough to see a fair number of launches over the past couple of years, near and far, day and night.
They are all very emotionally powerful events.
If you do get to see one of those, wait. As it passes through the ionosphere (iirc), you get the 'space jellyfish', which is really cool.
I've been fortunate enough to see a fair number of launches over the past couple of years, near and far, day and night.
They are all very emotionally powerful events.
Just got back from Florida so some up to date info:
Got lucky. Very lucky. two launches three hours apart last Wednesday. Watched the first one from Titusville bridge. It was good you do get to see the initial explosion. It’s quite a way away though, so it’s not earsplitting it doesn’t make the ground tremor.
However, straight after the launch, a load of people came back over the bridge. My assumption is that they weren’t all just pouring out of Canaveral that, despite the advice you might read, they had been parked on the island somewhere rather closer than we were. PlayaLinda is supposed to be shut after six but I’m guessing they were in that direction somewhere.
We had dinner and moved around to jetty Park for the second launch. This was also shut, but there is a beach nearby you can access easily. You don’t quite see the initial explosion as clearly but the rocket then comes pretty much straight over your head, which is fantastic.
By the way, despite the two launches, there was no problem with traffic at all in either direction even in rush-hour. We couldn’t clearly see reentry, but I guess it might be possible with good binoculars.
We spoke to people that had paid the $75 for the official NASA viewing from Kennedy. This is the only way guaranteed to get much closer for a night launch. I’m sure it was worth it but they were treated like cattle for 2 1/2 hours and told exactly where to stand which might have been a bit wearing.
Anyway, to stress as others have said the key is to stay flexible on accommodation anywhere Orlando or Daytona is really not very far away. The Kennedy museum is fantastic. Even to a layman. The two day pass is well worth considering.
Got lucky. Very lucky. two launches three hours apart last Wednesday. Watched the first one from Titusville bridge. It was good you do get to see the initial explosion. It’s quite a way away though, so it’s not earsplitting it doesn’t make the ground tremor.
However, straight after the launch, a load of people came back over the bridge. My assumption is that they weren’t all just pouring out of Canaveral that, despite the advice you might read, they had been parked on the island somewhere rather closer than we were. PlayaLinda is supposed to be shut after six but I’m guessing they were in that direction somewhere.
We had dinner and moved around to jetty Park for the second launch. This was also shut, but there is a beach nearby you can access easily. You don’t quite see the initial explosion as clearly but the rocket then comes pretty much straight over your head, which is fantastic.
By the way, despite the two launches, there was no problem with traffic at all in either direction even in rush-hour. We couldn’t clearly see reentry, but I guess it might be possible with good binoculars.
We spoke to people that had paid the $75 for the official NASA viewing from Kennedy. This is the only way guaranteed to get much closer for a night launch. I’m sure it was worth it but they were treated like cattle for 2 1/2 hours and told exactly where to stand which might have been a bit wearing.
Anyway, to stress as others have said the key is to stay flexible on accommodation anywhere Orlando or Daytona is really not very far away. The Kennedy museum is fantastic. Even to a layman. The two day pass is well worth considering.
- Strictly speaking, my advice is for pad 39a I don’t know how much difference the viewing spots really make for different pads
Edited by milesgiles on Friday 7th March 18:55
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