Eye candy

[AstroBrant]

Thanks for the pictures.
I went on a tour there last winter. They said the tour was going to discontinue visits to the VAB, so I got there just in time. The Apollo/Saturn V museum was great. I must have spent the better part of an hour just gawking at that Saturn V and taking pictures of it. I just kept thinking, "What audacity! What brilliance!"
I got to see a launch, too.

Hopefully I'll be able to go back this winter.

[PetersCreek]

Here's the obligatory "scale" picture of the VAB, with some guys just stepping out...

I'm a bit late in responding to this but...I visited KSC as a teen in '76 and what really drove the scale home for me, was seeing very small humans at work, painting the bicentennial emblem on the VAB.  Saying that they were dwarfed by it just doesn't cover it.

[ka9q]

I got to see a launch, too.

Which one?

Seeing a launch can be a real hit-or-miss affair, with very short launch windows for many missions and lots of scrubs. You often have to be willing to wait around a while.

[AstroBrant]

I got to see a launch, too.

Which one?

Seeing a launch can be a real hit-or-miss affair, with very short launch windows for many missions and lots of scrubs. You often have to be willing to wait around a while.

It was an Atlas 5 with the TDRS-L relay satellite. Jan. 23, 2014. This wasn't part of the regular day tour that I went on. It was a night launch. Still, maybe a couple thousand people were there in the grandstands.

[Bryanpoprobson]

It was an Atlas 5 with the TDRS-L relay satellite. Jan. 23, 2014. This wasn't part of the regular day tour that I went on. It was a night launch. Still, maybe a couple thousand people were there in the grandstands.

I was lucky enough to see a launch in 1985, this is where AwE has his little NASA VIP jibes at me. As a partner in Intelsat, BT (who I worked for) were given two invitations to the Cape, to see an Intelsat launch. I was lucky enough to get one, this was all paid for by Intelsat. When we got to the cape we were given a VIP tour. When I spoke about this on a thread, Adrian's said, "Well, what vetting procedure was used by NASA to access high security payloads for shuttle launches?" What?

1:- I had no access to the payload and it was an Atlas launch not a shuttle
2:- NASA were Intelsats "PAID," contractor to launch OUR payload.
3:- You could PAY for a VIP tour at the time, I don't know if that is still the case.

I can always tell when I am getting under Adrian's skin in an argument, he starts referring to me as MR NASA VIP! He does it without fail.

[ka9q]

I've see two launches from the Cape, both shuttles. One was STS-9, which I saw from the press site, and the other designation I don't remember. I had been in Tampa FL for a conference, and I knew that a shuttle launch was scheduled just after my plane left for Chicago, but given how shuttle launches are often scrubbed I didn't really expect to see anything. Or if I did I'd be too far away to see much.

But I got a window on the right side of the plane anyway and watched. And right on cue, there it was rising above the clouds. It looked a lot closer than it really was. I soon had the entire plane looking out the right side.

(This reminds me of an old EE joke, but it's too esoteric for this forum.)

Living in San Diego I've seen quite a few launches from Vandenberg AFB, as the usual sun-synchronous launch trajectory takes them right down the coast past us. I don't usually see much on a mid-day launch, but at night I will typically pick up a Delta II as its ground-lit solids are burning out, so unless it also carries air-lit solids I may have trouble spotting it. Staging occurs just as it's passing us.

The best launches, by far, are those at twilight. Sadly, those are very rare. I vividly remember an MX test right at sunset. It was especially spectacular because all stages were solid fueled and produce smoky plumes even in space.

Second best are those in the early morning with the sun behind me glinting off the launch vehicle. On one Titan II launch I could easily see the three pieces of the payload fairing after it was jettisoned. This surprised me as I thought all payload fairings were in two pieces.

[Zakalwe]

i was lucky enough to see a Delta launch in 2009. I had visited the KSC and toured the old launch pads. I remember the feeling a certain level of despair when standing under the launchpad where Grissom, White and Chaffee lost their lives whilst in the distance the Delta was being prepped. In the 40 years since Apollo broke the bonds of Earth's gravity we have decided to only play on the porch that is LEO.
I had a sad. 

[gwiz]

I've seen two launches, Apollo 17, which was a really impressive night launch, and a Scout launch from the West Coast.  On both occasions I was with a group from the British Interplanetary Society.

[ka9q]

Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)

[ChrLz]

Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)

No, we all already know it..  but go on, post it - I'm sure a newbie will be along soon..

[Echnaton]

Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)

That's because nobody like jokes about current events.

[Echnaton]

Is saw a shuttle launch from Disney World, because I couldn't persuade my friends to spend a day of spring break hanging out at the KSC.  The most amazing part was that I got a rental car at the Orlando Airport that day.

[ka9q]

Gee, nobody's going to ask me about the obscure EE joke? ;-)

That's because nobody like jokes about current events.

Hah. Good one.

Okay, here goes. A team is investigating the crash of a charter airplane carrying a group of Polish tourists on a sightseeing trip over western Europe. (No, this is not actually a Polish joke, but the nationality is still important to the joke. Just read on...)

They play back the voice and flight data recorders. It went like this:

"And if you look out the left side, you'll see the Eiffel Tower".
As the passengers all move to the side, the flight data recorder indicates a little rolling motion but it soon damps out.
"Now to your left you will see the English Channel, and beyond that, the White Cliffs of Dover".
Again, the plane rolls a little but quickly stabilizes.
"Now look to the right and you'll see the city of Berlin"
This time the plane rolls violently and goes out of control.

One investigator says "Ah ha, I know exactly what happened. You can't have all your poles on the right side of the plane!"

Now how many people got that?
 

[Echnaton]

I had a problem within the software on that one?

[ka9q]

Not exactly. The joke predates computers (i.e., it's really old).