May occur on February 7th for the Shuttle. Hard to imagine it will beat the one we saw last year, which most program veterans agreed was the most spectacular ever.
8 thoughts on “The Last Night Launch”
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May occur on February 7th for the Shuttle. Hard to imagine it will beat the one we saw last year, which most program veterans agreed was the most spectacular ever.
Comments are closed.
I can imagine one way it could be more spectacular, but I wouldn’t wish that to happen on anyone.
What are the chances this launch would get delayed for say 5-6 days? I will be down in Orlando from the 12-16th, and would *love* to catch a launch of any kind, but particularly a night launch.
The chances are non-zero, because it’s certainly not unheard of for launches (and particularly Shuttle launches) to be delayed, but as far as weather goes, right now the long-range forecast is looking pretty good, so either that would have to change, or there would have to be a technical issue develop. There are none right now, or they wouldn’t have set the date.
I’m going to FL watch the launch and I’m practically giddy, watching a shuttle launch has been a bucket list item for awhile….
KSC weather looks good, TAL sites individually look a bit iffy but they only need one of three to be “go”.
If they slip more than a few days they lose the range to an Atlas launch, so that’s one way a short weather slip can turn into a longer one.
(And of course, a subsequent mission could have a launch slip that moves the launch window to nighttime, so it’s far from guaranteed this will remain the last night launch even if there is no shuttle extension.)
I attended the Apollo 17 launch (the only night launch in the Apollo program) in December 1972. Although the take-off was at half-past midnight, and I was about 6 miles away, the light was so intense that as the Saturn cleared the tower, my camera setting was at f:11 and 1/250th of a second (high-speed Ectachrome film). I read the next day that the light of the launch was clearly visible in Miami. Possibly the most spectacular sight I have ever seen.
I’ll be there for the launch.
Night launches are always awesome. I watched a Titan IV launch from Vandenburg at a distance of 5 miles and it was the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen. I’ll bet a Shuttle night launch will be even better. Get as close as you can!
I got to see the Hubble launch, but from 12 miles away. Spectacular, not like a night launch and not liike one from 5 miles. Probably rattle the fillings out of your teeth. Enjoy.