Spectacular launch tonight.

[jujube]

Beautiful launch tonight of the Falcon Heavy rocket from Canaveral. It was at sunset, so the sun caught the launch perfectly with the glowing exhaust trail and the slight "jellyfish effect", as they call it.

What was even better was watching the boosters drop through the sky, firing their stabilizing rockets, to land perfectly on the pads at the space center.

This *never* gets old.

 

[Alligatorob]

I miss getting to see the launches. I grew up in Dunedin, directly across the state from the Cape. Even at that distance we could see the big ones. Got to see a few closer. We could also sometime see launches from Eglin AFB, not into space but still big missiles.

 

[RadishRose]

Beautiful launch tonight of the Falcon Heavy rocket from Canaveral. It was at sunset, so the sun caught the launch perfectly with the glowing exhaust trail and the slight "jellyfish effect", as they call it.

What was even better was watching the boosters drop through the sky, firing their stabilizing rockets, to land perfectly on the pads at the space center.

This *never* gets old.

Dang, I missed it!

 

[hollydolly]

 

[Pappy]

From my driveway tonight. Two little dots are boosters returning to earth.

 

[RadishRose]

 

[Been There]

Beautiful launch tonight of the Falcon Heavy rocket from Canaveral. It was at sunset, so the sun caught the launch perfectly with the glowing exhaust trail and the slight "jellyfish effect", as they call it.

What was even better was watching the boosters drop through the sky, firing their stabilizing rockets, to land perfectly on the pads at the space center.

This *never* gets old.

The technical term is "Contrail" which is short for Condensation Trail. The hot air from the engines hits the cold air in the atmosphere and this is what produces the contrails. Same as with an airplane that gets somewhere above 20-25,000 feet. The temperature at 25,000 feet is around -25-30° below 0°.

I would definitely like to take a ride in one of the manned rockets and see the world from about 75 -100 miles straight up should about do it. I can't even imagine what the thrust would feel like, but I would like to find out.

I applied for the astronaut program back in 1989, but was rejected because I have a natural heart murmur, meaning that I was born with it. I never made it past the physical. Talk about disappointment. There are several steps to becoming an astronaut. I had a masters in the STEM program, but then came the physical and with the snap of a finger, my hopes were gone.

 

[1955]

I would love to see a launch. As an American company I think SpaceX has out done NASA and the world in rocket technology. I can hardly wait to see Starship get off the ground - maybe this year!

 

[Paladin1950]

My family lived in Florida during several of the early launches, but we lived too far away to see them in person.

 

[oldaunt]

Never got to see a launch except the moon rocket on tv. Had to settle for working on the Apollo Project in the 60's.