The Dutch Observatory

Saturday morning I did not hear the alarm clock, but managed to get to the pickup site at the Space Coast Stadium at 5:45 a.m. I got on bus 10 out of 60 and we got to our viewing site at the Banana Creek viewing area next to the Apollo/Saturn building around 6:45. It was still relative dark and rain clouds were abundant. We received two short showers about 2 hours before the launch. The sunrise was very nice through the thick clouds. The count down clock (being about 37 minutes fast) was stopped at -2:00:00 and again at -4 minutes. NASA Administrator Bolden gave a speech and 2 minutes before launch the 3500 viewers at our location sang the National Anthem, which brought the emotions high. As the clock approached 0 you could hear a pin drop, but as the rocket did lift off, a roar released the silence as everyone kept their eyes on the Atlas 5 with Curiosity on top. The roar of the Atlas 5 with 4 solid rocket boosters was not as loud as with the space shuttle, but seeing the fire and smoke this close across the water and marshes made this launch unforgettable.  A perfect launch.  The very high humidity made it a bit murky to make pictures from our site, but I will never forget the emotions in me when Curiosity set of on its voyage to Mars. Click here for some pictures from the time leading up to the launch.

Well we left after the launch and the trip home on the Saturday after Thanks giving took us 10 hours! Almost two hours were spend to cover a 20 mile strip before the Florida Turnpike merges with I-75. But we made it.
The launch was spectacular and it was a real experience to see in person what happened accross the water and marshes 4.5 miles away. My son let me use his 200mm zoom lens for my camera, and leaning the camera on the railing of the bleachers of the viewing area, I just kept the shutter button pressed with the camera set on continuous shooting until the camera stopped. (Out of space or power). Here one of the cropped images.