The Dutch Observatory

November 27, 2011 on 6:32 pm | In Mars, Planets | Comments Off

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.