In 2011, I had two opportunities to travel to Jacksonville, Fl to train agents at the site down there. The first trip was a 5 week last minute trip in March. The second one was a shorter 3 week trip at the end of June and beginning of July. It was only shorter because I already had vacation planned. The first trip I trained my normal day hours while the second trip, I had to endure training 4:00pm-12:30. This is not the ideal schedule for someone who is in bed by 9-9:30 every night. I had to learn to adjust but it did also gave me a wonderful opportunity to see the last shuttle launch.
One night early in the second trip, while taking to the hubs, he asked if there was going to be a shuttle launch while I was down there. He asked me the same thing the first trip and at that time there was not. After checking the NASA website, I discovered the shuttle Atlantis was scheduled for launch on Friday, July 8 at approximately 11:25 AM. This was to be the last shuttle launch by NASA ever. It also fit into my schedule as I was working nights. I was excited to drive down to see the last shuttle to lift off. This would be my second attempt to see a shuttle launch as the time on a high school band trip that we planned on to see a launch it was cancelled. Hopefully this time would be successful.
The week leading up to the launch, NASA was not 100% sure that it would even lift off that morning due to the weather. It may be too windy. I set my alarm for 7 AM and checked the NASA app I downloaded to my blackberry. There was 55% chance of a shuttle launch. Do I go back to sleep and risk missing the launch or do I travel the 1.5 hours to Titusville where I was planning on watching the launch and risk the launch being scrubbed? I decided to tempt fate and head to Titusville.
Good thing I did. Atlantis lifted off at 11:29 that morning and I was there to witness it. It is one thing to count down to 0 from your living room. It is an amazing experience to stand with a bunch of strangers, some who by the looks of things camped overnight, and count down to 0. The noise, even from where I was, was incredible. I can not find the words to describe the experience. My only regrets: not getting a t-shirt to say I was there and having a better camera or even a video camera to capture the experience.
The Atlantis lifting off
All there remains is the smoke tail.
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