[amsat-bb] Re: Discovery

[Jason White]

Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL wrote:
  > I saw one once in person.  The one thing that always surprises you 
is how
> fast  it climbs and is out of sight.  There was high cloud cover on the 
> launch I saw  and in only a few seconds it was already above the clouds.
> 
> KB7ADL


When I was young my dad took me up on a large nearby hilltop and we 
watched a shuttle launch streak across the sky like a bright unnatural 
meteor.. I was amazed.

Later, when I went to college in central FL, we were at the same 
latitude as the cape.. On my way to classes I'd occasionally see a 
launch and the exhaust plumes scattering in the wind and the shuttle 
streaking skyward and out of sight in a matter of seconds. We were close 
enough that you could hear it if the conditions were right, and when it 
would pass through a cloud at night there would be a temporary increase 
in brightness from the light..

However, it really was never nearly as impressive as when I saw it 
streak across the sky from that hill in New Hampshire.. it was all over 
much too quickly.

73,

Jason
N1XBP