LIFT OFF!

Video of the Launch of SpaceX Crew Dragon

Waiting in line at the Kennedy Space Center!

Thrusters

Saturn V Rocket ship, Largest rocket ever flown!

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     We made it our mission to go to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the historical lift off of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket carrying the Crew Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station!  It is the first time that NASA and private industry have collaborated together to design a spacecraft to fly astronauts into space with the eventual goal of allowing paying passengers to fly into space!  The lift-off was scheduled for 2:48 AM and we had the "golden ticket" to watch it safely and as close as legally possible from the same launch pad as was used for the shuttles that went to the moon decades earlier.
     To lead up to the lift-off,  Karl and I left the boat at 10:00 pm and drove our rental car to the Space Center and waited in line for an hour and a half, along with about 2000 other people who had the "golden ticket," too!  We were then transported on buses to gather in a building, the Apollo/Saturn V Center, about 4 miles from the launch site.  There were several exhibits to see and food and drinks were provided.  I had wondered what we could possibly do for almost 5 hours prior to the launch time!  We got to see the original control center for the first lunar landing, a land rover, moon rocks and the Saturn V rocket and watched some films of prior lift-offs to the moon.
 

Rover

  When it was close to the scheduled time, we gathered on bleachers or lawn chairs that people had lugged around for hours!  People got their cameras, binoculars and tri-pods ready!  There was a big TV screen that gave us up to the minute news on the lift off.

     Finally the lights went off, the count down began and everyone got eerily quiet.  Then we saw the explosion erupt and heard  the incredible loud booming and the clouds of smoke swirling.  Karl grabbed my hand and we just watched in awe!  Forgotten was the camera, we just used all our senses to take it in, the sky lit up and the noise was felt in our bones!  What an incredible sight! People around us started cheering and clapping! It was then that I was happy and thankful we made this effort to watch it up close!

The sky lit up!

   We watched the rocket streak across the sky for several minutes and then it disappeared for an instant when the Crew Dragon capsule disengaged, the first stage completed. Apparently, they turn off the engine thrusts to slow it down, but then in an instant we saw the orange ball again speeding through space!  We learned that the first stage landed back safely on a Florida ship and the Crew Dragon was on it's way to the Space Station to carry supplies.  It did not have an astronaut this time, but a dummy called Ripley (named after Sigourny Weaver's character on the Alien movie) was on board, mimicking what a real person would endure.  That is the goal of this mission: to get astronauts back into space from American soil!
     We boarded the buses, people all seemed quite excited, but were soon tired and ready to call it a night! We made it home safely and climbed into bed around 4:00 AM.  Our mission completed!