Ed Durden Review of Kennedy Space Center Visitor C...
I bought the Main Visitor Complex Launch Viewing ...
I bought the Main Visitor Complex Launch Viewing Package for the SpaceX launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station, an $80 package. The launch was postponed three times and went off on November 15, 2020. Viewing was from either the Atlantis South Lot or Sawtooth Lot. The ticket said launch viewing with minimal visual obstructions . The obstructions were the Atlantis building and a tree line around the fence. No one in either viewing sites observed lift-off. From where I was sitting, I was unable to pick up the rocket until it cleared a large tree, probably 10 degrees above the horizon then it was just a fireball. The view may have been better from the parking lot I probably would have picked up the rocket lower on the horizon.
I will drive down for another launch, but I will NOT view it from the Kennedy Space Center. I ll find a place in Titusville where I can see the launch facility on the horizon. I ll be further away, but I want to see lift-off.
I will commend the staff at the Kennedy Space Center for enforcing the masking rule, and everyone for the most part was observing social distancing in the viewing areas. The commentator explained several times that the video we were watching was time delayed, but it was the audience who sounded out the countdown. At zero, the sky lit up, and it took a couple of seconds for the rocket to clear the tree line from where I was sitting.
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