I had just turned 14 in June and was already flying sailplanes, so dad decided as a slightly belated gift, to fly my late cousin, mom, and I down for the launch in his plane.
Titusville's airport was te busiest in the U.S. on that day (no surprise), and the rows of corporate jets was a sight in itself.
We sat in the terminal with a lot of other folks on that hot July morning, watching the TV coverage, as the countdown timer hit around T-4 mins we went outside approx 7 miles from the launch vehicle. The com between controllers and spacecraft was on the PA system, and as the launch teams ran down the go/no go list you felt like the tension could be cut with a knife.
365 feet of pure white and black on a beautifull, bright sun lit launch pad, packing 7 million pounds of fuel, the count reached T-10 seconds and the sequence began. All engines running after about 3 seconds and in 7 more seconds full power and liftoff!
We initially felt the earth shake pretty quickly, before we could hear it. But a buffeting in the chest was impressive and then the sound arrived.
So many emotions, national pride, awe, envy, respect.
Among my dad many interests he always had the best optics around, so we all had great binoculars, and saw the first stage detach, IBM inter ring detach, 2nd stage ignition, and launch escape system and cover jettison (at 220,000 feet)!
John your explanation is better "indescribable"!
Now after 35 years of living in Fla I've seen with the naked eye many Space Shuttles launched from my yard on the west coast.
They remind me of that day everytime, and I'm sad that we have just one more flight left.
I just hope I live long enough to see us return to exploring space, not just near earth orbit.
But that involves politics, and I usually know better than to go there, but they ALL do!
Tony
. ----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 8:22 AM
Subject: RE: [newmellotrongroup] other Apollo 11
Hi Tony,
That is amazing. I know a few people that have seen the Shuttle launch from many miles away and they described the sound as incredible. How close were you and what did the Saturn V sound like? Kind of a dumb question because probably indescribable, but I imagine even several miles away it was felt as well as heard.
John
I am fortunate enough to have seen Apollo 11 launched in person, July 16, 1969.
Guess they managed to pull off quite a trick indeed!
Tony