Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think UD just saw the Space Shuttle!
Yes, laugh if you like and as I say please correct her if this is impossible, but UD was a moment ago sitting on her balcony enjoying the evening breeze when she saw in the distance, low on the horizon, a huge long pinkish flame that just seemed to stay in one place in the sky.
I mean, it didn’t look like something coming out of a jet, because the flames were too big, and anyway the aircraft didn’t seem to be moving in the sky the way a jet moves…
“Whazat?” UD asked herself out loud. (Mr UD had gone up to Mallory Square to see the sunset.)
Then she went inside and idly turned on the television, which informed her that, seconds ago, the Shuttle had taken off from Cape Canaveral…………………………………
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update:
F – U- U- U- CK.
The brilliant light emitted by the two solid rocket boosters will be visible for the first 2 minutes and 4 seconds of the launch out to a radius of some 520 statute miles from the Kennedy Space Center.
Depending on where you are located relative to Cape Canaveral, Discovery will become visible anywhere from a few seconds to just over 2 minutes after it leaves Pad 39-A.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:32PM
I must go down the the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:37PM
Just the right poem, RJO. I’m still tingling.
March 16th, 2009 at 12:22AM
If an observer sees a Shuttle launch without knowing it’s a Shuttle launch, does it count as observing a Shuttle launch?
Did you have pleasant temperatures to go with the severe clear weather?
March 16th, 2009 at 7:50AM
When I was young, we ‘accidentally’ saw the first shuttle launch — We were in Florida on vacation and saw it start on TV. I said ‘let’s go outside in case we can see it’ — and, there it was!! Pretty amazing, and really better than going to see it intentionally. That involves lots of waiting on the side of some road near the Space Center.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:53AM
PhilosopherP: Yes – it was the absolutely accidental nature of the event that made it so wonderful….
March 16th, 2009 at 1:59PM
> Yes – it was the absolutely accidental nature of the event that made it so wonderful….
Providing UD with another opportunity, perhaps, to contradict Frost.
On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations
You’ll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,
Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.
The planets seem to interfere in their curves
But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.
We may as well go patiently on with our life,
And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun
For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.
It is true the longest drouth will end in rain,
The longest peace in China will end in strife.
Still it wouldn’t reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.
March 16th, 2009 at 5:43PM
Reminds me of a nice piece of writing by an SR-71 (Blackbird) pilot:
One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like from 84,000 feet if the cockpit lighting were dark. While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky. Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet would know and somehow punish me. But my desire to see the sky overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again. To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window. As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky. Where dark spaces in the sky had usually existed, there were now dense clusters of sparkling stars. Shooting stars flashed across the canvas every few seconds. It was like a fireworks display with no sound. I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments, and reluctantly I brought my attention back inside. To my surprise, with the cockp lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight. In the plane’s mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit incandescently illuminated in a celestial glow. I stole one last glance out the window. Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater power. For those few moments, I felt a part of something far more significant than anything we were doing in the plane. The sharp sound of Walt’s voice on the radio brought me back to the tasks at hand as I prepared for our descent.
March 16th, 2009 at 7:41PM
I’d say that’s more than a nice piece of writing, david. It’s fantastic. A real find. Thank you for it.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:56AM
Stephen: I’ve been reluctant to describe, on this blog, the weather in Key West, because I do not wish to be hated by large swathes of my readership. But since you insist: Every single day that I’ve been here – and I’ve been here for weeks – has been sunny, mild, clear, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. One day it rained for five minutes.