Getting to KSC for a better look at a launch?

[DicksonGR]

Hey guys,

Looking for some advice. With news that Space Shuttle Atlantis will be launched on or around the 7th September that means that we may well be in Orlando at that point. Me and my group of 5 others would LOVE to see the launch. I know you can't get that close, but as close as I can get.

Heres my problem. We won't be hiring a car because I'm the only one thats old enough to get insurance (i'm 21) and i'm not that confident with driving. Its been not even a year since I passed my driving test here in the UK.

How do we get down there and wheres the best place to view one from? Is a taxi viable or is there any planned bus transportation? I would be willing to try and drive if it was my only option but I would rather not. Hopefully we won't have to change too much of the holiday plan to fit a viewing in.

Any help or advice would be welcomed! :wave:

 

[napnet]

I doubt there are any buses and its a 45-60 min drive on a toll highway so taxi would be really costly. If you were to go, one of your best spots would be in Titusville, beware that traffic may be really bad. In Titusville you will actually be able to see the shuttle on the horizon. I saw the July 4th launch from the shore there and it was amazing.

You will be able to see the shuttle from the WDW property but you will see it about 20 seconds after launch.

 

[DicksonGR]

I doubt there are any buses and its a 45-60 min drive on a toll highway so taxi would be really costly. If you were to go, one of your best spots would be in Titusville, beware that traffic may be really bad. In Titusville you will actually be able to see the shuttle on the horizon. I saw the July 4th launch from the shore there and it was amazing.

You will be able to see the shuttle from the WDW property but you will see it about 20 seconds after launch.

Thanks for the quick response! Couple of questions.

Being from the UK I have no idea but roughly how much would a taxi journey be each way?

You also said that you could see the shuttle from property, what does it look like, do you get a good view or is it a small dot it the distance. In what direction would you need to look and from where?

So many questions my head is gonna explode! :hammer:

 

[jonesenon4]

:sohappy: you could pay for your trip with what a taxi would cost round trip.i would look into hiring a limo since there are 5 of you and you can get by the hour or day. to see the shuttle look northeast and up and yes it will be small mostly all you will see is the vapor trail. 26 more days and ill be there.:sohappy:

 

[napnet]

Being from the UK I have no idea but roughly how much would a taxi journey be each way?

Most taxi's are like $0.25 per 1/8th mile or so and KSC is a good 50 miles away... do the math, not worth it

You also said that you could see the shuttle from property, what does it look like, do you get a good view or is it a small dot it the distance. In what direction would you need to look and from where?

It will mainly be Northeast, if your on Main Street, it would come from Space Mountain, i think. As for the size, you would see the flames and smoke and not much else. Even in Titusville you dont see much. I have a photo I took from Titusville in July at http://www.wdwhistory.com/DSC05412.JPG . You can see how small it is from 5 miles away and figure out how small it will be from WDW.
I

 

[napnet]

Being from the UK I have no idea but roughly how much would a taxi journey be each way?

Most taxi's are like $0.25 per 1/8th mile or so and KSC is a good 50 miles away... do the math, not worth it

You also said that you could see the shuttle from property, what does it look like, do you get a good view or is it a small dot it the distance. In what direction would you need to look and from where?

It will mainly be Northeast, if your on Main Street, it would come from Space Mountain, i think. As for the size, you would see the flames and smoke and not much else. Even in Titusville you dont see much. I have a photo I took from Titusville in July at http://www.wdwhistory.com/DSC05412.JPG . You can see how small it is from 5 miles away and figure out how small it will be from WDW. I'd highly recommend going and seeing it since it is a once in a life time experience. Do know that they are extremly picky about the launches and the weather has to be perfect (good luck in Florida!) so be ware that it may not launch on the selected day.

 

[Moustronaut]

Being from the UK I have no idea but roughly how much would a taxi journey be each way?:

I would guess several hundred dollars for the round trip. It may only be 45-60 minutes away by car but that's assuming no traffic. You'll want to get there a few hours early and then there is always a huge tailback traffic jam as everyone is leaving. So you'd be paying for a cab to idle for 5 hours. If you're really interested, it would be worth paying the extra money to hire a car for the day trip.

You also said that you could see the shuttle from property, what does it look like, do you get a good view or is it a small dot it the distance. In what direction would you need to look and from where?

I'll see if I can find pictures of the launch I went to see and scan one. You are no longer allowed in the Space Center without a launch ticket so you're only able to get on the west side of the Intercoastal Waterway in Titusville. This is still 3-5 miles from the pad. You're really only able to see this long tail of flame a top an ever growing column of white smoke. It will look something like this:
http://www.titusville.com/Images/ImageManager/inpic.jpg
http://www.painetworks.com/photos/hc/hc2309.JPG

It's still impressive but if you're expecting it to look like TV, you'll be sorely disappointed. Even from the edge of the waterway, you really can not see the shuttle any longer once the solid rocket boosters separate.

When the shuttle launches, just look east from WDW and you'll be able to see the trail of flame from the SRBs. But it's basically going to be a dot. Here's a picture I found of it from orlando.
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~dav/picts/work/space_shuttle.jpg

 

[AEfx]

You should be able to get a town car/limo if you schedule it before hand for $150-200. Don't even think of a taxi...

AEfx

 

[swedishengineer]

Location

I've heard of many places to watch a launch (both orlandosentinel.com and floridatoday.com sites list launch viewing tips), but I found this as well:
http://www.adayawaykayaktours.com/shuttletour.html

Definitely not a recommendation, as I have never done it, nor do I know anyone who has. But as long as your making the trip, looks like a heck of a way to watch...

 

[AEfx]

You know, on second thought, I really wouldn't plan a big vacation around it. Shuttle launches are well known for delays of hours and days. If you are coming all the way from the UK to stay at AKL, I don't know as I'd worry too much about the launch. If you schedule transportation you have no idea if it will actually happen or not.

You may want to enjoy WDW, and just look for the smoke trails and watch the close-up launch on TV later.

AEfx

 

[DicksonGR]

I drive all the time over here, but its just the fact I would have to concentrate on driving on the "other" side of the road. Is it a tough drive? Just how busy can the roads get? I've been down to KSC before but that was on a bus transfer. I've also seen a night lauch which was truely awesome but nobody else in my party has seen one. I really don't know what to do!

Napnet - that picture looks brilliant. How long did you have to stake out your place, was it busy, and how easy was it to get there?

I'm really confused. I know all about the lauch delays etc. Its just the fact that I'll be so close to the launch if I watch from WDW, but yet so far - if you know what I mean.

Thanks all so much for your fast replies. This really is such a great site.

 

[napnet]

Napnet - that picture looks brilliant. How long did you have to stake out your place, was it busy, and how easy was it to get there?

I'm really confused. I know all about the lauch delays etc. Its just the fact that I'll be so close to the launch if I watch from WDW, but yet so far - if you know what I mean.

Thanks, I was there maybe 20 minutes before but i drove up from Melbourne (30 min drive) but I had made the drive up there 4 days in a row till the launch happened. They will delay the launch for little fluffy clouds in the way They are just extremly cautious about launches. My wife lived in Satellite Beach (North Melbourne) her whole life and said she barely can think of any shuttles that launched on the originally scheduled day. If you dont have a car, it probably wouldn't be worth the drive attempts due to the cost.

As for the highways, they are US typical highways with traffic going 65-80 mph and is four lanes with about 4 toll booths. Traffic will be heavy since there is basically only one road there (Beeline 528).

We watched at this park which you can see here... http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=18&ll=28.477208,-80.768078&spn=0.001999,0.003659&t=h

which is actually 20.89 km away from the launch pad