Skyehaven’s Cool Thing of the Day

Update
6;10pm The rumble is over and in just a few short minutes another shuttle mission will be safely in space. I wish them all a successful flight and safe return.

6:06pm The rumble from the shuttle is just now arriving here. I’ll be able to feel/hear it rumble for something like the next 5 minutes.

6:05pm It doesn’t matter how many times I see that, whether it’s outside in my yard, at the beach, or on TV, it always brings a lump to my throat. Absolutely beautiful. I live about 40 air miles from the launch pad.

The title says it all. Liftoff is scheduled for 6:02pm and a quick glance at the radar looks promising!

For CNN junkies, you’ll be pleased to know that Miles O’Brien has another gig. For the rest of you, this is probably the closest you’ll get to a shuttle launch without coming to Florida. For myself, I think I’ll be at the beach. There’s nothing quite like an almost-night launch. As the shuttle rockets off into space, the contrail rises up past the grey line and goes from a darkly clouded column of steam at its base to beautifully lit with sunset colors. I wish I had a good camera so I could try to get a picture to share of Endeavour blasting off tonight, but pictures really don’t do the sight justice.

EDIT: I removed the live stream, but you can find plenty of video coverage of the flight here:  http://spaceflightnow.com/