worlds fastest hotrod

[river1]

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/tech/2006/12/09/shuttle.discovery.launch.nasa

too cool

later jim

[Animal]

That's cool! Back in late '84, I was driving a moving truck south on I-95 south of Daytona when I saw this kick-* light hauling * upwards into the night sky........turned out it was a shuttle launch. Very frickin' cool!

[donsrods]

We now live on the west coast of Florida, but used to live on the east coast.  I kept my one boat in Daytona, so one time we took it out to Mosquito Lagoon and anchored to watch the space shuttle launch.  The Coast Guard wll only let you get so close, but we got in the river as close as possible.

There is no way in the world to explain what happens when this thing goes up.  We were sitting on our boat, and all of a sudden you could sense something was happening. Everything became still........no fish jumping, no birds making noise, nothing.  Then the water around you begins to tremble, and you start feeling vibrations. Finally, you see this thing lifting off above the treeline,and it is such a humbling experience.  The sights and sounds are incredible.  It is like a religious experience.

We also saw the launch of the Challenger that exploded. It was really awful.


Simply amazing that 100 years ago we were riding around on horses, and today man can build something so fantastic.

Don

[Rayvyn]

I've been over there for a couple of the launches, but nothing can describe
seeing one at night. It was simply breath taking. Like Don said, it's a very humbling and religious type of experience when you take into account everything that goes into making the thing fly and seeing it come together like that.
I've seen numerous launches, even in the daytime, just by standing outside in my yard and I live 150 miles away!!

And to think that in less then 75 seconds, it burns off 500,000 pounds of propellant, and weighs half of what it did before takeoff.

I've always wanted to ask one of the astronauts...."That thing got a Hemi in it?"
"Sweeeeet"

[40]

Koooool! I want a ride!

[bombcan]

That really cool.  Back in the late 80's we heard about a night launch of the shuttle, went out to a dark hill top, and watched for it in the south sky.  Just when we thought we wouldn't see it, it appeared, almost like a shooting star, just slower and going up (LOL)  We saw it from almost 450 miles away. .......that's some kinda flame thrower!

Truly amazing

[Crosley.In.AZ]

not sure I would want to sit on top of something that is basically a huge bomb.....


it is quite the sight to watch.


visited the launch area 4-5 yrs ago , the tour was very interesting

[Roadstar]

3000 miles per hour!!!!

[sirstude]

I went to Florida for a job interview and was on a plane returning home when the Challenger lifted off.  We were about at Daytona and the pilot made a sharp right so we could watch the launch, and luckily I was on that side.  He stood that plane on it's ear to see.  Up until the explosion, it was the prettiest site I have ever seen.  The flames and smoke were a gold color.  Not a word was uttered afterwards until we landed in Atlanta.

Doug