[ExI] Yuri's night.

[spike]

>...On Behalf Of Jeff Davis
...
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Yuri's night.
> 
> I missed Woodstock (darn!)...

Ja me too.  Good thing tho, I heard there were "hippies" and "hip cats" and
such there at that concert.

(Kidding, bygones.  {8^D)

> but I was on the beach near Cape 
> Canaveral to see that first shuttle launch(Geek Woodstock?) 
> in person...

That one I missed, having already left Titusville by then.

>  Even so, I was still seven miles away...

Ja, to be that close, good chance you were on the shore of the Indian River
along US1 somewhere.  During launches, there would often be spectators along
there lined up for miles.

> ...It took 35 seconds for the sound to reach where I and 
> the gathered multitudes were, well,...gathered.  That is the 
> launch was completely silent until 35 seconds in.  And then 
> came the second surprise, because seven miles away it was 
> still the loudest sustained sound I had ever heard.
> 
> Best, Jeff Davis

Jeff, my earliest memory that has a sound track was a launch.  My father
took me out to a place, don't know exactly where it was, but it wasn't US1,
but rather on the base somewhere (he had a badge, being an employee.)  I
remember we had the radio playing in the truck, and there were some guys
milling around.  It was the first launch of a Saturn V rocket.  The memories
are hazy, but I do recall we got up really early, before dawn.  I was
already awake, because he told me he and I were going to see something
really special, something I would never forget.  He was very right about
that.  We were out there at morning twilight.  It was a school day, because
he took me back to my first grade class afterwards, and it was already mid
morning.  A bunch of the kids were gone from school that day.

My memory was that the rocket made no sound when the fire spewed, and was
all the way up to about the top of the tower when that massive sound wave
hit us.  The indelible memory was of the popping and cracking that wasn't so
much heard as it was felt, like being thumped on the chest.  One could feel
the sound hitting one's chest, oh my.  Awesome, exciting times were those.

spike