[ExI] Yuri's night.

John Clark jonkc at bellsouth.net
Mon Apr 12 20:33:13 UTC 2010


On Apr 12, 2010, at 4:00 PM, Jeff Davis wrote:

> I missed Woodstock (darn!), but I was on the beach near Cape Canaveral
> to see that first shuttle launch(Geek Woodstock?) in person.  Even so,
> I was still seven miles away.  It was weird.  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.

I never saw a shuttle launch, but I was about 7 miles away, perhaps less, when they launched Apollo 11. Oddly one of the most vivid things I remember is the sight when I first arrived at the cape at about 3 am and saw the Saturn 5 brilliantly and I do mean brilliantly lit up by searchlights, the contrast between the shining rocket and the inky blackness that surrounded it was quite dramatic. I couldn't afford a motel room so I spent the night hanging around what must have been one of the first Taco Bell's that for obvious reasons decided that for this night it would stay open all night. I never bought anything. Like you I saw the launch in utter silence and even a half a minute later I didn't really hear the launch, I felt it. It was like somebody was beating on my chest.

 John K Clark  
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