OT: STS-123 Tuesday Morning

[BillyMac]

Titusville: 12 miles from launch site.

12 miles x 5280 feet/mile / 1130 feet/sec (speed of sound in dry air at room temperature) = 56 seconds

12 miles / 186,000 miles/sec (speed of light in air) = 0.00006 seconds

All calculations no more than three significant figures.

Observers in Titusville will "see" the launch 0.00006 seconds after it occurs. They will "hear" the launch 56 seconds after it occurs.

tjones1: Where was your observation area? Did you observe this light vs. sound phenomena?

[26 Year Gap]

I did the tour in October. It is a pretty amazing thing to observe. No launches while I was in the area, but just looking at the observation areas, the tracks used to move the rockets into place, the assembly buildings and all of the launch areas is a thing of awe.

[tjones1]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

tjones1: Where was your observation area? Did you observe this light vs. sound phenomena?

I was on the NASA causeway so I was only about 6.5 miles away from Lanuch Complex 39A. Actually, I don't remember hearing it. I was so focused on watching it go and I had my radio turned up listening to Mission Control in Houston. I will have to go back to the video and see if I can hear it.

I do believe you can get a little closer. NASA has their invites view the launching from the Apollo/Saturn V building which is a clear shot and probably 4.5 miles or so from the launch pad. By the way, in Billy's post it talks about tickets selling out fast. I was told it takes about three minutes for all of them to go for the causeway. I really couldn't even guess how many people were out there, but it was packed.