NASA's Kepler Launch

After my lesson last night, I went home and had dinner with the family. Afterwards, I went to the NASA web site and searched for the best location to watch a launch. Near the top of the list was Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral. I looked it up on Google Maps and printed it out, then went to the car and grabbed my GPS. I entered the park into my favorites so I could choose it as a destination later. Finally, I grabbed my tripod, camera, several layers of warm clothes, flashlights, and blankets and loaded the troops into the Honda. The launch was scheduled for 10:49PM and we were out the door by 7:30. The map below shows Jetty Park. Zoom out to see the region better.

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Before leaving the driveway, I setup the GPS to route to Jetty Park. Our first stop was the gas station. Andrew wanted to help, so I let him push buttons on the pump, put the nozzle into the car, and wash the windows. He's a great helper, but the windows are much worse than before now (frown). I had to do the windshield myself so I could see to drive.

On the highway and on our way, Andrew quickly fell asleep in his booster seat. Susan was reading her book as we headed north on I-95. It didn't take long before the pace was broken - Susan needed a restroom stop. Luckily, a rest area was just 3 miles up the highway. I stopped, she ran, and Andrew slept through it all.

Back on the road again, the GPS chose to route us into Cape Canaveral on route 528. Not a bad choice, but I had other plans. I wasn't sure if the causeway would be open, so I took a more southerly exit - route 520. The GPS was not happy with this decision. It started pleading to me to turn around in 500 feet. This pleading continued for at least a mile or two, then it finally gave up and chose another route. Unfortunately, I had other plans once again, so the pleading soon returned.

As we entered Cocoa and headed east towards Merrill Island, I realized that I left my Google Map on the printer - DOH! We finally rejoined route 528 and followed the GPS suggestions the rest of the way. It brought us to the Cape Canaveral Cruise Terminal, not Jetty Park. I deleted the route and started driving around looking for the park. We found a line of cars and joined them. Sure enough, we were headed for the park.

By this time it was 8:50. Two hours to go and traffic was already getting thick. We crawled along with the pack of cars trying to get into the park. When we reached the gate, we found that we needed $7.00 to get in. We had no cash and they didn't accept credit cards. Besides that, we felt the price was a bit high for a couple hours in the park, so we turned around and headed back towards the terminal.

We backtracked our route for about a mile, then turned east towards the beach. We came to a road lined with hotels, but the parking lots had ominous signs, like "Trespassers Will Be Towed". We continued south and came across a park, but it's gate was closed at dusk. We turned around once more and continued south once more. Then we saw what appeared to be a tiny beach access road. I pulled in and found two open spots; there was only about eight total. I got out and surveyed our selection. I crossed the dunes on the boardwalk, looked north up the beach, and there stood the Delta II rocket on launchpad 17-B, lit up with dozens of bright lights, just a few miles away. Awesome!

I returned to the car to gather the troops and gear. We walked through the closed park to a boardwalk a little closer to the launch site and further from the main entrance. I spread out the blankets while Susan held Andrew. They got comfortable while I set up the tripod and camera and took some test shots. It wasn't cold out, but I was certainly glad I brought along several layers.

By the time I finished setting up, it was 10:00. Susan set a timer for 10:45 so we'd be ready for the launch. And then we waited... and waited... and waited. The crowds started growing on the beach. I saw people on the balconies of the nearby hotel. I even saw someone on the roof of the hotel. Excitement was in the air, and it was the perfect night for a launch. The sky was completely clear with the moon and stars shining brightly. The moon was so bright that I didn't need the flashlights to see where I was walking.

The timer went off, so I climbed out from under the blanket and shifted Andrew to Susan's lap. He was still sleeping, but we knew he didn't want to miss the launch. Susan worked at waking him, while I verified that the camera was setup properly. By this time, there were hundreds of people on the beach nearby.

And then it happened. The sky lit up orange and the rocket started its long climb to space. I clicked the shutter for a 30-second exposure. The crowd cheered wildly as the rocket accelerated over the Atlantic. By the time my shutter closed, the sound finally reached us. It built quickly into a low, cracking rumble, but didn't quite reach the level of shaking our organs.

About a minute into the launch, we saw six red dots falling behind the rocket and slowly descending. After another minute, we saw even more dots fall behind. And then the rocket was gone.

Andrew was very excited and described the launch events over and over. A group of three walked up to me and asked about the camera, so I showed them my picture. They asked for a copy and gave me an email address. We packed everything and walked back to the car. At this point, I was very pleased that we didn't go to Jetty Park. If it was that slow getting in, I wonder how difficult it would have been getting back out.

The GPS picked a much more acceptable route back to Vero Beach, so I followed its queues. Andrew wanted to see the bridges over the Banana and Indian Rivers, so he stayed awake as long as he could. He saw the bridges, but was out before we reached I-95. We pulled into the garage a little past midnight this morning.