The Shuttle Discovery

 


On our way back from South Carolina, already approaching Orlando, Juan Daniel and I were listening to Z88.3 when they stopped their regular programming to cover the Discovery Launch at 5:02 in the afternoon. The official narration with complete sound effects served as a backdrop of everything that followed. Since I live on the east side of Orlando, I often hear the sonic booms when the shuttle lands, and sometimes I will remember to run outside for a launch. Generally, I just get to see this tiny white bullet flying briefly out of sight. I was thinking ho hum when it came into view. It seemed like those rocket boosters had pure gold for energy, at least that is what it looked like. As we all know, the visible to the naked eye part of launches takes only a couple of seconds to no more than a minute to transpire. Unfortunately, I was on I-4 driving 65 miles per hour while it was taking off. So by the time Juan had convinced me to pull over the rocket boosters had already separated (which I actually got to see, while driving! unbelievable) and Discovery had hid from view. I fumbled through my purse to find my camera (Juan all the while telling me to enjoy the moment)to take a picture of the plume of smoke that was left behind. Though I wasn't able to take a picture of the gold torch, nevertheless it was quite the sight to behold. I hope maybe some other time we will be so fortunate to see it close up. Frankly, I don't think it could have been cooler than what we saw!