I just saw the Pluto launch from my driveway!

[Coexist]

It was way cool! I could only see the smoke trail here in Tampa, but that thing was hauling ass!!!!!

[Coexist]

1. self-kicking because SOMEONE else has to think our

space program is sexy.

[CottonBear]

3. Of course the space program is sexy! n/t

[Warpy]

13. Dagnabbit!

I'm only 14 miles south of the launch pad, and I missed it completely, dealing with nursing homes and assisted living facilities and coping with bureaucratic bullshit instead of keeping my eyes on the sky.

I really wanted to see this one, too. The space shuttle was a whole lot of nothing.

I did hear it, though.

[CottonBear]

2. COOL! Wasn't it a big-ass Atlas rocket? Hope the mission goes as planned.

:)

[Coexist]

4. too far away for details, you could probably see better on MSM

but my heart always beats faster when I see them go!

What a rush.

[recoveringrepublican]

5. Crap! I missed it! Usually I can see it from my yard also!

wanted to show the kids.

[Coexist]

9. sorry you missed it - the trail was bigger than the Shuttle

and faster, I think. To me, at least.

Woo hoo!

[ktowntennesseedem]

6. That's amazing! -nt

[SW FL Dem]

7. I thought I was the only one who did stuff like this

I ran out to my driveway as soon as it launched but didn't see anything. I did see Columbia launch as well as the last Mars probe. Today was almost clear, but we may be too far south.

[Coexist]

11. LOL! I ran out when the countdown began, waited a minute

couldn't see anything and was about to run back in to check the news and make sure it was in Florida when hubby called me on my cell to make sure I was watching it!

[BushOut06]

8. Woudlnt' it be cool if we spent half as much on space as we do on military

I wonder how much more we could have accomplished by now...

[MadHound]

10. Glad it made it up, and out of the atmosphere

If there had been a problem, well it would have sucked being you.

Don't get me wrong, I love the space program, and think trips to Pluto, etc are great. But sending up plutonium is just asking for trouble. Think about if Columbia had plutonium on board. That atmospheric burst was spread from Georgia to New Mexico.

What I would really like to see them develop is a functioning light sail. That would be a good way to go.

But I'm glad you're OK and that you got to see a good launch.

[nickinSTL]

12. I bet my parents got a good look...

They live about 50 miles north of Cape Canaveral.

[eyepaddle]

14. There's a few of us groovin' on it over the lounge too!

I've been waiting for a Pluto mission since Voyager 2 went past Neptune in 1989.

[bigtree]

15. you can't see the billions spent by the space industry on weaponry

while you're staring into space.

[soothsayer]

16. Ok, so I was half hoping it exploded for the sheer drama, but

it was COOL to watch! Off to Pluto!

[eyepaddle]

21. Man, that would've broken my heart.

We won't get a chance like this again for another two hundred years. So much of the exploration of the outer solar system has been a now or never affair.

I'm frankly amazed we get our collective shit together for this stuff.

Voyager 2 nearly stopped after Saturn because of politics.

[ewagner]

17. I envy you

I used to watch all the launches from my front yard....I lived 17 miles north of Orlando...

Got to watch the EARLY days of the space program.....got to see some spectacular failures of early Vanguard and Redstone rockets....

They used to let us out of classes at school to watch the first Mercury launches....I still tear up everytime I see John Glenn's launch and hear the words, "Godspeed John Glenn" just like they were
coming over the school PA system back then.

got to see EVERY ONE OF THE MOON MISSION launches (the Saturn V was spectacular and you could hear the rumble from 35 miles away.) The last moon shot was a night launch....the whole eastern sky lit up like dawn....

sigh

I miss those days..

[Lochloosa]

18. Fastest rocket ever shot off. It will be by the moon in 9 hours

that is hauling ass....

[Coexist]

19. I thought that thing was moving!

the shuttle doesn't go that fast, thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy.

[Lochloosa]

26. Here is some info

NASA is using one of the largest rockets in the US expendable booster fleet, an Atlas rocket built by Lockheed Martin, to give as much velocity as possible to the probe and shave years off the 4.8-billion-kilometre journey to Pluto.

The Atlas 5 rocket being used for New Horizons will get added punch from an unprecedented five solid-fuel strap-on motor.

By the time New Horizons separates from the Atlas's third and final motor, it will be moving at about 16km per second, or 58,400kph, to become the fastest spacecraft ever launched from Earth.

If the Apollo astronauts had been launched at that speed, the trip to the moon would have taken about nine hours instead of three days, noted Colleen Hartman, NASA's associate administrator for space science.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/massive-rocket-rolls-out-for-pluto-probe/2006/01/17/1137260037017.html

[Coexist]

28. Holy Cow - what will they think of next!

:headbang:

[leftofthedial]

20. I hope you moved your car before the launch

:nuke:

[Coexist]

22. Why???

[leftofthedial]

24. well if they launched from your driveway . . .

never mind.

[Coexist]

25. baaa haa haa

sorry - didn't get it.

I thought it was going to be some strange thing about lauch dust causing paint to chip or something...

[leftofthedial]

29. the statistical probability of the launch dust exceeds

the probability that they launched from your driveway

how long 'til it reaches Pluto?

[Coexist]

31. from post #26 (thanks for that)

"If the probe cannot be launched by February 2, it will miss its opportunity to bounce off Jupiter, delaying arrival at Pluto until 2018 at the earliest."

[pointblank]

23. This may be too early

But I really wanted to watch this thing go up.

Anyone have video link yet?

[Swede]

27. Pluto is a Mickey Mouse planet.

As Robin Williams' Mork said. I think it's a great project,ten years from now we'll get some great stuff.

[lpbk2713]

30. My daughter called me to tell me.

It was too late to see it from here in Lakeland though.

I can usually see the fire from the exhaust and the shuttle when they launch it. And when the shuttle is scheduled to land at the cape we usually hear the sonic boom as it decelerates over us.