As many of you know, there was a launch from NASA
Wallops on the US East Coast and for many it was an unexpected chance to
see a rocket go into orbit even if we were several hundred miles away.
I was following the countdown on +Ustream and went
outside my home about 5 minutes before launch. As Ustream showed the
final seconds I and a neighbour oriented ourselves and saw a bright red
dot ascend into the perfectly clear fall sky very quickly. By the time
the live feed said "LIFTOFF" she was already well up in the sky and
almost out of visual range.
Credits image: +NASA / Brea Reeves
It was over in a matter of just a few seconds and had
you not known where or when to look you would have missed the entire
event. As it was, the launch has kept me smiling even until now.
Although not as thrilling as when myself and 3.5 million others
participated in Curiosity's landing on Mars, this was a true geek-out
moment.
The Minotaur rocket was carrying a hush-hush, what
are you looking at, USAF satellite but launch had been delayed by a
faulty communications station in my home state of North Carolina and one
errant sailboat captain who had wandered into the safety zone.
Article is written by Anthony Scott
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