Launch!!!

So I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Florida this past weekend to witness the launch of Discovery!!! I was planning on traveling out there anyways with my friend, Lynn, but then I was awarded a Space Flight Awareness award, which included a trip to see the launch...I love how God takes our plans and makes them bigger and better!

It was an awesome time: awards ceremony on Friday, tours of Kennedy Space Center on Saturday (my first time being there), we had Easter Sunday off (church and Cocoa beach time!), then up at 2am to board the buses to take us out to watch the launch from a distance of 3 miles. Amazing, amazing, experience. I don't know if the right adjectives exist to describe what I was feeling- an overall speechlessness at being able to sit so close and watch something that I have LOVED since I was little launch astronauts into space. Such a privilege to witness it. Beautiful, exciting, emotional (yep, totally teared up :)), and over much too quickly! Here are a few pictures I took, and a video of the launch (well, up through max Q :) ). Enjoy!

This one is for the parents :) Me and my award

In the Saturn 5 facility at KSC, about to start the tour


The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)- this is where the Saturn 5 was stacked and where the Shuttle is now attached to the External Tank (ET) and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs)


Holy Space Shuttle Batman!!! You can't see the actual Shuttle because it's behind a protective shroud. They remove that the day before launch (we were there two days before launch). Still, wickedly cool.


The Shuttle lit up on the pad- viewed from the causeway at Banana River, 13 miles away...this is the best my camera could do :)


Eek!!!! Almost time!

LAUNCH!!!!!

Blurry, yes. But, proof we were there!!!

Discovery's trail and the sunrise= wow. Empty pad in the lower right hand corner.