Shuttle launch on 1st July - is it viewable from orlando?

[martineaster]

I have just found out that there will be a shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral on the 1st July at 1600 hours but unfortunately this is the day we arrive at Sanford! Do you guys know if the shuttle launch is viewable from Kissimmee or any better viewing areas near to Sanford or Kissimmee we can get to?

[terrynewpack]

Shuttle is usually easily seen from Kissimmee. Will be amazed if it goes up on the 1st.
No definitive date has been announced yet as far as I am aware for the launch.

Terry:smile:

[loadsapixiedust]

If it is launched on the 1st you will be able to see it from Orlando/Kissimmee.

[alanb]

This is the latest shuttle info - the launch window is 1st July until 19th July

Mission: STS-121 - 18th International Space Station Flight (ULF1.1) - Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
Location: Launch Pad 39B
Launch Date: Launch Processing Window July 1-19, 2006 Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Reiter Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Work continued at the pad this week to support electrical testing and payload vertical operations on Discovery. On Thursday, the payload bay doors were closed in preparation for fuel loading of the solid rocket boosters. The doors will be reopened on Monday. In the payload bay, the installation of sensors and cameras in the shuttle robotic arm and boom was completed.

Following replacement of a faulty integrated electrical assembly box in the left solid rocket booster, hypergolic fuel loading began today into the solid rocket booster hydraulic power units.

Next week the crew will be at KSC for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. This is a launch dress rehearsal that occurs prior to each shuttle mission.

Mission: STS-115 - 19th International Space Station Flight (12A) -
P3/P4 Solar Arrays
Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 Launch Date: No earlier than Aug. 28, 2006 Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean and Stefanyshyn-Piper Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1, engine #3 was installed in Atlantis and leak checks of the system are under way. Testing and checkout of the orbiter boom sensor system is complete. Window #2 was replaced, with plans to replace window #5 next week.

In the Vehicle Assembly Building, stacking of the STS-115 solid rocket boosters continues. The right forward center section was lifted into high bay 3 and onto mobile launcher platform no. 2 on Wednesday.

The external fuel tank for STS-115, ET-118, is scheduled to arrive via barge at the KSC turn basin late this afternoon and will be transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building this evening. It will be lifted into a checkout cell in the VAB this weekend, so that technicians can begin processing the tank for launch.

Endeavour (OV-105)

Powered-up system testing continues on Endeavour in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2 following an extensive modification period. This work includes main propulsion system leak and functional testing and potable water leak checks. The flash evaporator functional testing was completed. The flash evaporator provides supplemental cooling to the orbiter in flight. Technicians began test and checkout of the docking mechanism this week.

Work continues on the orbiter's thermal protection system, with tee seal installation between the reinforced carbon carbon panels on the wing leading edges and replacement of gap fillers on the underside of Endeavour. To date, approximately 500 new gap fillers have been installed.

[Walmart-lover]

Oooh that would be great if it went up then as we are there! :) Where would be the best place to see it?

[Axelsoft]

Hi Walmart Lover (like the name ;) ),

We watched Atlantis go up in Sept 2000 - on that ocassion it was a morning launch; as expected the Beeline Express Way quickly became a car park as EVERYBODY headed for the 'obvious' route to KSC.
Luckily I had anticipated this would happen, and as the 6.00am news confirmed the launch was go, and showed the miles of traffic on the Beeline, we headed southeast towards Melbourne on an almost traffic free 192. Seeing the countryside in the morning mist was itself a fantastic experience.
Once at Melbourne our aim was to head to the coast and just drive north until it became to busy, and then stop... I was hoping to maybe get as far as Cocoa beach, but the roads were empty to we simply cruised all the way up to Canaveral Beach at the edge of the 7 mile exclusion zone.
In case you were wondering the launch was fantastic; you didn't just see it, you felt it ! To anyone who is reading this and has the opportunity to see the world's biggest firework going off, do it ! This is still a very rare thing, and it's going to get rarer - I don't know what the numbers are, but if 1 in a million people around the world have seen this in the flesh I would be surprised - be 1 in a million, and like me tell your kids about it time after time until they're sick of it :zzz:

[jeanwales]

We have seen it three times. Once from International Drive and twice from Lake Buena Vista.
Both times we had a clear view and it is an amazing experience.

[Jaydee]

I seen Atlantis in 2000 and it was amazing, we actually went to KSC to
see it, cost a few bob but it was worth every penny. I am so proud to
say I have seen a take off.