Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] Space Shuttle Launch

["Paul B. Walker, Jr." <walkerbroadcasting@xxxxxxxxx>]

I remember working for WTIR 1300.. I could hear, FEEL and see the launch
from our Pluckebaum Road studios in Cocoa.

Back then, I covered the Shuttle Launch thanks to the 87.7FM audio feed form
then analog WKMG 6.



On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Ira Elbert New III wrote:
> >      I wasn't fortunate enough to land any tickets to the last launch of
> > the Space Shuttle next week. However, I do have reservations in Ormond
> > Beach for the launch. I'd like to get as close as possible and I'm
> > hoping someone with a little more experience can lend a hand. I know
> > that I'll probably have to leave Ormond pretty early Friday morning in
> > order to get anywhere near the launch and then sit around in the warm
> > Florida sun and wait for the launch at 11:26 Friday morning. Any help
> > would be appreciated. I'll take along the scanner to listen for anything
> > I might be able to pick up and a couple of other radios too. Try not to
> > send me too far into the boondocks as I will have my Wife and
> > ten-year-old daughter with me. Thanks in advance.
>
> Bert,
>
> I was at Space View Park in Titusville for the STS-133 launch in
> February. It was an amazing experience. Space View Park is about as
> close as you can get to the launch site with a direct view if you don't
> have a ticket to be on NASA property. Garrett Wollman and I got there
> about 4 hours before launch and we were able to edge ourselves almost up
> to the water, with nothing but about six rows of people and a couple of
> miles of open water between us and the launch. With a long lens, you can
> see the back side of the launch pad right across the water from the edge
> of the park.
>
> If you're daring (and willing to risk catching whatever's in the
> water!), you can actually go right into the shallow water between the
> two sides of Space View Park. There were a ton of people sitting in lawn
> chairs in the water or just standing in the water awaiting the launch.
>
> The south side of Space View Park has bathrooms (very long lines!) and a
> live PA feed of NASA audio. We were on the north side, which was
> marginally less crowded. I am told there are also lots of private
> property owners right along the water in Titusville (just a couple of
> blocks east of US 1, south of Space View Park) who will let you set up
> in their yards with water views...for a price.
>
> The worst part of the experience wasn't the traffic coming into
> Titusville (not bad), nor the parking (on the street about 4 short
> blocks away), nor the crowds in the park (intense but friendly). It was
> the VERY long wait in traffic to get out of town after the launch. It
> took us something like 3 hours to get from where the car was parked in
> downtown Titusville up to the SR 50/I-95 junction northwest of town, and
> then another hour-plus from there back into Orlando via a roundabout
> route. Your best bet - and what I'd do if I had it to do over again -
> would be to plan on sticking around Titusville for a few hours after the
> launch. Bring a picnic or patronize one of the local restaurants
> (they'll be hurting for business after the shuttle program ends!) and
> don't plan on leaving town until 5-6 hours after the launch and you
> should be able to move pretty quickly after that. (You *might* have
> slightly better luck with your drive going north, but I doubt it!)
>
> Do not expect to have any usable cell service around launch time.
> Verizon, at least, was completely overloaded for an hour or so, which
> was a challenge to me since I was trying to get calls out to file
> live-on-scene reports for WXXI in Rochester and for Ron Gitschier's WNZF
> up the coast in Flagler County!
>
> Oh, and as for radio? WMEL 1300 out of Cocoa does nonstop coverage of
> the launch for quite a while before and after, sometimes just relaying
> raw NASA audio. WDBO 580 and WMFE 90.7 from Orlando cut into regular
> programming closer to the launch for updates.
>
> It's the experience of a lifetime...hope you have a blast!!
>
> s
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> October 13-15 2011
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>
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