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After postponing at least half a dozen times, Octavia and I finally rode to Cape Canaveral yesterday, hoping to see the launch of Endeavour. Tickets to view the launch from the Kennedy Space Center had long since sold out but, never-the-less, we figured that we’d be able to find a vantage point within a few miles of the launch pad and still be able to experience the whole thing. The launch was scheduled for 18:36 local time (22:36 UCT), so I was hoping to take a look around parts of the Space Center in the morning, even if I had to leave early for security purposes.

We left Orlando before 10am, but with heavy traffic the 80 miles or so ate more than 2 hours of our time, and after queueing in traffic leading to the Kennedy visitors entrance (crossing ‘Machinists Union’ strikers’ picket lines!) were told by gate security that everything was sold out to capacity and there would be no admission to any part of the Center today without advance tickets. Undeterred, we scouted for a tourist info office, and were informed that Cocoa Beach was only a few miles from the launch site and afforded excellent views.

With 5 hours or so to fill, and Octavia succumbing to sun stroke after almost 3 hours of riding in the blazing sun during the hottest part of the day (without a hat! D’oh!), we found what seemed like the last remaining parking space at the huge Cocoa Beach Surfing Company and Ron Jon Surf Shop outlets, and only a block from the beachfront. At the Shark Pit Bar & Grill inside, I had a fabulous $11 seared tuna with pickled ginger and wasabi lunch (that is still jostling for position as the best meal I’ve eaten in Florida, with the amazing $40 steak dinner I had at Palm Beach in Miami a few months ago), and spent the next couple of hours clothes shopping. I was delighted to discover that this week is Florida’s back-to-school week, which meant that no sales tax was added to anything I bought. I succumbed to a new surf T-shirt, a pair of 501 jeans and a floppy hat to protect my poor head from burning. All for less than $80!

After a quick visit to Starbucks for an iced mocha, we headed for the beach to watch the launch. Even though we were an hour early, I was delighted to see how busy it was. And as the launch approached, more and more people arrived. I had somehow gotten the impression that NASA and the space programme in general was suffering from public apathy, but to see the Kennedy Space Center sold out, and join a huge crowd of overflowing enthusiasts has not only changed my mind, but made the day for me.

The shuttle took off from the pad exactly as scheduled, and after a text-book perfect launch had reached orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour in under 10 minutes, but was out of sight several minutes before that. The crowds whooped and cheered, making those few minutes into a very moving event. Apologies for the awful video… I was following the direction the people in front of me were looking during the countdown, and missed the first couple of seconds after lift off until I saw someone else point in the right direction.

Within 15 minutes of the shuttle leaving view, we were back on our bikes in bumper to bumper traffic for the next 40 minutes, but still barely covering the few miles from the beach to the bridge crossing back onto the mainland. We began to worry that in this heat, running our air-cooled engines without any air cooling them might lead to disaster, so we stopped at a hotel bar to while away an hour or so while the traffic calmed. We finally arrived back in Orlando just before midnight, exhausted after another 2 hours long albeit pleasant night riding.

Looking up some more details of the flight today, I realised that I was lucky to be party to such an historic event:

1. The entire shuttle fleet is scheduled for retirement in 2010, leaving just enough time to finish lifting components to finish construction of the international space station. This launch was the 22nd shuttle ISS maintenance flight, but the first mission for Endeavour since November 2002.
2. This 2nd shuttle mission for 2007, and only the 6th since 2003′s Columbia disaster.
3. This was the 1st mission for Barbara Morgan, more than 20 years since she first trained alongside Christa McAuliffe as a backup should McAuliffe have been unable to fly in the ill-fated 1986 Challenger mission (which tragically exploded 73 seconds after lift off, killing all 7 crew, including McAuliffe).
4. Endeavour was built to replace Challenger, and Morgan took the same seat that McAuliffe had aboard Challenger.
5. 6 hours of the mission are set aside for Morgan to begin her role as the first educator in space, as she will conference with American school children to help inspire more interest in science and engineering subjects.
6. This will be the first shuttle to use the new station-to-shuttle power transfer system aboard the ISS, and if successful will extend the mission by an additional 3 days.