Discovery's last launch - Feb 24, 2011

The morning of February 24 started auspiciously. Clear skies and a brilliant sun with just a touch of sea fog as the sun rose just before 7 am.

Four hours before the launch, the southbound traffic was extremely heavy in front of our condo as a steady stream of people sought good vantage points from which to watch the take-off. By an hour before the launch, people were beginning to get their spots on the beach in front of our condo.

By ten minutes before the launch, the beach was getting crowded.

When the shuttle cleared the hold on the launch with seconds to go, people streamed onto our condo deck to watch the take-off. There were so many spectators (est. 300,000 vs. a previous high of 150,000) that the interstate became a virtual parking lot for those who arrived at Titusville just before the launch.

Sandra set her camera on automatic shoot and tried to keep the camera focused on the fast moving Discovery. Note how the crowd on our deck grew in the last 5 minutes before lift-off!

Within a minute, Discovery had risen over the heads of the spectators.

So, Sandra widened the lens focus to show the shuttle relative to our condo.

Just before the boosters were jettisoned, the shuttle is a tiny speck. I was able to was the entire show with Sandra's new binoculars and could clearly see the shuttle as it separated from the two booster rockets.

Interestingly, the roar from the take-off and the sonic boom both arrived just as we saw the booster rockets separate.