My first eBay sale...

One casualty of our trip to Russia this week was a long-planned trip down to the Kennedy Space Center to see the launch of STS-120 Discovery. The launch is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:38 EDT.

The tickets for these launches sell out in about 3 minutes. I managed to score tickets with some fast typing and clicking when they went on sale a few weeks ago. Last week I sold them on eBay and broke even after the eBay disservice fees. Oh well. Maybe I can score some tickets to STS-122.

The tickets are for a bus ride from the KSC Visitor's Center to a viewing spot on the NASA Causeway, approximately 7 miles from the pad. I saw the launch of STS-76 Atlantis in March 1996 when you used to be able to drive your own vehicle onto this location. All you had to do was write them for a vehicle pass. It was so easy back then. This all changed after September 11. Now a private company sells $50 tickets to do the same thing. It's really a rip-off, but what can you do?

So what is the view like from this location? Take a look at two pictures taken by people who have attended recent launches. The picture of the daytime launch is of STS-105 Discovery. This is probably what I would have seen had we gone to the launch. The night time launch is of STS-115 Discovery. STS-115 and STS-76 were both launch at night. This picture of STS-115 is exactly how I remember STS-76. The binoculars I used to watch the launch gave about the same magnification. I had to put them down at about this point because the plume SRB's plumes had just begun to light up the entire sky. It was a very fast sunrise that morning!

After I made the sale, I got a really nice email from the person who bought the tickets. It turns out he is a West Point classmate of one of the crew members and was thrilled to be getting the tickets. He and a bunch of other classmates were going to have a reunion at the Cape during the launch. I am really glad they are going to someone who is excited to be attending.

Godspeed Discovery!