Space Shuttle Launch, Feb. 3, 1995 by Elissa
From MemoryArchive
What: Space Shuttle Launch When: February 3, 1995 Where: Florida
When I was in the forth grade my dad took me down to Florida to see a space shuttle launch. The shuttle was set to take off late on the night of February 2, 1995 so we flew in to the airport on that evening. My uncle picked us up from the airport and we found out that the launch had been delayed for one day. Since my uncle lived a little while away we got a hotel near the Cape Canaveral and spend the night. I don’t remember exactly why the shuttle was delayed but the next day we learned that everything was fine and the shuttle would be taking off around midnight on February 3.
To fill the time my dad, my uncle and I all went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was interesting, but I was too young to really appreciate it. We toured the space facilities and went through a few museum type places. My dad took my picture with a bunch of really big space shuttle parts and I remember laughing about how small I was in comparison. While we were at the Space Center I remember we got Dippin’ Dots. They are these really cold little balls of ice cream and at the time they were a new thing. I thought they were really fun because I had never seen them before.
Finally it was time to go and see the shuttle launch. It was late, sometime around midnight, and we drove out to the place where we could sit and watch the launch from. I remember being so tired and my dad kept telling me to stay awake. The count down started and the excitement woke me up a little. The sky was completely black but as the shuttle’s launch sequence kept going the sky slowly got brighter and brighter. As the shuttle lifted off the ground the whole sky light up bright as the middle of the day. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. In just a few minutes the sky was dark again and everything was back to normal. My dad, my uncle and I got back into the car and began to drive home. The whole event didn’t last for more than an hour, but I wont ever forget how amazing the sky looked all light up and smoky from the launch.
