Rocket 🚀 launch - best viewing area?

[little britain]

We will be staying on International Drive but DH is desperate to see a rocket launch. Elon is sending up a few more satellites 🛰️ hopefully in the days we are there… so we will be driving over to see it. Where is the best place to head for to get a great view ? 
thanks 🙏 

[Capt_BJ]

pretty much anyplace on the beach gives a good view

 

the fishing pier at Jetty Park is ideal

 

the SMALL park next to the port's boat launch area

 

Coco Beach Pier (if open)

 

any of the waterside restaurant in the port:; Grills, FishLips, Rusty's, Gators ...

 

biggest difference is time of day ..... this impacts what places will be open versus just standing on the beach

 

And up Titusville way are other places but I live on the south side ...

 

I got 'on property' for a spacex launch a while back ... this is as close as you can get unless you work for spacex!! I was with a space center employee who has full access ...

 

 

 

[little britain]

@Capt_BJ many thanks.

do you mean the Freddie Patrick ramp or that little jetty off the beach on the right where it sticks out?

 

do lots of people go down to watch or do they now happen so often with SpaceX no one bothers?

 

Both launches are scheduled for 5-6p

 

 

[Capt_BJ]

yes, there is a little park and rest room at the boat launch area which is outside of Jetty Park

 

or go into Jetty Park and there's a lot more room BUT Jetty Park charges a per car admission which I believe you must PRE-PAY on line <phone>

 

 

South of Jetty Park you can easily get to the beach but most side streets will have charges for parking (credit card)

 

do of people go down to watch or do they now happen so often with SpaceX no one bothers?

 

You seldom see a big crowd anymore. Routine starlink launches are pretty ho-hum for locals but tourists will stop and look. You don't see many special trip folks unless it is something unusual ... like 'people' going up or the recent 'last' Delta Heavy ... but NOTHING like the shuttle days or earlier ....

 

 

BTW there WAS a free viewing are on the north side of the port near the ID and pass office just outside the Space Base gate but too many traffic accidents caused it to be shut down. And police have been NOT allowing you to just stop on shoulder of  401 or 528 as was common in the past ....

 

 

Edited April 14 by Capt_BJ

[Anita Latte]

Where to watch really depends on which launch pad the launch is from. I have found this site to be very good for offering advise on the best locations for each launch:

 

https://www.launchphotography.com/Launch_Viewing_Guide.html
 

I’m on the north side, right across from KSC if you have any questions about up here.

 

I highly recommend a night launch if there is one. Especially if you can see the water in the foreground of your view.

[Cienfuegos]

"middle of the night" launches usually draw smaller crowds than 7 pm - 10 pm launches in my experience.

 

Spaceflightnow has a good launch calendar.  But, launches do get scrubbed or pushed to the back end of the launch window regularly

[little britain]

13 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

"middle of the night" launches usually draw smaller crowds than 7 pm - 10 pm launches in my experience.

 

Spaceflightnow has a good launch calendar.  But, launches do get scrubbed or pushed to the back end of the launch window regularly

There is a 4 hour window on that site… does that window ever narrow closer to the date (📅) or do we just wait for 4 hrs??  Thanks 

[Capt_BJ]

you want to find one of the ways to monitor the launch status like a web feed from Florida Today the local paper. The 'window' is when they 'can' launch and meet the trajectory requirements. Sometimes the window is hours and sometimes it is 'instantaneous'. In a long window they usually try to hit the opening moments BUT holds are common and this is what you want a way to listen in on ... cuz holds often lead to a scrub and if they scrub in the first 10 minutes of the window there's no reason to hang around. A hold you would wait to see, a scrub means 'not today' ....Typicall coverage starts a couple of hour b4 a launch so you might want to start listening then ... no reason to drive over if they scrub 90 minutes b4 the window opens etc etc

[Cienfuegos]

Good advice.  There are often several YouTube feeds from various local sources like SpaceX, SpaceFlightNow, Florida Today etc.

 

 

 

 

[Capt_BJ]

to be clear ...

HOLD means the stop the countdown but we plan to resume ... many countdowns have built in hold places .... <don't ask me ... I didn't design this stuff>

 

SCUB means stop the countdown and we know we won't be ready again in the window so we're done for today . . .

[Capt_BJ]

to be clear ...

HOLD means the stop the countdown but we plan to resume ... many countdowns have built in hold places .... <don't ask me ... I didn't design this stuff>

 

SCRUB means stop the countdown and we know we won't be ready again in the window so we're done for today . . .

[Anita Latte]

On 4/16/2024 at 5:54 AM, little britain said:

There is a 4 hour window on that site… does that window ever narrow closer to the date (📅) or do we just wait for 4 hrs??  Thanks 

 

Generally speaking, and I've only been on the Space Coast for a few years now, they try to hit the beginning of the launch window. As Capt BJ said, there can be a hold in the countdown to launch. They can sit there with 30 seconds left on the countdown for however long is needed to get a "go for launch" from whichever of the 200 (give or take) people that need to give a go to get to the point of go, so long as the window of opportunity is still open. We went to see the first night launch in however many years (long time) when we first moved to Florida...and there was a delay...and they knew there would be a delay in advance...and they let people know.

 

There are many sources that will start coverage a couple hours before the launch. Florida Today is generally a decent source because generally space related news is free where other news may be past a paywall. If it's a SpaceX launch, they have their own channels for getting info out there. It's pretty easy to stay in the know actually. And well before hand you can see how the weather is affecting the launch...they'll say something like the weather forecast is (fill in the blank)% go for launch...and that may be updated as we get closer to actual launch.

[little britain]

@Capt_BJ thank you so much! We parked on Playalinda and she took off on schedule. Incredible! 
 

 

[Cienfuegos]

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Watching a launch from under 10 miles away is a very impressive experience. In some cases the ground will rumble / shake. You can see the shape of the rocket tube, feel the air wave.

Edited April 24 by Cienfuegos
edited for clarity

[Capt_BJ]

I watch 'em from my pool ....