On a bright sunny day in 1982 thousands gathered to see STS-4 land at Edwards Air Force base in California. I’ll never forget watching the shuttle Columbia suddenly appear as two sonic booms thundered above and how unbelievably quickly she had safely touched down. Along with my fellow Bluebirds (Campfire Girls) we thrilled at the sight of shuttle Challenger making her debut on the back of a specially designed 747. She was heading east to prepare for her first launch.
Decades later I was thrilled again by the site of the space shuttle but this time it was an evening launch spied from the windows of Citricos at the Grand Floridian Hotel. Discovery’s amazing contrails glowed a brilliant pink against the darkened sky.
So when I moved to Florida in 2002 I hoped to see a shuttle launch over each of Disney’s Parks and from the Space Center itself. Watching space shuttle Discovery’s launch from Disney’s Animal Kingdom was the final step in reaching that goal.
What sounds like wind rustling across the microphone half-way through the video are the little concussions created by the intense sound that accompanies the shuttle launch, not a sudden breeze.
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