At the public viewing site we had a terrific view of SLC-2, the launchpad where NPP sat on it’s Delta II rocket, 3 miles away. As promised, the sky was clear, the Milky Way visible in the sky, and not even a hint of fog.
Early arrivals were entertained by the Air Force guys who had set up streaming video of NASA TV projected onto the side of a white truck. There was music, swag give-aways for the people who could name NPP’s five instruments, and more details on the CubeSats from the university teams that built them. Someone from the crowd shouted, “Give us more physics!”
The buzz through the crowd transmitted the various launch countdown updates as wireless was intermittent but at T-30 seconds the whole crowd of at least a hundred grew silent.
Camera phones went up, the true photographers got ready. Before the countdown no one spoke. T-10 seconds.
Then the rocket lit up!
A bright light in the darkness that slowly rose as gasps and cheers rose from the crowd. It was incredible to watch.
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