Two really particular days

[XB-70A]

Today was extremely particular to me and for a good reason. Just a day before I went for an umpteenth time to Melbourne in Florida for professional reasons and at the end of the day decided to "explore" a bit the region and to go to Playalinda Beach :

Entering the holy place.

 

 

Arrrrg. I could read at this time than the beach only was accessible by paying for a pass. $1 as a pedestrian/cyclist or $10 with a car... having only 5 on me I decided to park the car and kept on walking...

 

 

Only to discover there was no service today! Ha haaaa, on the road agaaaiiiiinnnnnn!!!... at a max of 35 mph, but on the road again.

 

 

I quickly found one of the "official" parking reserved to the swimmers, surfers... and launches addicted peoples.

 

 

One panoramic view of the parking lot and the launch complex 39A and B plus the V.A.B...

 

 

And one of the beach itself. A beautiful one which remembered me those of the Caribbean islands.

 

 

A closer view of my stagecoach. Yep, a simple 210 hp Optima but which never betrayed me since I'm with her.

 

 

Then it already was the time to leave as the beach was closing at 20.00... at least that's what I thought.

I was supposed to drive back to Tampa after an appointment around 14.00 today but it was advanced to 10.00 this morning and ended just before 11.00. I looked once again to the expected launch departure time of the Dragon CRS-12 flight... mmmh one hour of driving if I'm respecting the speed... mmmh nearly nobody is respecting the speed... mmmh I never seen a real launch by myself... mmmh I'm dreaming of it for years and years.... mmmh... LET'S GO!!!

 

 

Back to the beach! With one fan proudly waiting for the launch. The first parking lot was totally full and three later I found the sole place remaining in!

 

And fifteen minutes later...

Falcon 9 1.2 was lifting off with Dragon! WOOOHOOOOoooo.

 

Such a wonderful melody! Like a 30/45 second long thunder!

I waited about two minutes and after seeing that the first stage was shut down decided to leave as a lot of peoples were doing the same (and I really have to be at Tampa four hours later). But just when I was on the way back I'd seen a lot of fans looking for the stage at the North-East, where the launcher was before burning back. And, suddenly, I've seen it descending back through the clouds at an impressive speed and lightning its engine once again to brake. Simply impressive!

If there is only one thing I regret, it's to have forgotten my camera in Clearwater, the pictures taken with my phone got terrible quality at the best.

But this is a day I will never forget for sure!

[Confused Scientist]

Wow... I wish they still launched rockets (not missiles) from White Sands. It would probably be a good place to land a Falcon 9 stage, though.

[TheKosanianMethod]

Now that's cool!

*Begins planning next vacation to Florida*

[XB-70A]

19 hours ago, TheKosanianMethod said:

Now that's cool!

*Begins planning next vacation to Florida*

Just awesome! To be honest this was one of the most beautiful day in my life and it gives me the need to look at others one as soon as possible.

I would love to go for the launch of TDRS-M with the Atlas V/401 in two days but as she's always launched from Cape Canaveral the closest location I found for and which is not costing "too much" is still pretty far from the launch complex.

After nearly two years in Florida I would say it's a nice destination fro any vacancies. You can find a lot of thing to visit and to do nearly everywhere, the only problem being... the food. 

Not that it is disgusting or badly prepared, not at all, but it is generally very rich and fat. The kind of food you could take just one time during the day and be full until the next day.