Any place on where to see a launch at KSC?

[Cloakedwand72]

Any good places to stay near Kennedy space center? And Any good spots to watch the Atlas & Delta heavy & Falcon 9 & Heavy launches & landings? And also any good places in cocoa beach & also how do you get to PlayaLinda Beach? Like the place you see some people watch launches from? And how early should you arrive of manned launches or big rockets? And Where would be a good place to see a Dragon In flight abort test?

[XB-70A]

For Atlas V's, the best location clearly is the LC-39 Observation Gantry, which is located at only 3.7 km WNW from the SLC-41. Here is what it looks like from there:

 

The main problem with it is the fact that the KSC Visitor Complex is depending of some strict opening hours. As an example, the launch of AEHF 4 in last October was unavailable, without counting the fact that in most cases, it's impossible to get refunded, and you will be good for another 50 USD investment.

Otherwise, you can go at the Saturn V hangar, which is the second closest location (but the view is not so nice), or Playalinda Beach during the opening hours (when there is no Gvt shutdown), the distance is then around 6.2 km NNW from it. An impression of the sight:

 

Last solution: Port Canaveral. It's open at any time, at least, but the distance between the 41 and you is pretty important... about 18.7 km.

 

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For Delta IV, the best places are the NASA Causeway and the LC-39 O.G., but once again they are depending of the opening hours, and of the "type" of the payload also. Otherwise, a really good and free spot is, once again, the FL-401 in Port Canaveral, which is only 14 km away at the SW:

However, I would recommend to stand at the westerly spot available on the road, if you want to have a clear sight of the SLC-37. It's a bit farther than if you were standing close to the Air Force Station entrance, but with the last one the vegetation will not gave you the possibility to see the whole complex.

 

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For Falcon 9 and Heavy, you got all the options of the two others, depending of which pad is used.

About any launch from the SLC-39A, the LC-39 O.G. is unavailable due to the proximity of the complex, but it is available when the 40 is used. This is what you could see from there:

The sight is particularly clear of any natural and artificial obstructions, but (as usual) there are some negative points... if you want to take movies or pictures, you must ride the first bus and be the first to arrive on the site! The spotters are real vultures and will occupy all the spots of the gantry is less than a minute. There are about 4 levels available on the gantry, but all terraces are obstructed by the metallic arms of the structure, and if you want to shot Falcon 9 from there, only the Southern sight is interesting. All in all, I would say that only 18 spots are available, and it is strictly forbidden to install any of your equipment in the stairs.

If all the spots are already taken, you can still stay at the surface. There are two stadium benches available (tripods are unauthorized on them), and it is possible to settle at the grid, provided (once again) to be the first arrived first served.

 

If the O.G. is unavailable (or if you don't want to risk four scrubs and four not refunded tickets... *cough* GPS-3 I *cough*...), Playalinda Beach is an excellent location. The second best for launch from the SLC-39A, with only 5.5 km of separation at the closest spot:

From there, Falcon 9 will already looks like a pretty tall building for human eyes. Usually, the KSC V.C. is selling some ticket to see them from the Saturn V hangar, but those who never went there before could be disappointed, as the distance is slightly higher than from Playalinda (the whole for a higher cost), and the worst... you got the launch tower totally masking the launcher.

Also, if you want to see it from the beach, you can walk toward the pad as close as possible until the park rangers will stop you. However, if you want to see it from the parking lots, be aware of something: if the parking #1 t is the closest, it's also the one with the worst sight of all as the vegetation is covering almost half of the launch tower. 

What I would recommend to you, depending of the launch site is:

- Parking 2 for SLC-39A / SLC-41 (horrible for Falcons launch from the 40 as the 39A launch tower is totally covering up the launcher)

- Parking 3 for SLC-39A / SLC-40 (don't go at this one for Atlas V, the vegetation is, once again, making it terrible)

- Parking 4 for SLC-40 / SLC-41

- All parking location northerner would to be too far to be interesting about videos/photos, but still nice for the eyes.

 

The beach is a bit less interesting for a launch from the SLC-40:

From there, you will be around 12 km from the pad. Still it's the best not-too-expensive location, and it's open to anybody.

 

Now, it's time for an umpteenth "however"... it also depends of what you mainly want to see with Falcon, the lift-off or the landing, because there are no locations available between the launchpads and the landing zone 1.

If you want to focus mainly on the launch, then the ones above are good; if you want to favor the landing, then the best location is Port Canaveral. Alas, this location is the farthest of all for any launch, (but it's a totally free one, at least).

For launch from the 40, you will end at around 16 km from it, and for the 39A... (drum rolls)... at 21 km *big sigh*. It's far, really far, and without any cameras or binoculars, it will only looks like a tiny star elevating slowly.

Here is what you can get with the SLC-40:

 

And with the SLC-39A (watch for your eyes, it hurts):

 

 

But all the sacrifice would have a meaning if you want to see the boosters coming back, as the LZ-1 is "only" 10 km away from you:

 

Just like the case of Delta IV, the different sites will give you different perspectives. If you are at the westerly location, you will enjoy a really nice sight of the booster(s) coming back:

 

The bad points there being, the building, and these awful cables.

 

If you are choosing to stay at the entrance of the base, then the building is not a problem anymore, but the vegetation will cover your sight instead:

 

 

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Now, some other points:

- Playalinda Beach is an excellent location, but recently they changed the rules, and now the rangers are closing the Park about two hours before any launch (even if there are STILL parking spots available...). You must be on site as early as possible. In the case of Es'Hail-2/Falcon 9 in November, I arrived around 10 in the morning, even if the launch actually happened at 15:46 local time. Many people are coming to attend every launch, even more when it's a recoverable Falcon. Also pretty good, four restrooms are available at each parking, but you must carry your own water as there are no selling points.

The location is costing 1 USD to enter if you are walking in (these guys are smart, the closest houses are in Titusville, almost two hours of walking from the park) or if you are coming on a bicycle. With a car, it will cost you 10. What I'm recommending to everyone who don't want to take any risk is to buy the annual pass for 40 dollars. In case of multiple scrubs it can be interesting.

 

- Same story for the FL-401 in Port Canaveral. If you are standing at the westerly spot, you just have to park on the side of the road, and everything is done. However, no restrooms are available there. If you decided to stay close to the entrance of the base, you will have to stop at a simple checkpoint, and a MP will ask you what you are doing here (only to check if you are working on the base or not). Just say that you are coming to attend the launch and he/she will tell you to park (rear first, mandatory) at a special location. The good point about here is that two large grandstands are available, as well as 6 chemical restrooms, BUT, don''t forget to bring your own toilet paper with you (it's not a joke, almost every time I'm leaving one in for others).

Everything there is free.

 

- If you're going at the LC-39 Observation Gantry, you need to pay for an entry at the Visitor Center, and $50 more for the gantry. If the launch is scrubbed before you are giving your bus boarding card, then everything is "fine", and you will be able to use your ticket for the next launch attempt. However, you must pay for a new daily entrance (this is where it's way better to buy an annual pass instead of a daily admission, just in case). Now the worst, if it has been cancelled after you have seated in, the game is over. You will not be refunded your tickets, and the KSC V.C. will only give you two solutions: or you can buy something awfully expensive in one of the stores with 15% off, OR it can give you a free access to visitor complex for the next attempt, BUT you will still have to buy a new 50 USD place for the O.G.

It's costing a lot, but it's always giving you the closest spot locations when it's open. Water and food are free to everyone, and a "mission" t-shirt will be given to you (officially, it's supposed to be a mission t-shirt, every single time I went there it was not but some of their standard shirts they are selling at the Visitor Complex... anyway)

 

- Every launch is exceptional and particular and another point I really enjoy is that you are always meeting with people coming from all over the globe. However, the rate of right-on-time lift-off is still average.

 

- For DM-1, it will depend of what you want to see the most, the lift-off or the abort. For the first case, the best would be Playalinda as the pad is supposed to be the 39A, but if you want a better side perspective of the whole scene, I would go for Port Canaveral instead. The trajectory of Dragon flights is really particular when compared to the others.

To give you some example, here is what you will see from Playalinda:

 

Here from the FL-401:

 

 

Also, as it's a Dragon flight, you can see the difference of trajectory on these two shots, both were taken at Max-q from the same location in Port Canaveral; both were launched from the SLC-40:

GPS 3-I "Vespucci"

 

Dragon CRS-16

 

As you can see, the Dragon trajectory is more "straight" from our perspective. Due to this, abort could be a bit more disappointing if shot from Playalinda rather than Port Canaveral.

 

Well, that's a lot of lines, but I hope it will help you to decide which location could be the most pleasant.

 

Edited January 8, 2019 by XB-70A
Aurtohgraf