LAUNCH!!

up, Up, UP she goes... Riding on a pillar of fire...
Initially it was dark, with the moon casting some glow on the clouds, and a beam shining up from the pad on the shuttle... thirty seconds to go I hear, twenty, someone says... 8, 4, 2... The treeline lights up, getting brighter and brighter, the entire sky lights up, like the sun rising but so quickly, a few seconds have passed, but there is no noise and only a brightness in the air. Then a small lightning bolt burns itself into my eyes, clearing the trees now, and it spits a long beam of flame, up she goes... Up, faster now, beginning to arc to the east, and now the ground starts to quiver, the sound comes washing over us, shaking my lungs a little. My eyes are burned from the spot of brightness, still rising over the clouds. Punching through them now, getting smaller and smaller and quieter. To the east.
The other pictures include my visitors for this part of the trip, Alan, and Danny and Aimee. We went sailing on an Islander 32 that Danny wanted to look at, and it was great. Sailing in the Gulf of mexico is really nice.
Here is a launch sequence, all 30 second shots...

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