The launch on August 8, 2007 of the Space Shuttle Endeavour went well. I had a pretty good viewing area right across from the cape in Titusville, FL. They won’t let you get very close to the pad. I messed up because there are two launch pads that the shuttle is launched from. It was hazy and they were just on the horizon, so I didn’t know which one to look at. I picked the wrong one and missed about the first second. The launch happens very quickly. That thing was up and out of sight in about 3 minutes and that’s with high power binoculars. The exhaust is also much brighter than it seems on TV. When it was low to the ground it almost hurt my eyes through the binoculars. The sound is odd too. Since you are far away the thing is pretty high before you hear anything, then it is a low rumbling that gets louder and shakes. It’s hard to describe as I’ve never heard anything like it. It is at a very low frequency. Here is a slideshow of the few pictures I was able to take.
