Bucket List / Experience Goals
Witness A Rocket Launch
Ticked off in April 2018
See the flash, feel the silence, then the roar arrives and shakes your chest as a rocket climbs towards orbit.
The adventure
On Florida's Space Coast, the countdown is broadcast across the viewing area and the crowd joins in for the final ten seconds. At zero you see it first: a blinding flash at the base of the rocket and a billowing cloud of steam rolling out across the launch pad. For a few strange seconds it rises in total silence.
Then the sound arrives. It starts as a rumble, becomes a crackling roar you feel in your ribs, and rattles the ground beneath your feet as the rocket climbs on a column of fire. Within a couple of minutes it's a bright star arcing out over the Atlantic. On some missions, a reusable booster comes back to land a few minutes later, announcing itself with a sonic boom that rolls across the whole coast. It's the closest most of us will get to going ourselves.
Florida's Space Coast is steeped in history. Apollo 11, the first mission to land on the moon, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on a Saturn V rocket on 16 July 1969, with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on board.
Why it’s epic
- Kennedy Space Center's launch viewing areas, among the closest public spots to the historic Launch Complex 39 pads.
- A full-size Saturn V moon rocket and the Space Shuttle Atlantis on display at the visitor complex.
- Sonic booms from returning Falcon 9 boosters landing back at the Cape.
- Florida's Space Coast now hosts launches most weeks, more than anywhere else in the world.
What it is
Watching a rocket launch is an unforgettable experience.
How to do it
Kennedy Space Center sells launch viewing tickets.
Top tip
Launches are often delayed.
Need to know
- Launch dates and times slip regularly because of weather and technical issues, so build spare days into your trip.
- Kennedy Space Center sells launch viewing tickets for many missions; free public viewing spots along the coast also fill early.
- Night launches are especially dramatic, lighting up the whole sky.
Plan this trip
- Rough cost
- £750 to £2,000 per person, including flights from the UK
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Best time to go
- Varies
- Fly into
- MCO airport
Viewing tickets are moderate; flights to Florida and flexible extra nights for delays are the main cost.
Do it yourself
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My experience
Ticked off, but the full story is still to be written up.
Over to you
Is “Witness A Rocket Launch” on your bucket list, or have you already done it? Tell me in the comments, and if you've got a question about it, ask away and I'll answer.