After a great flight with Air New Zealand, from Sydney via Auckland to Houston, and a short flight from Houston I arrived in Orlando on Monday evening. Flying business class makes travel a lot more pleasant 😊
My first day was visiting Disney Magic World, not that I am into all the rides they offer, but more for the experience. And for those who know the Netherlands, to compare it to the Efteling. I always liked the Efteling and I can say Magic World is much the same but bigger (much bigger). It was fun to see and so many kids with a smile on their faces when they saw Mickey or Donald hopping around.
Here are a few shots of the day:
But as you know my main reason for this trip is to see the works of NASA and SpaceX. Well on my first day, I was very lucky as SpaceX had planned a launch of one of their Falcon 9 rockets from Launchpad 40 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). So I grabbed an Uber and went to a viewing spot recommended by launch photographer Ben Cooper. As you can imagine the public is not getting close to the launch pad and if the launch happens after 6 PM a lot of the places, such as the KSC visitor center, or the beaches are closed. The spot Ben recommended was on the Max Brewer bridge that runs from Titusville to Cape Canaveral. So I got there on time, after being stuck in traffic and starting to get nervous that I might miss the event, however at 8 minutes to launch SpaceX stopped the countdown and started again with 55 minutes to go. I was glad that I had changed into some warmer clothes as there was a cold wind blowing and the temperature dropped to about 12 degrees. I was surprised that there were so few people gathered on this spot, there were only 8 of us and all were there to see their first launch. I think with the frequency that SpaceX is launching to date, the locals have lost interest 😁
Here are some statistics about this SpaceX flight:
- This was the 16th time they used this rocket booster
- This was the 70th launch this year
- In total, they launched 263 rockets since they started in 2002
- From those 221 landed back on earth
And here you can see the launch as I saw it from the bridge:
Wat n geweldig begin van je avontuur.
N heel fijne reis,met veel verwondering.
Liefs xxxx
Looks awesome Arno! Enjoy your time 😊
So cool Arno. Jealous
And I now even managed to see two launches, the second Falcon 9 went into space last night and I cou see it from the hotel parking lot. 😊
The amount of power to get an item from this round ball of rock and water is amazing to see time for them to come up with the gravity disrupter so the pull from the earth is severed
Mmm let me come up with one ☝️this will be a good idea the Brok gravity disruptor
Looking forward to see this gravity disruptor 😊😊