Cassady Family: STS-123

Hello all - sorry it has been so long since we last posted (hint: the next post will explain some things). Anyhoo, on March 10 Lenny and I headed to Florida to see the launch of STS-123. My parents were staying in Florida for the month of March and wanted to see a launch. So after thinking about it for about 3 seconds, Lenny and I thought it was a perfect excuse to go. I got a causeway pass, which let's a civil servant (that's me) take 6 people on site at Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch from a long causeway that gives the perfect view. We were about 4 miles from the launch pad (that's pretty close actually). So my parents and my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bob (they were vacationing in Florida at the time too) picked us up from the airport and we headed to Cocoa Beach. We had some lunch and caught up for the afternoon and then decided to get some rest - the launch was scheduled for the middle of the night. We headed to Kennedy Space Center at about 10:30 pm to get a good spot. And that we did - it was perfect. There were loud speakers that went over everything that was going on - both on the pad and in mission control. Then when the loop gives all the go/no-goes (all goes for this one) you really start to get excited. The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched at 2:38 am on March 11. It was amazing! Though the cloud cover only allowed us to see the Space Shuttle for about 30 seconds we could hear it for over a minute. A Space Shuttle launch is the most amazing, breathtaking thing in the world...I can't even begin to come up with words to describe it. The whole sky lit up like it was noon!

Needless to say it was an awesome trip and it was fantastic to see my parents and aunt and uncle, even it was only for two days. Check out some of the cool pictures we took and definitely check out the video my Dad took of the launch - notice that we didn't hear the launch until about 45 seconds after lift-off.