Did YOU See It?

Last night, at 11:27, the largest rocket yet to launch off from the new spaceport built on Wallops Island VA next to Chincoteague, left the ground to fly to the moon.

If you were in this area and looked south for about three minutes after is launch, you would have seen the glow with a long tail roughly stretching close to a fifth the length of your neighbor’s house across the street… then see it disappear, only to reappear as the next stage fired up… It would continue until out of sight.

I anticipated far less. I assumed it would barely launch high enough over the horizon, and would be hard to distinguish from one of the airliners flying up the East Coast… (only it’s lights wouldn’t blink)… I wish I’d gone to another spot, higher up, with no obstructions in front. Because it was spectacular.

Here is a idea of how the trajectory looked here; perhaps the elevation of the Empire State Building compensates for the curvature from Delaware to New York…