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Hi Humayun,
You just rock up but you need tickets for Kennedy center itself
The big problem is timing.
We were really lucky we had to change our plans somewhat as the launch was delayed a day due to storms over Houston. On launch the shuttle does a roll and over to Houston - it gets there real fast! and they are absolutely paranoid about lightning strikes
We stayed in Kissimmee which is not far from Orlando and you book a bus trip out to the site. You just pull up with thousands of people that line the shore. There are regulars, people having picnics a real family type event.
Launch pad 39A is way in the distance but you get a direct feed from launch control of the count down over the speakers. Everyone knows that there are hold points and once it gets past that then all systems are ok till the next point and so on and the excitement goes up a huge amount - you can feel it. The guy that I was standing next to was yelling and screaming when it got past one of these points (16secs or so - could be wrong on that )as in 9 visits it never had.
I'm in IT so I was interested in what was going on from an IT point of view and there are in incredible number of system checks all going on and verifying the status with the various computer systems then they must all be confirmed with a master computer. If any system reports an anomally or error then there is a hold. So as you can imagine by main engine start I was in heaven!
Literally everyone held their breath then cheered but still no sound from the pad yet......you can see this amazing explosion of exhaust but nothing ( well not over over the roar of the crowds! and the breeze may have added to that). then it hits you like rolling thunder. The "power" of the sound is what everyone there talked about.
Ive never heard anything like it
you can do a tour of Kennedy itself.. I managed to hold a piece of shuttle tile that had just had a blow touch on the other side of it a few seconds before - it was normal room temp to touch on the other side. Little did I know at that point how important these tiles would be in future missions!
Love to hear from someone who has been recently and their experiences - my trip was 12 years ago and its like it happened yesterday!
One of the best things I have every seen - the only thing that would beat it is a night launch!
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