My dad (who might be the coolest dad around) and I are taking a trip to Orlando May 9-17 to see one of the last Space Shuttle launches evar! Yes, we know it might be delayed past the point of our visit, but it’s a chance we don’t mind taking. And we scored the “close” seats in the VIP NASA Causeway viewing area, so we’re excited!
Other than the launch and the tour of Kennedy, are there any other must-do things we should look into? We’ll probably do EPCOT but not the rest of DisneyWorld, and maybe Universal Studios. Anything else?
Sweet. I was on the Space Shuttle Support Team at Edwards, so I saw a lot of landings. But I’ve never seen a launch.
Why do you think it will be delayed? I doubt the weather that time of year would prevent a launch.
So, what happens to the space station - do they bring the thing back down with them?
Well, a lot of things can delay a Shuttle launch, not just weather. Sometimes launches are delayed for weeks or even months for any number of reasons. But what can we do? I live in New York and my dad lives in Texas… the only thing we can do is show up in Florida on the 14th and hope the Fates are on our side!
Because it usually is. 
A lot of delays are caused by technical problems.
Nope, after these last three Shuttle flights the ISS will be complete (although additional smaller modules could be launched by Russia, Europe or the US on other rockets. I don’t know if there are any specific plans for that however). Astronauts will be carried to it via the Russian Soyuz capsules, and, in a few years, possibly the SpaceX Dragon capsule and whatever NASA’s next manned vehicle turns out to be.
How did you manage that? I’d love to see one of the remaining launches, the closer, the better.
I hope it’s awesome, but I could never watch another shuttle launch. My dad used to live really close to there and so I saw many launches as a kid, and I was living with my dad in 8th grade, and saw the Challenger explosion live-in-the-sky (not on TV)… I still sometimes have nightmares and can’t watch any kind of manned launches live anymore. I can watch replays once I know everyone is safe.
Assuming everything goes well, it should be pretty amazing for you! Shuttle launches are impressive enough from kind of far away–up close would be pretty amazing.
I think my dad went through a tour company. We both signed up for the “Tell us when tickets go on sale” email through NASA but I never got one. I’m not sure if he did, but either way, the confirmation email he forwarded me looks like it came from a Florida tour company. I’ll ask him next time we chat.
P.S. That sucks, Opal. 
Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen again…
Just wanted to report back and say that everything went perfectly; absolutely no delays in the launch, a beautiful almost-cloudless sky, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me and my dad!
I debated for a while whether I was going to just soak in the experience or try to film it, and I eventually decided I could do both. I was able to point my camera pretty steadily and follow the lift-off with one eye while using my other eye… nakedly, if you can dig that.
If you want to see the video, go here: http://www.angelfire.com/music2/bsturiale/Shuttle_launch.MOV
Of course we also went to the Space Center to try the simulators and see the exhibits. It was great! Was anyone else there for the launch?