# Nighttime shuttle launch Thursday: Visible from Orlando? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172 "2006-12-07T04:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172/21 "2006-12-10T16:26:44Z")
So was anyone (not in Florida) able to see it live? I tried, but I just couldn’t get high enough and far enough away from the lights. Plus it was pretty cloudy here last night… Maybe next time! ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172/22 "2006-12-10T18:13:29Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] The real thing I was off about is that I should have been looking south-southwest, not southeast. [/QUOTE] [semijack]Fools almost everybody. The thing is the US is a sort of trapezoid with the west coast running southeast to northwest and the east from southwest to northeast. Reno, NV is west of Los Angeles. In fact it’s west of Santa Barbara just a tad.[/semijack] ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172/23 "2006-12-10T23:37:54Z")
My husband saw it from North Carolina! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172/24 "2006-12-11T01:40:43Z")
[QUOTE=robcaro] I saw a launch from Miami quite clearly, so from Orlando it is a sure thing on a clear night. [/QUOTE] Ditto, and it was a morning launch. (I could make out the contrail when it was going up, but not the shuttle itself.) ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172/25 "2006-12-11T02:01:31Z")
[QUOTE=DooWahDiddy] Yep. Too bad, too… once I heard it was going to be visible from NYC I was _really_ looking forward to it. Maybe Saturday, they said. So did you make the drive all the way out there, **Nic2004**? It was only at 5:00 when it was scrubbed! [/QUOTE] No. I had the voice trans. from NASA on and the talk of weather and our rain here at the house suggested it would not go that night. We were coming home from a previous commitment in Mt. Dora (west of Orlando) and was on a long rural road when it went off and MAN, what a beautiful sight! The entire sky to the east was lit before it cleared the tree line and we watched through the booster separation and then off over the horizon. Beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172/26 "2006-12-13T20:43:22Z")
Update: **Woo hoo!** I saw the launch Saturday night from the comfort of my 7th floor hotel room (I had the foresight to ask for an east-facing room). Quite impressive, indeed! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nighttime-shuttle-launch-thursday-visible-from-orlando/383172.md?page=1)