I was at the first FH launch and ordered the "Feel the heat" tickets. We watched the launch from the Saturn V / Apollo center just across the water from Pad 39A where the launch was. The part that I will never forget is the low rumbling in your chest. You can literally feel it.
The sonic booms on takeoff sound like a machine gun about 3-4 octaves too high, and the 6 sonic booms (each Falcon 9 makes 3 sonic booms on re-entry) on landing were really incredible. If you can watch ones of these, do it!
I bought them from their website and it was $195 / ticket? It came with a pretty respectable lunch, a shuttle tour of KSC, and a single day full pass to explore KSC. Also, the announcer there in person was Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He spent much of the time talking about the Planetary Society's Light Sail project and all about SpaceX. They had a DJ and it was a pretty well organized event. My wife and I went to the launch, explored Orlando for a day, and then went to KSC as we figured all of the Falcon Heavy people would go to KSC the day after the launch. It was perfect! My wife wasn't a huge space fan before and this turned her into one, I highly recommend it!
My group bought our tickets a few days before the launch and there was no availability problem. I think the tickets are expensive enough that they don't sell out, but I could be wrong only having done it once.
We ended up not seeing the launch and eating the cost because of the delay, but I knew that going in.
I didn't realize that, but Reddit's r/SpaceX community is generally really ontop of those things, so I saw it there and just bought tickets. Then convinced the wife we should go and worked on travel arrangements. She was just in awe of it all as I was.
What I personally did was take the full week off. Buying a one way ticket there.
If it had gone on schedule, we would either have done a “different” trip, or simply come home for a “staycation”.
In general, I would not plan for it to go when it says it will.
Also, another helpful hint: it won’t go earlier than 3-4 days after the static fire. One option would be not to book flights till the static fire actually occurs.
I was planning on going, but decided against it after watching the weather reports and figuring the model would add more unpredictability than I wanted.
If work wasn't so crazy, I would have booked a few extra days to cover possible scrubs, and I would recommend anyone else flying in do the same.
I planned the trip for 3 days to get the primary and backup launch dates. The first day we did the launch, the second day we went to some Orlando nature preserves (shoutout to Gatorland), and the third day we spent exploring Kennedy Space Center.
I bought my Feel the Heat tickets on the KSC website Monday evening, two days before the original launch date (well, one day after the No Earlier Than (NET) date). Feel the Heat tickets were still available through the website at least on Tuesday night as well.
It’s not hard to get tickets but there are a ton of viewing options that are free - and no one is truly close - at best you’re still miles away. I wouldn’t sweat the location - just go!
I've likened it to going shooting, and you're wearing ears, but when the person in the lane next to you pulls the trigger, the blast just kicks you in the chest.
Now imagine that kick-in-the-chest continuously a dozen times a second for the better part of a minute and you're not 4 feet away but more like 2 miles.
What I take from your comment is that I need to go see some top fuel dragsters! ;)
I've seen the H1 Unlimited hydroplane races, but they're turbine-driven so there's whine and a tremendous roar as the prop beats the water, but a distinct lack of thump. (It's hilarious listening to one spool up and head out of the pits, though...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTZLiqA2qjY
The closest you can get to a top fuel dragster lighting up is about 30 feet. You really don't want to be any closer. Before you go, buy a good set of shooting range ear protectors.
The great thing about top fuel is it's the only motor sport where a pit pass is actually a pit pass. You can go into the pits and talk to the mechanics and drivers if they're not busy.
Once a crowd was hanging around a team that just finished putting their engine back together. They started it, blab-blab-blab-blab. Then they blipped the throttle. I knew it was coming and had the ear muffs on, but most didn't, and the crowd leaned back and cringed as the blast wave hit them.
3000 hp running through those little V8's is incredible.
Their souvenir stand sold blown up engine parts :-)
it's the only motor sport where a pit pass is actually a pit pass. You can go into the pits and talk to the mechanics and drivers if they're not busy.
H1 Unlimited begs to differ. :)
The "pits" are weird; there are dockside cranes that lift the boats out of the water into the pit area, and lift them back when they're done; servicing is always done between races, not during a lap.
But with the appropriate pass, you can wander right in. Don't touch the propellers; they could be made of adamantium-duranium alloy and poking 'em would still be rude. But otherwise, yeah, welcome to wrenchville! It's a bit drippier and smells weirder than other motorsports pits..
Comments
I was at the first FH launch and ordered the "Feel the heat" tickets. We watched the launch from the Saturn V / Apollo center just across the water from Pad 39A where the launch was. The part that I will never forget is the low rumbling in your chest. You can literally feel it.
The sonic booms on takeoff sound like a machine gun about 3-4 octaves too high, and the 6 sonic booms (each Falcon 9 makes 3 sonic booms on re-entry) on landing were really incredible. If you can watch ones of these, do it!
Is it hard to get tickets? How much do they cost?
It wasn't hard to get tickets, you just had to get them as soon as they went on sale directly from Kennedy Space Center:
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/event...
I bought them from their website and it was $195 / ticket? It came with a pretty respectable lunch, a shuttle tour of KSC, and a single day full pass to explore KSC. Also, the announcer there in person was Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He spent much of the time talking about the Planetary Society's Light Sail project and all about SpaceX. They had a DJ and it was a pretty well organized event. My wife and I went to the launch, explored Orlando for a day, and then went to KSC as we figured all of the Falcon Heavy people would go to KSC the day after the launch. It was perfect! My wife wasn't a huge space fan before and this turned her into one, I highly recommend it!
My group bought our tickets a few days before the launch and there was no availability problem. I think the tickets are expensive enough that they don't sell out, but I could be wrong only having done it once.
We ended up not seeing the launch and eating the cost because of the delay, but I knew that going in.
One note: tickets sell out really fast, i Believe I heard within the first half hour.
I second though getting there to be apart of it is incredible.
One final note: seems like SpaceX is a bit superstitious, they didn’t sell the mission badges until after launch.
I didn't realize that, but Reddit's r/SpaceX community is generally really ontop of those things, so I saw it there and just bought tickets. Then convinced the wife we should go and worked on travel arrangements. She was just in awe of it all as I was.
Agreed r/Spacex is awesome - like Hacker News for all things space.
How did that work out with the launch delays? Did you just plan on being in the area long enough to be there for any subsequent attempts?
What I personally did was take the full week off. Buying a one way ticket there.
If it had gone on schedule, we would either have done a “different” trip, or simply come home for a “staycation”.
In general, I would not plan for it to go when it says it will.
Also, another helpful hint: it won’t go earlier than 3-4 days after the static fire. One option would be not to book flights till the static fire actually occurs.
I was planning on going, but decided against it after watching the weather reports and figuring the model would add more unpredictability than I wanted.
If work wasn't so crazy, I would have booked a few extra days to cover possible scrubs, and I would recommend anyone else flying in do the same.
I planned the trip for 3 days to get the primary and backup launch dates. The first day we did the launch, the second day we went to some Orlando nature preserves (shoutout to Gatorland), and the third day we spent exploring Kennedy Space Center.
I bought my Feel the Heat tickets on the KSC website Monday evening, two days before the original launch date (well, one day after the No Earlier Than (NET) date). Feel the Heat tickets were still available through the website at least on Tuesday night as well.
It’s not hard to get tickets but there are a ton of viewing options that are free - and no one is truly close - at best you’re still miles away. I wouldn’t sweat the location - just go!
You can feel it if you go to top fuel drag racing, too! In fact, it's more than just feeling, it's like someone is beating on your chest.
I've likened it to going shooting, and you're wearing ears, but when the person in the lane next to you pulls the trigger, the blast just kicks you in the chest.
Now imagine that kick-in-the-chest continuously a dozen times a second for the better part of a minute and you're not 4 feet away but more like 2 miles.
What I take from your comment is that I need to go see some top fuel dragsters! ;)
I've seen the H1 Unlimited hydroplane races, but they're turbine-driven so there's whine and a tremendous roar as the prop beats the water, but a distinct lack of thump. (It's hilarious listening to one spool up and head out of the pits, though...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTZLiqA2qjY
The closest you can get to a top fuel dragster lighting up is about 30 feet. You really don't want to be any closer. Before you go, buy a good set of shooting range ear protectors.
The great thing about top fuel is it's the only motor sport where a pit pass is actually a pit pass. You can go into the pits and talk to the mechanics and drivers if they're not busy.
Once a crowd was hanging around a team that just finished putting their engine back together. They started it, blab-blab-blab-blab. Then they blipped the throttle. I knew it was coming and had the ear muffs on, but most didn't, and the crowd leaned back and cringed as the blast wave hit them.
3000 hp running through those little V8's is incredible.
Their souvenir stand sold blown up engine parts :-)
H1 Unlimited begs to differ. :)
The "pits" are weird; there are dockside cranes that lift the boats out of the water into the pit area, and lift them back when they're done; servicing is always done between races, not during a lap.
But with the appropriate pass, you can wander right in. Don't touch the propellers; they could be made of adamantium-duranium alloy and poking 'em would still be rude. But otherwise, yeah, welcome to wrenchville! It's a bit drippier and smells weirder than other motorsports pits..