Very good description of what it's like to be there. I was fortunate to witness the launch of Apollo 16 in person as a high school junior in 1972. I'd seen just about all the previous launches on TV but they did not prepare me for actually being there. Even though we were miles away, the size of the rocket was completely outside the boundaries of any vehicle I'd ever seen and, as the OP said, the sound made by those 5 massive engines wasn't so much heard as it was felt in the pit of your stomach. Long after the rocket has disappeared, you still could hear it. It remains the most awesome event I've ever witnessed.
That must have been an incredible experience. An Apollo launch would be much louder than an FH, particularly since they did not think to do much sound suppression back then. They used to break windows in Orlando when they launched! Now they have tons of water below and flowing through the pad to carry the energy away.
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Very good description of what it's like to be there. I was fortunate to witness the launch of Apollo 16 in person as a high school junior in 1972. I'd seen just about all the previous launches on TV but they did not prepare me for actually being there. Even though we were miles away, the size of the rocket was completely outside the boundaries of any vehicle I'd ever seen and, as the OP said, the sound made by those 5 massive engines wasn't so much heard as it was felt in the pit of your stomach. Long after the rocket has disappeared, you still could hear it. It remains the most awesome event I've ever witnessed.
That must have been an incredible experience. An Apollo launch would be much louder than an FH, particularly since they did not think to do much sound suppression back then. They used to break windows in Orlando when they launched! Now they have tons of water below and flowing through the pad to carry the energy away.