STS-133 - Space Shuttle Discovery

Thanks for the info, where did you shoot from ?

The Causeway, with about three million other people.

You're the man Mike! I'd love to see your stash of lenses!

I happened to be in Fla that week , odd for me I havent been down there since 1988, and was heading to Cocoa Beach area to visit some friends, while just realizing there was going to be a shuttle launch, the night before, Im like cool this will be sweet.Needless to say traffic was dead stopped 40 miles before I could get there , because of people trying to get there to the launch area, so I turned around and went back to the center of the state where it was too cloudy to see anything . My friends said there were people standing in the water trying to get everyone on the beach over there.
Congratulations

I found out a friend of mine was there. He said it took 6 hours to get back to Orlando, 41 miles!

Wait. That can't be a friend. He was there and didn't take me!

Very nice set indeed.

Gary McDuffie wrote in post #11947538
I found out a friend of mine was there. He said it took 6 hours to get back to Orlando, 41 miles!

Wait. That can't be a friend. He was there and didn't take me!

Traffic was definitely a nightmare. I've been to previous launches and it was never like this. The launch was at 4:50PM, I didn't hit the road until 11:00PM, and I still hit miles of congestion on 528 thanks to the toll plaza backing up and blocking the SunPass lanes.

I was there on the causeway as well, we left the KSC visitors lot at 615ish, I think we walked into the restaurant on South Semoran Blvd (38 miles) at 9:10pm.

I fail to understand when driving thru 30 miles of swamp with nowhere to go but forward what the difficulty was toll or not. Sheesh. I am soooooo glad they got past the difficulties with the crew door and eastern range clearance (less then 30 sec to spare!) b/c I'm not sure I would have returned for another attempt.

The most unusual photographer I saw was a guy with two Rebels w/100-400L at max and two Filp HD cameras all mounted to one video head. Going for 3D recording, best of luck with all that

3D is probably a useless endeavor, given the subject is at infinity. But there were definitely some interesting setups out there. The most serious kit in my vicinity was this Nikkor 600:

Mike Deep wrote in post #11951858
3D is probably a useless endeavor, given the subject is at infinity. But there were definitely some interesting setups out there. The most serious kit in my vicinity was this Nikkor 600:

The tolls are a tourist and commuter trap and are not designed for the traffic these launches attract, especially now with the greater numbers coming to see the final missions. It's even more frustrating to be a resident with a SunPass (Enabling you to hit the "DO NOT STOP" lanes with no booths) and still get held up by all the out of state traffic going through the cash lanes.

I could probably handle all that if it weren't for the added hassle tour companies like FDT create. It is patently absurd that people should have to board their buses at dawn for an evening launch. It's even more absurd that nobody in that company knows whats going on with anything at any time, be it the launch, the tour plan or the company's own policies. Last year's scrub of this mission due to the GUCP leak underscored how poorly organized FDT is: They gave the wrong bus pickup times to their customers but would not assist anyone who consequently missed the buses (This was clearly stated in their literature). It was also evident that they had no boarding plan in the event of a scrub. The staff are indifferent and essentially clueless--surely there are some space enthusiasts around who could fill these jobs? The whole thing is very fly-by-night and I would take every possible step to avoid them in the future.

I was on the Causeway too for this launch. In fact I was just behind that guy, and to his left side. We talked for a bit, and even exchanged web portfolio info. So far he has not posted anything he shot that day. I am on my way back to Michigan, and have not worked on any of my shots yet. I don't trust my laptop for processing, and I don't have a raw conversion program on it.

Traffic was terrible. Fortunately for me I stayed at my Cousin's house in Mims, and once we got past the Orlando turnoff on US1 we had clear sailing. We got to her house About 8:30 that night. Not bad for app. 20 miles of driving.