Last Night-Time Shuttle Launch

Person #1:  You’re up late.
Me: Yeah, I’m staying up to see the shuttle launch at 4:30 or so.
Person #1:  That’s like 10 minutes from now.  The server time’s in Central time.
Me: Crap.

I jump from my treadmill put on a coat and gun to my car driving at excessive speeds to my chosen viewing area.  I step out into the parking lot in my sandals and exercise shorts with my camera poised at the horizon and waited…10 minutes later after seeing nothing I checked the launch status on my phone and the launch had been scrubbed due to cloud cover.

I waited again today at 4:20 AM in the parking lot of workplace, and 6 minutes after launch a white dot a bit bigger than Venus began screaming North about 5 degrees (3 fingers) above the horizon.  It puttered in and out of view obviating every cloud between the dot and I.   I choked up a little and then went about my day.  And by that I mean I nodded off while removing crapware from a PC I was recommissioning.