Latest Update: 7/19/99 8:49:41 AM

I think I slept for an hour or two the night before the launch. The excited anticipation, as well as the humid Florida climate made sleep difficult for me. We left early, prior to 5 A.M. if I recall. Driving the pre-dawn streets of Maitland, FL with a single objective: to get to the Space Center. In a short time we were on the Beeline highway, heading east. The road was flat, and straight as a beeline. The air was humid and the swampy scent was noticeable for me.

At one point we could see patterns of floodlights illuminating the sky ahead. The source of the light was invisible to us. As we approached the Kennedy Space Center it became clear that the light originated from the Launch Pad.

Our vehicle pass was taped to the passenger side of the windshield. I hoped we could find a good place to see the launch.

At the gate, a momentary stop, and the guard, seeing the pass, waved us through. At this point we seemed to be part of a well-organized traffic flow; everything was so smooth.

Perhaps the most striking sense of the launch was the silence at the moment of ignition. The public address system gave us the usual countdown words, but the loudest sound was a collective gasp of those watching, and the click of hundreds of camera shutters. It was only some number of seconds later that we heared (and felt) the familiar roar of the Saturn 1B engines.

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