Telstar 18V Launch

  Its a radio blog but there is a story to be told.  Growing up in the 60's I was a huge fan of the Gemini and Apollo programs.    My Grandfather worked as a Tech at the Goddard Space Flight Center and provided me with a constant stream of NASA literature through this era.  In the early 70's he gave me my first " Ham Radio" a single 6146 Tube CW Transmitter.    I eventually teamed this up with a receiver and used it for the first year of hamming.   Radios and rockets were a natural mix.  Worked the MIR Space Station ,   loved RS10/11 even played with some of the X.25 birds.   I always loved looking at the night sky and loved identifying various LEOs over the years.

 Going to a launch was a bucket list item and when the invite came I jumped at the opportunity to attend the Telstar 18V Launch at the Kennedy Space Center. 

 Its all started with a welcome kit including  a " VIP " badge that we were required to wear at all times.   It was pretty cool walking through the exhibits as a tourist wearing this badge! 

Prior to the launch we got to spend some time with the rocket.  They had a photographer there and provided us with the pictures.

SpaceX gave us the 101 on the Falcon 9 Rocket and what to expect in the hours leading up to the launch.

We watched the launch from the top of a 5 story NASA building about 5 miles from the Launch Pad

The launch was perfect... it was far brighter then I expected but not as loud as I was expecting.