"Atlantis, you are go for launch"

Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully lifted off at precisely 2:01 p.m. local time today. I should know. I was there! The shuttle's crew of seven astronauts are heading to the Hubble Space Telescope orbiting more than 560 kms above the earth. After 19 years of active duty, Hubble is in urgent need of maintenance. Four previous shuttles have visited the 13-ton observatory on servicing and repair missions. However this final mission is the most ambitious yet. Five spacewalks are planned in an effect to extend its life until at least 2014 before it's finally deorbited some time after 2020.

Several months of planning, a last minute flight change and an early pre-dawn start saw me spend just a few short minutes watching this fiery craft rise into the Florida sky. It all happens so quickly. In fact, I didn't realise until some time later I'd even caught the shuttle on camera as it cleared the launch tower (above). The noise is awesome. The rocket's glare is brighter than you can ever imagine. You're left in no doubt that this machine is burning fuel at a furious pace.


I almost didn't make it to Florida. The shuttle was originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday this week. In anticipation of this date, I took advantage of a business trip to New York and organised a day off. My original plan saw me flying into New York on Sunday evening, then flying down to Florida on Monday evening after a day in the office. However, NASA brought the launch forward by a day to secure an additional launch window this week.

This new date created a last-minute dilemma. My ticket from London to New York was fix-dated and couldn't be changed. Furthermore, the last flight on Sunday evening from New York to Orlando, Florida departed less than 80 minutes after I was scheduled to land. On previous occasions it’s taken at least this long to simply pass through customs and immigration in New York, let alone transfer to another terminal. A domestic transfer to Orlando clearly wasn't practical.

I was left with only one cost-effective option; cancel my Orlando flight on Monday and rebook on a later flight Sunday evening to Tampa, hire a car and drive for almost two hours through the night to Orlando. With luck I'd reach my hotel shortly before 3am. My tour bus was then scheduled to depart for the Kennedy Space Centre four hours later.

However, lady luck was smiling upon me. My flight into New York arrived early, the immigration queue was short and my bags appeared within minutes. I made a quick dash to the JetBlue airline terminal and was able to transfer back onto the last Orlando flight ten minutes before it closed. The flight itself was susequently delayed 20 minutes, all but guaranteeing that both myself and my luggage would make it to Florida. JetBlue must love me after handing over two sizeable rebooking fees.


Witnessing the launch made for a long day. My tour bus arrived shortly after 6.30am. It was one of four departing from the hotel. A crazy queue system in the hotel carpark then kept us waiting until 7.45pm. Waiting and queuing was quickly becoming the order of the day. Eventually everyone was seated and we were on our way to join more than 30,000 people watching today's launch from the Kennedy Space Centre. By 8.45am we were at the gates of the Centre and left to endure the day's second slow-moving queue through security. A third queue several hours later finally took us to a causeway located less than 10 kilometres from the shuttle itself.


The Centre had a giant outdoor screen erected in its Rocket Park. Here we watched and listened to Mission Control making final launch preparation. Sitting in the shadow of rockets from the early days of manned spaceflight simply added to the experience. I watched long enough to see the astronauts catch their transfer bus and witnessed the first of them board the shuttle. It was then time for me to board my own transfer bus. We joined dozens of buses driving in convey out to the NASA Causeway, located across a broad lagoon from Launch Pad 39A. Garry and I were briefly here last year as part of a regular Kennedy Space Centre tour.

Today we had an incredible view, midway along the causeway. I could clearly see the shuttle in the distance, gleaming white in the roasting Florida sun. Mission Control audio was broadcasting continually from a string of poles nearby as we waited for lift-off. The sky was hazy with humidity high and the temperature soon climbed above 30C.

After waiting two hours in the baking heat the crowd suddenly fell silent as the countdown reached its final minute. The shuttle really was going to launch. You know it's real when you see the final supporting arm retracts from the shuttle's giant external tank. The entire launch stack is now sitting free of any restraint. Shortly after the countdown ends.


The initial moment of liftoff is an oddly disappointing experience. At first all that can be seen is a small, silent white cloud of steam bellowing on the horizon. The shuttle swiftly vanishes from sight. After an agonising couple of seconds the white cloud transforms into white hot light as the shuttle slowly rises into view. Its glow is an awe inspiring sight. As the shuttle rises it quickly gathers speed. The first sound waves wash over you shortly afterwards.


The noise of launch is everything you’d imagine it to be. As the shuttle rises higher and higher the sound grows louder and lounder. Sonic booms split the air as it passes through Mach One. The crowd cheers and claps in response. The noise isn't a steady sound. Instead the shuttle's thundering roar is punctuated by a distinct "popping" sound. This crackling is the sound of its solid rocket boosters burning at a slightly uneven pace.


Within minutes the shuttle is nothing more than a tiny glowing dot in the sky. Moments later it vanished behind a heavy cloud and my launch experience was over. A bellowing pillar of cloud slowing disapating from the launch site is all that's left to remind the crowd that a launch really happened. It's almost an anti-climax after so many hours of queuing and waiting.

Within half an hour we were back on our bus and heading home. A chronic traffic jam then engulfs the entire area as thousands head for home. It took us more than three hours to reach my hotel, a mere 43 miles away - the day's final long and agonising wait.

I know the phrase is getting cliche but that's one more childhood dream finally realised. I guess I had an active imagination as kid. Tick that box. Hooray! Atlantis has left the planet.

PS: Did I mention David Milibrand, the UK's Foreign Secretary, was on my flight to New York? I dare not admit it took almost the entire seven hour journey to finally work out who he was. Don't you hate it when someone looks vaguely familiar and you can't think why?