Ransom Riggs
Space Shuttle Parking Lot
by Ransom Riggs - April 12, 2010 - 7:03 AM

There are few spectacles that can compare to the awe-inspiring power of a space shuttle launch. Fans of launches are called Rocket Jockeys, and they’re lining up in droves and coming from far and wide to see the last few manned space shuttle launches that have been planned. Inspired by cult documentaries like Heavy Metal Parking Lot, which consist mainly of hanging out with tailgating superfans, Motherboard.tv’s documentary Space Shuttle Parking Lot captures the unquenchable enthusiasm of space geeks during the last planned night launch, which took place a few months ago.

We covered some of the preparations at NASA, but our main focus was on the excitement of the fans who had come from far and wide for a grueling space shuttle tailgate. The long wait, cold weather, and even a 24-hour delay be damned. To the masses who had assembled around campfires, on lawn chairs, behind cameras, the event was unmissable not just for the unparalleled sight and sound of a shuttle interrupting the placid dark of a Florida night. This, the fifth-to-the-last shuttle launch, was another bittersweet milestone in the potential close of America’s manned space era, an epic story that began with the heady experiments of the Space Race and extended well into the future, towards the dream of moon bases and Martian colonies.

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Comments (10)

  1. I’ve been wanting to see a launch since the early 1970s. The closest I’ve come so far was arriving in Cocoa Beach one day after a night launch.

    However, I have a VIP ticket to see the final scheduled Atlantis launch from the Banana River viewing area.

    posted by Steven on 4-12-2010 at 8:59 am

  2. I actually got to see a shuttle launch I was 8 years old. I will never forget what it felt like to watch the shuttle suddenly burst into life then go up, up, up – further than I could see. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
    While I understand why the shuttle program has been cut, I only pray we replace it with something that has a similar power to inspire. Without that visible sign of the power of science, math, and human ability it will be much harder to convince kids of their own potential. You can’t tell a kid they can grow up to be an astronaut if we don’t have any ships for them to fly.

    posted by Rebecca on 4-12-2010 at 11:43 am

  3. I saw a shuttle launch from the California Grill restaurant at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World, and it was amazing….I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to see it up close!

    posted by Lynley on 4-12-2010 at 12:25 pm

  4. I saw one from Clearwater, it was in view a few seconds. When the boosters fired, it disappeared.

    posted by gus on 4-12-2010 at 1:20 pm

  5. I have been watching the launches since I can remember. Most of them from my own back yard. (I live in Jacksonville) On a clear day we can see the daytime launches but the best are the night launches. I always wake up or stay up to watch them. I have also been lucky enough to see the huge plane with the shuttle on its back fly over from Houston to the Cape. That is pretty cool!

    posted by Jenny Howell on 4-12-2010 at 4:27 pm

  6. Living in St. Augustine, Florida, I can’t tell you how many launches I’ve seen but it never gets boring I assure you. If you have even remotely considered coming to the area for a launch I can’t say enough in favor of that idea. Nothing instills a childlike sense of wonder in a person like watching people journey into space.

    posted by MLE on 4-12-2010 at 5:04 pm

  7. I was lucky enough to be a NASA intern the summer of 2006, and was able to see the 4th of July launch. I conveniently came into “work” that day, and got to see the launch from the family & press viewing area, roughly 3 miles from the launch pad. It was the very definition of awe-inspiring.

    I’m glad that the space shuttle is being retired, I just hope it means manned spaceflight will be re-designed using modern technology, and not abandoned altogether. I certainly wouldn’t be the same person without the space program’s inspiration.

    posted by Kathryn on 4-12-2010 at 5:42 pm

  8. I’ve seen two launches, one from Disney World, and then one a year later from as close as you can get in Titusville, they were probably the two greatest/inspiring moments of my life.

    posted by Steve on 4-12-2010 at 7:07 pm

  9. I went to a shuttle launch a few years ago while on vacation in Daytona. One of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed!

    posted by Terri on 4-13-2010 at 2:45 pm

  10. I had the pleasure of seeing a launch in the fall of 1993, from NTC Orlando (read boot camp). Our company commander, ATC Smith, ordered our group to halt, allowed us to rest and then pointed out the fiery trail in the sky.

    Awe-inspiring is the least of that moment’s attributes. I cry when I think that my grandchildren might not get to see anything like it. I hope that NASA is able to move forward with their plans for the next decade.

    posted by MuthaDuckie on 4-13-2010 at 4:44 pm

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