Simon, I got to NASA after the Apollo program ended, but I witnessed the first Shuttle flight from that pad - and many more. There is nothing as spectacular as an orbital-class rocket launch. Nothing. I watched well over 100 of them from as close as most people were allowed to get - the press sites - and it didn't matter if it was a Delta, an Atlas, a Trident missile, a Titan III, or a Space Shuttle; the very ground moves, and you can feel your liver moving inside you under those intense sound waves. It is a genuine jaw-drop.
