Shuttle lift off

We heard that a shuttle take off was scheduled so thought we would go and watch, problem was that because it was carrying a military payload the launch time would only be announced 10 minutes beforehand. So we drove over to Merritt island, parked up amongst the many RVs and waited,...all day. There is only so much you can do sitting by a car on Merritt island before boredom sets in. After hours of waiting, at 7.23 pm Shuttle STS-33 Discovery took off, the first night time launch for a very long time. Becuase of the secrecy around the flight it was a little known fact that STS-33 was a historic flight for Col. Frederick D. Gregory, who became the first Black Commander of a Space Shuttle mission.

Having never seen - let alone photographed - a shuttle take off, it was spectacular. We were a few miles away but the noise, speed, light was something very special....well worth the wait. My poor attempt at capturing it is above, would be nice to have more practice.