Shuttle Launch to Be Visible from U.S. East Coast (March 11, 2009)

(T = 9:20 EDT, March 11, 2009)

If it’s not too cloudy tonight, we should be able to see the Shuttle Launch!

Weather permitting, people within about a 500-mile (800-kilometer) radius of the central Florida coast will be able to see the flare from the shuttle’s solid-fuel rocket launchers two seconds after launch for about two minutes.

From two to eight minutes after launch, Discovery’s main engines will make the shuttle seem to burn like a flickering, yellow-orange star.

People with binoculars may even be able to make out the shuttle’s V-shaped tail.

Shuttle Launch to Be Visible to Most of U.S. East Coast. (via National Geographic)