[singpilot]

A few years ago, I had the assignment to pick up a Gulfstream 2 after an engine change in Sanford, Florida. There were several adjustments to be made after engine runs, and it was finally cleared for a test flight. I filed a short flight plan (to service ceiling, 45,000 feet) in a hold at Vero Beach NDB beacon, not wanting to clog up the notoriously busy north south airways with my climb and descent. The FSS briefer told me that the shuttle was due to be launched about that same time. I went to the C-store and bought a disposable camera.

We climbed to FL450 in holding, took 24 minutes at a very light weight for a G2. We were monitoring Patrick AFB controllers, who were relaying the countdown. We saw the liftoff, and started a clock in the airplane. Those who know the area know that VRB is 35 to 40 miles laterally to the launch site. From the moment the shuttle cleared the tower until it went thru our altitude was 30 seconds. We could hear it as it went by. That is saying something in the cockpit of a G2. It went over our horizon (at that height, almost 400 miles) in 2 minutes. That is counting the visual refraction of the exhaust plume as it bends around the curvature.

Nobody spoke. I took only one pic, and it hangs on my workshop wall to this day. Over the years, I witnessed several launches, one at night; they were always the same. Awesome.