[carreradpt]

We had flown a mission into the Cape Canaveral Skid Strip the night before a 9 am launch. The next morning most of the crew went with the skid guys to a bridge nearby to watch the launch. I climbed up the tail tunnel and watched from the top of the t-tail of the C-17. I had one leg in the tail and the other on the wing about 60 feet up. It was very quiet, the AC power was off, and then I see the shuttle fire up, lots of smoke. Still quiet. Lots of flame, it starts climbing. Still quiet. Then all of a sudden the sound hits me and the tail starts rocking. Hoy crap. Thought I was going to get rocked off the tail. Screamed like a little girl.