SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch brings back excitement for space lovers

Space lovers felt a feeling Tuesday they hadn’t felt in a long time: excitement.

Hundreds of people descended on Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral, the pier at Cocoa Beach and Space View Park in Titusville to witness a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket blast off from Kennedy Space Center. An estimated 100,000 tourists traveled from Nebraska, Idaho, Colorado, Delaware, Wisconsin and even farther to catch the spectacular view. 

Hours passed while people waited at Jetty Park, their tripods and cellphones at the ready, and the scheduled launch time was pushed back further and further. 

At 3:45 p.m., with just minutes left in the launch window, people clicked on their walkie-talkies to hear the countdown. As the rocket roared into the clouds, the crowd at Jetty Park cheered, clapped and whistled, yelling, “Go, baby, go!”

The feeling of watching a launch is indescribable, some said. 

"I can't even put it into words, but wow,” said Steven Genhart of Wisconsin after the rocket went off. 

For many out-of-towners, the last launches they saw in person were shuttle launches. Constance Strawn of Indiana came to Florida to see the final one, on July 8, 2011. 

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She watched the shuttle blast off from Kennedy Space Center from the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville. That day, she remembers there was a somber mood among the crowd. 

Almost eight years later, she said she could feel the renewed excitement in Jetty Park. She drove 18 hours from Bloomington, Indiana, sleeping in her car along the way and selling Falcon Heavy posters to pay for gas for the trip home. She wore her hot pink nebula leggings just for the occasion. 

“I’ve been planning on doing this since they announced it two years ago,” she said. “To be here at this new beginning is really special.” 

For Strawn, a self-proclaimed space geek, Tuesday’s launch is a promising step toward launching humans into space again and exploring Mars. It gives her hope she too may one day be able to go to space. 

The resurgence in Brevard County’s space industry - propelled by companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance - has brought back the hype and excitement Strawn remembers from the shuttle era. 

Jetty Park, a popular spot to watch launches, hit capacity hours before the Falcon’s liftoff window. Park officials had to turn people away. 

“By the time they’re launching people, they’re going to have to close down the whole state,” Strawn laughed. 

Most viewers, sprawled from the pier to the rocky shore facing the launch pad, arrived as early as possible to snatch the best spot, cameras and binoculars in tow. 

Patrick Chanois, one of the hundreds of people packed into Jetty Park, didn’t know there was a launch until the day of. 

He traveled to the United States from Paris, where he lives, and was planning on going to Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday. But when he got there, the visitor complex was closed due to the launch. 

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“Very, very, very, very lucky to be at the right place at the right time,” he said. “(In Europe) you just see the launches on the TV, on the news. It’s a dream to be here.” 

What Chanois knows about rocket launches he’s only seen in movies, like L’Étoffe des Héros, known in America as The Right Stuff. It chronicles the early years of the space program and the lives of the Mercury Astronauts. 

Chanois didn’t know what to expect when the Falcon Heavy blasted off in front of him. 

“It’s the first time for us. Maybe some vibrations?” he’d guessed. 

For others, watching the Falcon Heavy blast off and send two reusable boosters back to Earth was a feeling of closure after years without a Shuttle Program. 

Alan Felix, who traveled from Indianapolis, Indiana, remembers the feeling of devastation when the NASA program ended. It’s been years since he saw a shuttle pierce the sky, and Tuesday’s launch was worth the long wait, he said. 

There have been dozens of rocket launches over the past couple years, carrying payloads to the International Space Station and sending satellites into space, but nothing like the Falcon Heavy that carried SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s own red cherry Tesla Roadster. It blared David Bowe’s “Space Odyssey” as it climbed into the sky. 

As launches carry bolder and bolder cargo, Alan expects they’ll draw even bigger crowds.

“Stuff like this can bring this place back to life,” he said.