Shuttle Watchers: 'It Was a Beautiful Ride'

CAPE CANAVERAL — As space shuttle Atlantis soared upward into the sky and slipped between the clouds, a crowd said to be close to one million people applauded and cheered, some even turning to the one standing next to them to extend a hug.

But for many spectators, tears blurred the sight of the fiery rockets lifting the last of the workhorse shuttles from the launch pad Friday at Kennedy Space Center near Titusville to carry heavy payloads into space over the last 30 years.

“It was a beautiful ride,” Land O’ Lakes resident Bryan Griffin said of the spectacular liftoff as he watched with his two sons, Tyler, 10, and Dakota, 7, from reserved spaces at the visitor’s center at Cape Canaveral.

“But it’s also bittersweet,” Griffin said. “This is an end of an era. I just hope they get their stuff together and continue the space program."

Bradenton's Skip Coogan, who said before the launch he was planning to bring his family, understood the economics behind the shuttle's retirement.

"But you can't put a price on hope," Coogan said.

The sight of Atlantis leaving the grip of the Earth’s gravity gripped the emotions of Allie Barkley, of Seminole Heights.

“There are no words to describe how I feel,” Barkley said. “It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever saw.”

But she agreed with Griffin, saying the space agency needs to focus on continuing to explore space.

“Being the last shuttle is OK as long as they find a more efficient form of space travel,” said Barkley, who was with a special group of NASA guests picked to Tweet their experiences to a worldwide audience. “This is not the end of our space efforts.”

Nonetheless, Barkley’s friend and fellow Tweeter, Kara DeFrias, of San Diego, couldn’t help shedding tears after watching the historical liftoff.

“It was beautiful,” DeFrias said. “We just put four people into space. Four people just left the planet.”

The highly emotional event also affected NASA Tweetup participant Alex Shrimp, a Largo resident, who was unable to immediately comment.

But earlier he said he’s grown up with the shuttle program and loves all the technical aspects of the space program.

“I Tweet a lot,” Shrimp said, “especially about anything space related.”

Griffin hoped to instill the love for space exploration in his two boys.

“This was a great thing for my sons to see,” he said.

The flight, which had been threatened by inclement weather leading up to the launch, lifted off nearly three minutes after its scheduled launch time.

NASA held the countdown at T-31 seconds to confirm the refueling arm had fully retracted from the external fuel tank–which led to confusion among the thousands gathered at the media site before the countdown resumed.

Griffin said there was a hush over the crowd when the clock stopped at 31 seconds.

“Then when the clock got going again there was a great roar from the crowd,” he said. “It got even louder when the shuttle started lifting off.”

Atlantis' four-person crew lifted off from Launch Pad 39A and began its 12-day mission to the International Space Station at 11:29 a.m.

When the shuttle lands on July 20 at Kennedy Space Center, it will be on the 42nd anniversary of the moon landing. Atlantis will then be on display at the Kennedy Space Center.

— Patch editor Edward Cardenas contributed to this report.

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