View The Artemis Launch From A Cruise Ship At Sea?

[lx200gps]

I just checked the next launch dates for the big Artemis 1 launch, and all three windows fall right into the week we will be on the Sky Princess sailing around the northern Caribbean, Nov 14, 16 or 19. Obviously none of these dates are guaranteed, given the problems they faced a few months ago with their first attempts. Interestingly, since this is a "moonshot" and so the launch windows are very narrow and specific, these three launch windows are all late at night/early morning. This will mean the launch will be the biggest night launch since Apollo 17 in 1972. With a 38 degree orbital inclination, the launch will be heading NE away from us unfortunately

 

Some quick and dirty calculating given our known schedule/itinerary has the Sky about 500Km SE of the Cape, in the middle of the Bahamas, for the first attempt, a huge 1600Km distance just off the DR for the attempt on the 16th, but actually sailing back to PE for the last attempt on the 19th which  would put us perhaps 250Km away. Does anyone have any experience with seeing large launches (say Shuttle flights) from such distances? I vaguely recollect reading reports that the Apollo 17 night launch was at least visible as far north as New York, so if it happens while we are off the DR, about the same distance, it would be pretty unimpressive. But how about from the central Bahamas or just off the coast of south Florida? Any ideas on what we could expect?  Thx.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 10/26/2022 at 5:42 AM, lx200gps said:

Does anyone have any experience with seeing large launches (say Shuttle flights) from such distances? 

It looks like Artemis is set for the 13th between midnight and 0100 hrs.  We have two scheduled for our Thanksgiving cruise one on Sunday sail away (20th) at 4:40 PM and another on Monday at 7:00 PM.  I figure we will be about 70 miles away on Monday and should be able to see it, even as a Falcon 9.  We just saw a daytime SpaceX Falcon nine launch from Vandenburg SFB from our condo at Rosarito Beach, Baja, MX.  It was pretty cool and lasted a long time as it arched south and east right over us.  Not sure how far away that was but we saw the trail shortly after launch and for more than a minute.  There was a prior one at dark and all we saw was a red dot that looked like a small falling star. Use this link to keep track it seems to be pretty current. 

  https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/category/fl/

[Cienfuegos]

The Falcon Heavy launched Tuesday morning from Cape Canaveral.  We live about 150 miles (about 250 km) south. The view was excellent, looked like the lit end of a cigarette. Visible for about 45 seconds

 

In my opinion, the best launches are in the hour before sunrise, and the hour after sunset. The vapor trail / exhaust catches the light as it goes up.