
One of my strongest memories, years later, is being in the VIP stands for the launch of Columbia. It wasn't its final flight, but after the loss of that shuttle, the souvenir mug I picked up at KSC became that much more important. The memory of the launch never fails to get me choked up. You can feel the vibration of the engines, at your core, before you can hear them. This was a daytime launch, but was still visibly quite bright. The sound itself was never overpowering, but the rumble grew and grew.
I don't expect to make it to another spacecraft launch anytime soon, but I do watch every launch I possibly can live on TV.
The countdown is about to resume with nine minutes remaining. You can watch on NASA TV, on HDNET, on CNN, or at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv (I have the NASA iPad app running with HD video, a little over two minutes behind, as well as CNN on the TV for roughly live coverage.)