Poor crew.. When I was living in Orlando, Florida in 2004-2005 I also was fascinated to see the launch of spaceship in live. So I went down from Orlando to Cape to watch it.
Unfortunately, after 2 or 3 hours of my waiting on the opposite shore from the launch area, due to the bad weather they shifted the launch. Fortunately I could see it later in Orlando sky) spaceship as a small lightning line in the sky turning into a small glimmering dot. Very exciting.
RE: The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster I Was There