Yo. Folks. Let’s talk about Starlink at Playalinda.
Y’know how it is when you watch a movie, or a launch webcast, and everything’s so BIG, and so CLOSE, and it’s RIGHT THERE IN YOUR FACE… And then you go watch a launch in person, and you’re miles away, and it’s still amazing, but… you want it to be bigger, brighter, more?
Okay, so. Yeah. Starlink at Playalinda.
There are a lot of people with a lot of strong opinions about the Starlink satellite constellation, particularly astronomers, who have Hecking Concerns, and with good cause… I’m not going to talk about that; I’m not qualified to have an opinion anyone should listen to. Anyway, this isn’t about that. This is about the launches themselves.
The thing that makes Starlink different from other launches is the launch trajectory. Instead of going mainly east, as most launches do, Starlink heads north-ish. And guess what’s north of SpaceX’s launch pads?
Playalinda Beach.
Sometimes they close the roads 90 minutes before launch, and sometimes they close the roads 3 hours before launch, so if you’re headed out to a morning launch, you want to be there stupid-early. And so you wake up waaaaay before dawn, and you cruise through deserted early-a.m. Titusville and over the Max Brewer Bridge. Maybe you stop for coffee at the Cumby before you cross the bridge. It’s gonna be a long wait, after all. And then you drive, mile after mile on pitch-black roads, toward a traffic light that always seems just a little bit further away… and then you roll up to the closed gates, and kill your lights and engine and wait with all the other cars lined up there, because there’s a launch and this is the Space Coast and we all be crazy like that, yo.
Eventually they open the gates, and you pay your $20 for 7 days’ admission (or flash your National Parks pass), and drive for miles and miles more til you get to the hairpin turn, and the parking lots. You park, and you watch all the photographers unload their equipment and gear up for the mile-long walk back toward the pad, down the beach in the dead of night, toward the glow of the rocket waiting to launch. The faintest light of imminent dawn begins to illuminate the horizon, spreading into yet another glorious Playalinda sunrise; you spray yet another layer of bug spray onto your skin, slap at the bugs who still don’t get the message, sip your coffee. And you wait, and you wait, and you hope it doesn’t scrub (again).
And if it doesn’t… well.
You see the flare of light as the engines ignite, and bare moments later you hear them come alive, the moment of ignition clear and sharp – and then the rocket rises and heads toward you – and the roar of the engine grows and grows, filling your ears, setting off car alarms: exactly the way you hoped it would be, the first time you saw a launch from far too many miles away. Wonderfully, perfectly loud.
It’s absolutely glorious.
…So anyway, SpaceX is currently scheduled to launch another sixty satellites from historic pad LC-39A this Sunday, October 18th, at 8:27 a.m. local time – and again, from SLC-40, this Wednesday, October 21st, at 12:36 p.m. local time.
Maybe we’ll see ya there, hm?
TL;dr – Playalinda Beach is ~12 miles east of Titusville, across the Max Brewer Bridge. Gates open at 6 a.m. daily at this time of year. There is a parking fee of $20 for 7 days of beach access (or free with a National Parks pass). Site is primitive, with no amenities and only pit toilets at the beach parking lots; BE SURE to bring bug spray, sunscreen, and twice as much water as you think you’ll need. Assume that the gates will close at T-3 hours, barring further entry after that time until the rocket has launched. Enjoy!