The VERY best launch I have witnessed was the one BEFORE the Challenger disaster.

It was the Columbia. It was a chilly and perfectly clear night in Jacksonville. I climbed on the roof of my house. Columbia actually took a rare slight veer to the North (Closer to Jacksonville) I was AMAZED! I could literally HEAR it! Sounded like a flag in the wind. I even saw the boosters fall very clearly.

Of course, I saw Challenger too. That was 5 days before I left for USAF Boot Camp. I will never forget that "Y" in the sky and knowing it was NOT good. Very sad day.