Ramgator, sorry for the delayed response... about the Launches...

You're one lucky son-of-a-gun to have seen those launches. I envy you. As I said I have never seen a launch.

I've seen one landing... ALTHOUGH... when the Shuttle landed at Edwards it WAS visible from my house while descending, if you have a keen eye.

Which leads me to a repeat of something I posted a long time ago. My uncle used to own Point Sal... Point Sal is located very near Vandenberg Air Force Base where rocket launches in Calif. take place. They were building a launch pad for the Space Shuttle but the Challenger explosion killed the project. I was invited, (actually my uncle was invited but he wasn't interested so he gave me and his son the invite), to tour the launch pad they were building... very interesting.

Had it gone to plan Point Sal would have been 'off limits' during a launch, it being too close to the actual launch site - - so for safety reasons it was supposed to be vacated. Obviously we wouldn't have obeyed. We watched several launches, (unmanned, not the Shuttle), over the years.. quite spectacular.

I can see, (somewhat), launches from my home... even though Vandenberg is far south of me... the rockets leave a trail in the sky that's VERY visible. Every time one goes up TV stations are bombarded with calls from people reporting a UFO.