Surprise! We saw a rocket launch!

We had been planning to take Denisa's Mother, Betty, and our friend, Barbara, on a trip to South Padre Island. We had been watching the forecast for the best weather day. We found the best forecast, and we made the 1.5-hour drive to the island to arrive in time for lunch. We picked a trendy cafe on the bay, but we found they didn't open until 4 p.m. So we ended up at Pier 19 for lunch instead.

During our 15-minute wait for a table, we noticed large groups of people staring across the bay. We also saw binoculars and big-lens cameras. What's going on?

That's when we found out the SpaceX launch site on the other side of the bay was planning to launch one of their experimental rockets today. We are sad to say that we didn't bring our good camera or our binoculars. What we could see with the naked eye (and photograph with a cell phone) were two tiny towers on the other side of the bay. They don't look too big from here, but each starship is around 160 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter. 

We got a better view when Mark found the SpaceX web site that was doing a live feed. One view showed the shape of the two rockets in the launch area. We found that the original projected time for the launch had been 11:00 a.m. But by the time we arrived, it had been postponed several times. The current projected launch time was now 1:00 p.m. Good! That will leave us time for lunch before the launch.

A different camera on the live feed showed a more detailed view of the 15-story rockets. It was hard to tell at this point, but it is the rocket on the right that will be launched today. That's Starship 9, often abbreviated as SN9. On the left hand side of the live feed, we see the steps that must be taken before the launch happens. Today they have already accomplished things like "Village Cleared" and "Final Checkouts." Now at T 34 minutes and 29 seconds and counting, they are doing "Propellant Loading."

At 2:21, we are in the "Engine Chill" step--the last step before launch. Now we can see the smoke to verify that it is the rocket on the right-hand side that will be launched.

Finally, at 2:25 we saw the fire under the rocket . . .

and the crowd began to clap as the starship came off the ground.

From our seats on Pier 19, we could see the bigger view as the rocket climbed out of the smoke. Because light travels faster than sound, it was about now that we actually heard the rumble and roar of the lift-off.

We're one minute into the flight, and the live-feed web site is giving close-up views of the rocket in the air.

But it was fun to see the cell phone picture of that tiny rocket at the top of the photo below, in relation to the ground below.

The mission today is for SN9 to rise 6 miles into the air, and then turn around and come back to the launch site. At the top of the flight, we saw an engine firing to turn it around.

We're five minutes into the flight, and the rocket is now in a horizontal flight pattern back towards earth.

Engines are firing again as the rocket rotates from horizontal back to vertical with its tail end towards the ground. In a perfect flight, the SN9 will set back down on the launch pad in the same position it lifted off.

But we watched as it over-rotated as it neared the ground . . .

and at 2:31, it hit the ground and erupted into a huge fireball! In the close-up shot, we can see debris flying through the air as the stainless steel starship blew apart on impact.

A few seconds later, we could hear the explosion that we had just witnessed.

Listening to the live commentary from the web site let us know that this ball of flames was not a disaster. It was just another learning experience in this space experiment. These are un-manned rockets for a reason! We felt like our day was already a success. We had a fresh sea food lunch and watched a rocket launch. What else could we do while we were on the island? Well, we had a couple of women using canes that decided they wanted to become mermaids. They needed help getting up the four steps to get behind the photo screen, but we got pictures of both of them.

Denisa opted for the easier photo opportunity, on the over-sized adirondack chair at Pier 19.

We narrowly escaped a pirate ship coming ashore at Pier 19. We were glad when they started churning mud on this shallow part of the bay, and turned to leave. That was a close one!

The weatherman was right about his forecast for beautiful weather today! We enjoyed a blue-sky walk on the beach next.

We always go to one of the free beach entrances on South Padre Island. But today we splurged and paid to get in the county park at the southern tip of the island. This park was super crowded today, as this is the closest location to the actual rocket launch site. Cars were streaming out of the park as we were driving in, so the beach wasn't crowded by the time we got there.

We've been to a lot of beaches, and our favorite footwear is our old crocs. They are easy to rinse to remove the sand, and they make a great "basket" for holding and then rinsing the sea shells that Denisa always picks up.

We rarely keep the sea shells we pick up. But we almost always use them to spell something. Today we spelled "SPI" for South Padre Island.

Our cane-wielding chaperones today stayed on the boardwalk, but seemed to enjoy the ocean waves and the beach views.

Our next stop was at the sand sculptures displayed at the park in downtown Padre. We knew there were Christmas sand sculptures, but we thought that display ended in January. So we were pleasantly surprised to find that most of it is still alive and well.

Masks are required to enter the tent that helps to protect the sculptures from the weather.

Masks can also be seen in the first display. Here a grizzled old man with missing teeth, crutches, and a broken arm (holding on to a roll of toilet paper) represents 2020. He is wishing, "Good luck, Kiddo . . ." to the baby of 2021, who is holding on to a masked-up teddy bear with a Covid insignia.

Some of the displays are going through an overhaul. This fireplace Christmas scene is changing to a Valentine tree and hearts for February. For a donation you can have your message added to a sand heart.

We saw a picture of the Santa Claus sand statue . . .

that has been re-purposed into a pirate captain.

It was a nice stop on a nice day on a nice island in February!

We always stop at the South Padre Island Dairy Queen for ice cream before we leave the island. Then we made a stop in Port Isabell for fresh shrimp. We're already planning a peel-and-eat shrimp feast for tomorrow! The sun was setting on our drive home. It was a great day, especially because we were surprised by the rocket launch. If we would have eaten lunch at our planned restaurant, we would have surely missed seeing the launch. Thanks for the surprises and the memories South Padre Island!