Spectators at Space View Park in Titusville, directly across from the launch pad, cheered as the rocket blasted off from Florida s Kennedy Space Center.
The space nerds poured into town by the thousands in NASA T-shirts, booking every last hotel room but leaving them empty. Instead they double-parked on roadsides and bridges, pitched prohibited tents in parks and slept in running cars. Diehards staked spots along the banks of the Indian River a full day early.