This post was contributed by Bill Purpura, editor of the Ohio edition of AAA’s Home & Away magazine.

Nothing can compare to anything live. Frank Sinatra on tape? Elegant, certainly, but nothing like Sinatra live at the Sands. The Indy 500 on television? Well that’s pretty cool, too, but seeing it from the stands at the Brickyard? Unbelievable. If much of America has grown weary of NASA’s storied space shuttle program, it’s because most Americans have never witnessed a live launch. Admittedly, I was among the weary, right up until last Nov. 16.

As I stood on the NASA Causeway just six miles away from the Kennedy Space Center launch pad, enormous clouds of steam billowed from the massive rocket engines carrying the space shuttle Atlantis, signaling the start of liftoff. A moment later, Atlantis cleared the deck, leaving a trail of smoke behind a tail of fire that lit the sky like a second sun. Then came the sound— a kind of deep rumble and roar that literally sent penetrating waves through the body. Only when Atlantis had reached the heavens with its crew of six could the throng of amazed onlookers hear themselves cheering, clapping and whistling wildly.

What a moment to savor—contemplating the enormity of this human achievement while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people who had come from all over the world to be a part of something magical. Surely, I thought, they must be awed by America’s ingenuity and bravery, which left me with feelings of patriotism unlike any I had felt before.

The only thing better than watching that launch live was meeting up the next day with retired Navy captain and former space shuttle commander Jon McBride. We spent our time together talking about the space program and about all the alluring qualities of Florida’s famed Space Coast, which stretches from Titusville in the north to Melbourne Shores in the south, and includes the Banana and Indian rivers, Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island, home to the Kennedy Space Center.

First Things First
“I still get tears in my eyes every time I go through a launch,” said McBride, who now works as a planner and strategist for the future growth of the Kennedy Space Center. “It’s certainly worth getting here to witness one of the most historical things you’ll ever see in your life. It’s heart-moving, mind-searching— whatever you want to call it. Until you come down here to see one in person, you haven’t seen one.”

(Note: the final two space shuttle launches are scheduled for November 2010 and February 2011 at this writing, go to the NASA site for updates. The Kennedy Space Center sells tickets to some viewing areas, no-cost public viewing areas are also available. Read another blogger's account of a launch here.)

McBride left Earth on Oct. 5, 1984, as commander of the sixth flight of the space shuttle Challenger. His record crew of seven included Sally Ride, Kathryn Sullivan, and the first Cana­dian and Australian astronauts.

The obvious questions begged to be asked: So Jon, what’s it like to sit on top of that rocket? Is it scary? What’s it like to look down on the world?
“I wish there were the right words to explain it,” McBride said, “when this thing really lifts off with 7 million pounds of thrust and you know that in the next eight-and-a-half minutes you’re going to be accelerating at 25 times the speed of sound. Then the engines cut off and you’re in orbit, and you keep thinking, wow, what a ride. I wouldn’t say it was scary. I would say it’s very exciting.”

McBride said his most exhilarating moment in space was pushing the button to open the payload doors. “I had done this a thousand times in the simulator,” he said, “but I was never ready for what unfolded when I hit this thing for real. I realized that I could see the whole continent of Australia. It . . . made me think, oh, God, thank you for this. It’s just hard to imagine the beauty of this planet as seen from that vantage point.”

With those burning questions out of the way, McBride unveiled his love of the Space Coast. “There are some hidden jewels here,” McBride said. “First of all, you’ve got the beach. It’s one of the prettiest ones in America. You’ve got this place we call the space center— right here— Kennedy Space Center.”

Into Space
What is immediately apparent to guests arriving on Merritt Island is just how big, remote and wild it is, which all makes perfect sense. As McBride said with tongue in cheek, NASA wants to launch rockets where there aren’t a lot of people around “because people tend to get a little agitated when rocket pieces start falling on their houses.”

The island is also a giant wildlife refuge that serves as a magnet for birders and those in search of a gator or two. But Kennedy Space Center, the real star of Merritt Island, is a big, big deal here, attracting impressive crowds regardless of shuttle launch activity. McBride’s advice for space center visitors?

“People think they can come down to Kennedy and see it in two or three hours. Our bus tours are three or four hours. And then we’ve got the IMAX movies, we’ve got our Astronaut Encounter Experience where we have a real live astronaut here every day to recount his or her experiences. You just can’t see it in one day.” One of the most popular attractions at the center is the Shuttle Launch Experience, where guests are strapped down for a simulated shuttle launch. Said McBride, “It’s so realistic, it’s hard to tell the difference.”The only things the simulator can’t do are replicate the G forces experienced during ascent or fly guests out the roof and into space. Still, it’s as close as civilians will ever get to flying aboard a real space shuttle."

Staying Grounded
As McBride attested, there’s much more to Florida’s Space Coast than just space. Asked to describe his idea of a perfect weekend here, McBride, an avid golfer and offshore angler, said, “For me, every weekend here is perfect because there’s just so much to do.”

Asked to describe his idea of a perfect romantic weekend on the east-central Florida coast, McBride replied, “Ah, my wife and I have perfect romantic weekends. How much more enchanting can it get than to come to the beach and get a place on the beach where, in the morning, you can sit out on the patio and have a cup of coffee and look at the sun rise over the Atlantic? I don’t think it gets much more romantic than that.”

As the ultimate traveler with a whole different perspective on the world, McBride had good advice for his fellow Americans. “Human beings are explorers,” he said. “We’ve been exploring since mankind surfaced on this planet. It’s part of our heritage— our desire to go out there and learn and see and feel. I’ve been around the world 133 times in space. We Americans have got to realize there’s really no place like home. There are so many places in these 50 states of ours that if you’ve never seen them, start.”

Jon McBride’s Picks
Shop: The original Ron Jon Surf Shop, now an entire block long. “You can’t travel around the world without seeing Ron Jon. That’s Cocoa Beach.”
The best specialty shopping can be found in Titusville, Historic Cocoa Village and Melbourne.

Do: Those traveling with children will want to check out the Brevard Zoo.
“It serves as a classic zoo for the whole area.”

Dine: “Cocoa Village is one of the older towns in America, and it will remind you of Connecticut, sort of. There are three or four first-class restaurants right in a three- or four-block area.” Among McBride’s other favorites are Thai Thai Village, Jack Baker’s Lobster Shanty, Rusty’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, Fishlips Waterfront Bar & Grill, Milliken’s Reef and “the whole corridor of seafood restaurants right at Port Canaveral.” 
More blogging about Cocoa Beach here.