A land of snow-capped mountains, mirror lakes and lush forest, New Zealand comes up on many travelers’ bucket lists.
19.09.2023 - 11:07 / nationalgeographic.com
“You’re here for the launch?” Ted Ebbers asked me the night of April 19, 2023, when we met on the beach of South Padre Island, Texas. The answer was obvious: We both were killing time before the next day’s scheduled flight of the world’s most powerful rocket. A recently retired Canadian federal employee, Ebbers, 58, drove from his home in Toronto to SpaceX’s spaceport in Boca Chica to watch his first rocket launch. He made the 1,900-mile trip alone, sleeping overnight at rest stops inside his Tesla Model Y.
At dawn, Ebbers and I were among the thousands who had gathered to see the first test flight of the 33-engine Super Heavy booster as it carried its Starship upper stage, built by SpaceX to deliver payload and passengers to the moon and Mars. The crowd at Isla Blanca Park, on the island’s southern tip with the best view of the launchpad, was festive and diverse: college students in “Occupy Mars” T-shirts, snowbirds in Hawaiian shirts.
It’s the best time in U.S. history for the public to watch a space launch. There’s a steady stream of rockets rising from spaceports in Florida, California, and Virginia, and at each you’ll find gawkers.
( See all the world's active rocket launch sites .)
They’re enjoying firsthand what might be called a golden age of American spaceflight. During the George W. Bush administration, NASA started to shift from designing rockets and spacecraft to renting rides in ones created by private companies. This commercialization trend gained speed under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations.
Ebbers watched his first launch as dozens of engines on Starship’s booster ignited at 8:33 a.m. on April 20. “We saw the rocket beginning to lift,” he says. But the booster exhaust blasted huge chunks of concrete from the launchpad, suspected of damaging some engines (and three others failed to ignite at liftoff). The 394-foot-tall rocket staggered through the sky as it climbed above 120,000 feet. After nearly four minutes of flight, Starship and its booster self-destructed, never even having had the chance to separate stages.
“It didn’t matter,” Ebbers said of the untimely end. “The spacecraft flew, and we all got to see it.” He may be a first-timer, but no launch tourist could state their creed any better.
Here’s where to go to see U.S. rocket launches yourself.
Seasoned rocket chasers know to head to Vandenberg Space Force Base. Here, Space Launch Delta 30 manages operations for United Launch Alliance send-offs of secret government payloads, Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile tests, and SpaceX commercial flights.
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A land of snow-capped mountains, mirror lakes and lush forest, New Zealand comes up on many travelers’ bucket lists.
Turn around, bright eyes. Come mid-October, a major celestial event will be viewable from major swaths of the Western Hemisphere. Or maybe just look up – with the proper eye protection, that is.
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A trusted piece of luggage is the cornerstone of any good travel uniform. Sure, comfortable shoes and a sweatshirt to keep warm mid-flight are key pieces of the puzzle, but nothing ruins a journey quite like a broken handle, malfunctioning wheel, or busted zipper. Beyond a solid structure, though, there are myriad considerations to make when finding your ideal bag: How much are you willing to spend? Are you team carry-on or prefer to check? Do you like the sleek look of a hardshell case or want the flexibility of a soft-sided piece? We used this criteria to create what we hope is a handy guide to shopping for the right luggage. Hover over the icons below for more information, and click ‘read more’ for a full review from our well-traveled team of editors and contributors.
With its proximity to the United States, an abundance of affordable cities and its appealing lifestyle (rich culture, an increasingly exciting food scene), it’s no wonder Mexico has one of the largest expat populations in the world. More than 1.6 million American citizens living in Mexico—and the numbers have been surging.
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Ever wanted to wade into a cranberry bog? No need to audition for an Ocean Spray commercial—you can immerse yourself in a sea of burgundy berries by taking a cranberry bog tour. The best time to visit is during the cranberry harvest season, which typically occurs from mid-September through mid-November.
Nobody appointed Doug Michaels to serve as an ambassador of the human race. But the position, which he assumed in 1977, promised to have far greater significance than ambassadorships to China or the Soviet Union. He and co-ambassadors Alexandra Morphett and Robert Perry proposed nothing less than to develop diplomatic relations with a nonhuman species. Their seaborne embassy sought direct communication with dolphins.
One evening after a long day at work, Diksha Manocha was idly scrolling Instagram when she stumbled across something peculiar: an account for Join My Wedding, an online service that allows tourists to purchase tickets to weddings in India.