Our family loves learning about space, so guess what we did when we heard there was going to be a launch an hour and a half away from us? We drove to it! Yay!

We didn’t go directly to Cape Canaveral. We researched and learned that most of the roads nearby would be closed. The beach that we wanted to go to would be closed, too. This makes sense. If there was an explosion, not only would the astronauts be harmed, but so would the spectators. When you’re talking needing an estimated 756,000 gallons of flammable/explosive cryogenic liquid propellant to launch, you need to take precautions!

So we decided to go to a family friendly place to observe the launch. We decided on Daytona Beach Shores. It was a bit farther away, yet close enough to get a fantastic sight of the launch.

When we packed up the morning of April 1st, we were super excited! We’ve seen launches before, and honestly, they’re pretty incredible. This would be the biggest launch we’ve seen, so the excitement was even more intense. Driving through the state to get there, we could barely contain ourselves! (Did I mention we were really, really, REALLY excited?)

Here are some the astounding facts from http://www.nasa.gov that helped ramp up our excitement:

• NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen are the Artemis II astronauts.
• Astronaut and Mission Specialist Christina Koch is the first woman to go into deep space and travel beyond the moon!
• When you combine the SLS rocket and Orion stack together it is a massive 322 feet. That’s taller than the Statue of Liberty!!!
• The SLS Vehicle weighs: 5.74 million lbs. fueled and 3.5 million lbs. unfueled.
• The maximum speed is 22,670 mph!
• The astronauts are seeing parts of the moon that have never been seen before!
• The crew will travel more than 230,000 miles from Earth before returning home.
• “The Artemis II crew will travel approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. They will see the Earth and the Moon from Orion’s windows, with the Moon close in the foreground and the Earth nearly 250,000 miles in the background. From the crew’s location, the Moon will look about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.” https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/artemis-ii-press-kit.pdf?emrc=1f6993

As we watched the beach fill up, we could feel the excitement of the crowd. It was palpable! Joe has the Space Monkey app on his phone, so we were ready and waiting for the official countdown to begin. We were on the countdown when there was a delay. Honestly, we were hoping they wouldn’t scrub the launch as we have seen that happen before. We waited (not so patiently, lol) and soon it began again.

We got down to the last 15 seconds before launch, and were counting along. Then, there it was! The glow in the sky showing takeoff! We watched as the brave astronauts soared into the sky. It. Was. Incredible!!!

All of us, including the crowd on the beach, were cheering! It was such a historic and momentous occasion for our family and we were thrilled beyond words. We wish the crew Godspeed as they travel through space and pray for their safe return home.

You can see our video of the launch by clicking on the link here: 8.8 MILLION Lbs of Thrust! 🚀 Artemis II NASA Moon Launch (Official Liftoff) or clicking on the photo below.

We hope you enjoyed traveling along with us!

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We’ve also shared videos on our YouTube channel to complement this post and bring the experience to life.

Thanks so much for traveling with us, and stay tuned for more adventures with Traveling with the Trapps.

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