Liftoff. Just because it’s such a physical experience. Because you’re taking off, you’re getting into space in eight-and-a-half minutes. There’s a lot of energy being dissipated as you’re being blasted off into space. The first stage is riding solid rocket motors, and they kick out 6 million pounds apiece. Combined with the engines on the Space Shuttle, that’s 7.5 million pounds of thrust, and you feel every pound of that thrust in your back as you’re being catapulted into space.
The second stage is a lot smoother because now you’re only riding 1.5 million pounds, but you’ve been given a great push on the solid rocket motors, so it gets a lot quieter. But still, because you’re above the atmosphere and heading
