Due to the distance (approximately 200 miles) and curvature of the Earth, rockets will generally become visible from the best vantage points in South Florida approximately 40-45 seconds after launch.
Warning! All webcasts and “live” TV broadcasts have some amount of delay. Live TV tends to be around 5-10 seconds. SpaceX Webcasts seem to lag by about 10-20 seconds. ULA’s webcasts can lag by more than a minute. Point being, don’t wait until the webcast announces liftoff to start looking for the rocket to appear over the horizon… ESPECIALLY if it’s a ULA launch. If it’s a SpaceX launch, the rocket will probably appear around the time the webcast shows +0:30 after launch. If it’s a ULA launch, the rocket might appear over the horizon while the webcast is still announcing the final countdown.
The most visible part of the launch occurs between liftoff and MECO. For a typical Falcon 9 launch, this occurs about a minute and a half after liftoff. Doing the math, this means you might have as little as 45 seconds to see the rocket before the flames blend into the haze and light pollution over Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
More importantly, if you want to see more than a few seconds of the launch, you really need to find a vantage point that will allow you to see above the local tree line and rooftops. From my own neighborhood in southern Broward County (standing along the southeastern shoreline of a lake that’s approximately a half-mile diameter), I have approximately 5-10 seconds between the time the rocket becomes visible over the trees and rooftops to the northwest and the time the flames become dimmer than the ambient orange glow above the city.
Over the past year, I’ve identified some readily-accessible viewing sites near Fort Lauderdale and Miami:
- Sawgrass Atlantic Trailhead
- Loxahatchee Boat Ramp
- Broward County Rest Area near mile marker 35 on I-75
- Harold Campbell Public Use Area
- Tamiami Trail, approx. 15 miles west of Miami
I’ve also identified a few spots that are potentially a step up, but are still within 60-90 minutes of Fort Lauderdale:
- Hobe Sound Beach