Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Awareness came slowly, not in a fiery burst, to those watching the shuttle launch from the better seats - the grandstands set up for families of the astronauts, dignitaries, the news media and a class of third graders with connections.

"The chest-trembling, concussive roar of the liftoff, lagging behind the rising spaceship, had reached us. The spacecraft, clinging fly-fashion to the 'wall' of tanks containing 3.8 million pounds of fuel, had been up about one minute.

"We were gasping and cheering at the column of fire-topped smoke growing like a beanstalk into a cold, blue sky. As the rumbling sound (still trailing the visible scene) continued, a curious rooster tail seemed to form almost gently at the top, with glints of fire in it.

"It took an age to realize that the column ended there."

-- Kathy Sawyer, 1986-01-29 (article continues beyond what I quoted, and is preceeded by a 2016 retrospective on the page I linked to)