Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are directly across the Indian River from me. Every space launch, hundreds of them, have been observed, good and bad, since the 60's here. It's is a hoot to round the point out of Eddie Creek in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge at 4:00 a.m. to see NASA's Pad 39B to the south all lit up, or a launch from the duck blind "that close" at 5:00 a.m.
Horizontal thrust is good and it's vibration stirs your inner meniscus (parts holding organs in place) but NOTHING rocks your soul like the vertical thrust and vibration of the Space Shuttle (Atlas V, Saturn V in its day), when windows shake and car alarms go off community wide! EVERYBODY goes outside to watch the ascent.