T-11 hours and counting
My mobile started beeping. It was 00.30 am. Time o get up. Everyone said it would be chaos. With 1 million people coming to see the launch, the roads would be jam-packed. I had to be at Kennedy by 5 am. I switched on the computer. Had to check the latest status. They had started fueling at the planned time. But it was only 30% chance of actual launch weather. I thought for a second whether to get back to sleep or to go. 30% isn't much. And when I drove back from KSC the day before, it rained cats and dogs and the rest of the animal kingdom. And there was a thunderstorm. One lightning bolt had struck the launch platform. But according to their web-page, a engineering committee had deemed it not to be of importance.
I had a quick the shower, got on my Atlantis t-shirt I bought at the airport, and got out to the car with all my gear. It was already past 1 am. I opted not to use the GPS. I had driven the route now twice, and had it in my head. Drive 192 east, get on I-4 north, exit to 528 east to Cape Canaveral, and stay on it till you reach the sign for Kennedy Space Center. Exit to Challenger Memorial Highway. Exit to Columbia Boulevard and straight on to KSC. Everything was fine until I got on the I-4. I passed an exit, and thought : Wasn't I supposed to exit here? Couldn't remember any sign, but I was sure. At 1.30 in the morning, I have an IQ of -30... So I got off the highway, and tried to return back south to find the exit. But it was nowhere to be found. I was almost back at my hotel before I managed to make a U-turn. This time, I switched on the GPS, and found that I had stopped a few miles short of the exit to 528... The time was now close to 2 am. Three hours until they closed the gates to KSC.
I felt my heart racing. Going through scenarios in my head. Jammed roads. Alternate viewing spots. All bad. I didn't need to worry. People had obviously stayed overnight along the coast. The roads were not jammed. I drove straight to the visitor center. It was 3 am. T-8 and a half hours and counting.
After some security check and ticket check, I was inside. My only thought being : Getting a good spot. I found the place where they had put up a lot of seats for the spectators. I put down my gear. But as I walked around, I saw the lights from the launch pad. It was behind some trees. I wouldn't be able to see anything from where I was. I picked up my gear, and found a spot with better view. But it was close to a loudly humming generator. Not something I wanted on my video. So I wandered further. In the end I found the viewer's lawn. It was as far north as one could get in the visitor complex. No obstructions. And in clear view of the direction of the launch pad, and the large screen. It was perfect. I put down all of my gear once again. And started preparing mentally for what I was going to see. I looked at my watch. T-6 hours and counting. When I sat in my chair, I felt some raindrops. My heart sank. I was tired. I almost fell asleep in the chair. Had a few power naps. And a few Coke's. Didn't help much.
Kennedy Space center is located in a wildlife sanctuary. As this image shows :
T-5 hours and counting
I had a ticket for breakfast with an astronaut. I thought at first that this was with one of the astronauts going up that morning. But the more I thought of it, the more I realized how stupid that would be. They would risk the astronaut contracting some virus or something from the audience. And I was right. It was three time shuttle astronaut Mike Mullane who would entertain us this morning. The breakfast was held in a banquet hall at the Early Space Exploration center. The food was excellent, and Mike was entertaining. With his politically uncorrect speech and good humor, he made me laugh a number of times. Some quotes :
"As you probably understand, during launch, spacewalk and reentry, we cannot say 'can we stop at the next gas-station?' when we need to go. So therefore, we are wearing something called a 'urinary collection device', also known as diaper. But we cannot CALL it diaper, can we? Here we are riding the most advanced piece of equipment in the world, so we HAVE to call it a urinary collection device. Just to make it sound more advanced.
"My first flight was on the STS-27. The second flight after the challenger disaster. And when we got into orbit, you kind of think that 99% of the danger is behind you. It's a false sense of security of course. As Columbia showed us in 2003. But a few days after we had launched, ground control contacted us and asked : 'Umm. Did you guys see anything flying past your cockpit window during booster burn?' And I thought : 'Crap! what is it now?' 'Ummm. We have studied the film of the launch, and, eerrr, the tip of the booster came off, and kinda crashed with the shuttle.' On inspection, 90 tiles where broken. And one of them was a black tile. We honestly did not know whether we would be able to return safely. Luckily, the black tile was on the edge of the hot zone, so even though it got hot, it didn't burn through."
After the speech, there was Q&A, and a boy asked what he needed to study to become and astronaut. Mike thought for a few seconds before he said : "Russian". A gasp of disbelief rolled through the room. "Yeah, I know it is politically uncorrect to say so, but it is the truth. Without the shuttle, the US has no means of transporting astronauts. So if we need to launch astronauts, we need to ask the Russians to take us up there. Russia is now the only once with a manned space programme."
T-3 hours and counting
"Weather is still 30% chance of launch" the speaker from Houston said. On the screen, we saw the astronauts in the "white room" preparing to enter the space shuttle and to be strapped down in their seats. The speaker talked through the procedure, explaining everything they did and why they did it. What every person in the white room was doing and why. It was fascinating, it got the time flying. It is impossible to understand just how much work it is to prepare for launch. No wonder they have to wear dia....errr... urinary collection devices.
T-1 hour and counting
"The weather is now Go For Launch!" The speaker said. Everybody burst into spontaneous cheer and applause. A Cessna Citation was flying overhead. It was a shuttle astronaut who was checking to see the safety of a return flight if the launch had to be aborted for some reason, after booster separation. Helicopters where flying around to check the area. The police set up road blocks. We were go for launch. I was hoping for a last minute clearing of the clouds. The cloud cover was so thick that we would only see the shuttle the first 30 seconds or so before it disappeared behind the clouds. We would see it. We were actually in a Go For Launch state! I was excited.
T-5 minutes and counting
I started my compact camera wide field view video recording. It would be recording everything for 10 minutes or so. I checked my HD video-camera. It was set to go. I set the SLR with telephoto lens to interval shooting. 2 second intervals. I was ready. I heard someone sobbing beside me. A German girl was standing there. Tears running down her cheeks. Her lips trembling. She held her hand before her mouth. "Scheisse" she whispered. I thought of something to say, but couldn't find anything. So I just returned to my gear.
T-1 minute and counting
My heart was beating frantically. My blood pressure was at aorta-bursting level. I breathed heavily. I was trembling. The German girl started sobbing again. I looked at her. She looked at me and smiled bravely. "I'm sorry, it's my first time!". "That's OK, it is my first time too!" I said and smiled. I turned to my gear and realized what a strange conversation that was, between two adults with their clothes on and in public. But it was true. We where "launch virgins".
T-31 seconds and holding
The area fell dead quiet. They had stopped the countdown. Something was wrong. If it weren't for the children screaming for ice-cream or new toys or their parents' attention, I think one could have heard the famous pin drop. I thought : "Nooooooooo! Not THIS close!". My head exploded in thoughts and emotions. I heard nothing until the releasing words "Concur! Go for launch!". We went into a collective burst of joy! "Resuming countdown from 31 seconds in 5-4-3-2-1 T-31 second and counting!".
I was trembling so violently that I had problems thinking about what I should do. I zoomed the video-camera a a bit. "5-4-3-2-1!"
Liftoff!
On the screen we could see the shuttle taking off. I looked at the horizon. After a few seconds, a beautiful flame appeared over the treetops. I almost forgot to follow it with my camera. As it rose, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. A bright, golden flame that looked so soft you almost wanted to touch it. And it rose, and rose. And disappeared behind the clouds. I burst into screams of joy! Then the sound arrived. Low at first, then stronger. And stronger. And stronger. Even with strong winds towards the launch pad, we could both hear and FEEL the sound. A long, rumbling, smattering sound of thunder. I could feel the ground rumbling, and I could also feel the sound pressure on my body. Like a light tapping. AWESOME! I hope my camera was able to record it. 80 million horsepower in total. That is some serious power!
The smoke from the boosters hung in the air like fluffy, vanilla cream. Beautiful.
Anticlimax
After the launch. I felt like I had come down from a high. I have never tried drugs, but I can imagine this is how it feels. Looking at the old rockets from the 60's. Something that would have been a dream for me, was almost boring to me now. I wanted to see another launch. But this was the last one. My first and last.
I also found that the interval shooting had for some reason not worked. So I only got one image. And that failed to shoot the shuttle...
The only telephoto image. One can see the smoke and part of the flame :
The shuttle launcher is BIG! Compared to the earlier Mercury rockets, this is a giant!
Aftermath
I stayed at the visitor complex as long as possible. Hoping that most of the traffic would disappear by the time I got on the road. But it didn't. I left at 6 pm. The roads where packed. Snailing along. It took 3 hours to get back to my hotel. Normally this would take 1. 1 million people where heading home. I had a sore throat. Airconditioning. I never learn. The next day, I woke up with sinus infection and a cold. But that is the story of another blog entry.
Ragnar
Participant of an historic moment
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