Orlando

[cranefly]

There's a whole lot to tell, which I had intended to do chronologically, but things are wrapping up later today for the mission, so let me just cut to the chase.  (We're home, by the way.  More on that later.)

We're in some building up high.  It's next to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)


But I don't know this building's name.  There's an expansive balcony, so big that maybe 75 people can stand side-by-side at the rail.  And there's plenty of room for a couple hundred to group behind them with as good view.  The four of us are at the rail, and we have a clear view of pad 39A.  There's been lots of preparation-coverage on screens indoors in an auditorium, as well as a whole lot of food and drink to be had.  A deluge of wines, beers, mixed drinks, meatballs and other small food items and desserts, liquid nitrogen-made ice cream (with big puffs of vapor each time an order is made).  But now it's approaching the moment of truth.  We've been seeing venting off the Falcon 9, and we're in the final minutes, and people are beginning to gather on the balcony to watch.

Here's what we're seeing, by the way.



Yes, we're still a couple miles away.  If you hold your index finger up at arm's length, the rocket is roughly 3/4ths the height of the topmost finger joint.  Still, this is about as close as you can get.  Below us, maybe 4 police cars block a road towards the pad, their lights flashing red.  There's a waterway of sorts alongside it, snaking through what I believe is swamp.

Just before the launch, a lady comes up to us and asks if we can move aside to accommodate a 50-ish couple she is escorting.  Fortunately, the guy beside me is gracious enough to yield ground so we can squeeze the couple in.  The lady thanks me for scooting aside, saying that she had promised the couple a spot at the rail and had simply forgotten to act sooner.  (Later I learned that the couple are the parents of Chris, one of the civilians going up.  Needless to say, they were very nervous.)

Dusk is settling in.  I can still see a little of the landscape below us, some of the waterway, a hint of the swamp trees.  But it's pretty dark.  We're all invited to join in the final countdown, which many people do, but I'm too intent on the rocket.  As the countdown ends, there's a sparkle of orange at the base, which solidifies, then lengthens as the rocket begins to rise.  There's no sound yet, because a technician forgot to turn up the volume, or something like that.  The rocket continues to rise as people on the balcony cautiously cheer.  The rocket is maybe 20 degrees above the horizon, still eerily silent, when ripples appear on the waterway moving towards us.  A couple seconds later the roar and vibrations hit us.  The rocket continues upward and starts arcing aside, but not by much.  The engines crackle a bit unevenly, which concerns me, and later I learn that Oliver (our sponsor) heard that too and was concerned, but apparently it's just something you hear watching it live.

Maximum dynamic pressure is announced, and now the rocket is just a distant bright ball.  The sky is very clear, so we get to see a rarity -- stage separation.  There's cheering as bands of light strobe outward in circles.  The second stage ignites.  More cheering.  We've lost sight of the first stage as it falls away, except that it isn't really falling.  It's in space, still rising.  Then we see that other rarity.  The first stage's re-entry burn.  It's very clear, and well below the second stage.  More cheers.  After that the first stage dims, and I lose sight of it.  I want to believe I'll see its landing burn, but that no doubt will happen well beyond the curve of the Earth.

The guy beside me calls my attention to something directly above.  I'm a bit annoyed at the distraction, still wanting to look for the first stage.  But he points out the ISS going over just now.  It's not far from the half moon, moving past Saturn and towards Jupiter.  Yes, the moon, Saturn and Jupiter are almost perfectly lined up and equidistant on this night, and all very clear.  And who should pass them by just now?  The ISS.

The guy tells me that you can bet the crew of the ISS has been watching the launch -- and that explains some stuff I've been wondering about.  The launch window was 5 hours, starting at 8:03 pm.  But there were only specific times during those 5 hours when they would try to launch.  And now I realize that those times would coincide with overflights of the ISS, no doubt filming from there, as every part of this venture is being filmed in every way possible for the Netflix series -- which I'm kicking myself for not watching beforehand -- at least the episodes available at that time.

That's all for now.

[Drunk Monk]

Okay that’s pretty cool.

...but how many women in lingerie did you see?

[cranefly]

About Oliver.

Oliver wanted to go on this flight.  I mean, he really really wanted to go.  Of course, he isn't a billionaire.  And he didn't fit the qualifications of most of the crew.  One earned a spot as a former child cancer survivor at St. Judes, now a doctor there.  One won an entrepreneurial spirit contest.  The last seat was a drawing where you could get tickets by donating to St. Judes.  The more the donation, the more tickets.  Oliver ran the numbers, saw an opening, and went for it.  I think he maxed out on possible tickets, and he did other stuff that would gain more tickets, like emailing them every day.

Ultimately he lost.  Some guy won the drawing, broke his leg, and was allowed to transfer his seat to friend Chris.  But there was one more name drawn, and that was Oliver, winning a trip for four to watch the launch and partake of the event activities.

Of the crew, Chris is the blandest.  They really needed an Oliver.  He could have added so much color.  He's lively and engaging, always chatting people up at parties -- and there were parties galore, the pre-launch party, the after-launch party, the splashdown party.  The question always being asked is, "How are you here?"  Most people are family and friends of a crew member, or somehow associated with St. Judes.  Or a family with a child patient at St. Judes.  Or even at another medical facility.  All told, the number of invitees grew to an estimated 550 to 1000.  In attendance were a whole lot of former astronauts or technicians and engineers who had worked on earlier NASA missions, as well as a good many fighter jet pilots past and present.  Oliver even met a guy who did MIG maintenance.  This isn't so surprising when you consider that billionaire Jared owns a sizable fleet of fighter jets, including one MIG.  In fact, he has the biggest air force of any civilian.  And they're not just for show.  He flies them, and has logged more hours than many military pilots.

But people are always surprised, and impressed, when they learn how Oliver got here.  Because he, out of everyone in attendance, came closest to being on that flight.  He very nearly pulled it off.

At the after-launch party, LCF and I came upon Oliver chatting up a couple named MJ and Keegan.  MJ is an ex-fighter jet pilot now flying commercially for Southwestern.  It's not clear how they got invited.  But MJ is a member of an all jet-pilot band, and his band was invited to perform at the splashdown party.  When he inquired who else would be performing at that event, the answer was, "Oh, we're still pinning that down.  Maybe Green Day.  Or Coldplay.  Maybe Dave Groehl."  Hearing those big names, he declined.  [Note: I have since heard that none of these performed, and I'm not certain who did.]

MJ and Keegan are impressed that Oliver came so close to being among the crew.    During our chat, which wanders all over the place, the question is asked of all parties, "Given the opportunity, would you go up?"  Oliver would do so without hesitation, and he's determined to keep trying.  Others wouldn't.  MJ would.  In fact, MJ said he'd go on a flight to Mars.  Even a one-way flight.  After which he says in an aside to his wife, "Sorry, honey.  No hard feelings."  And it's clear she isn't taken by surprise.  She knows him only too well.

There's one other group of people at these parties and events.  SpaceX ninjas.  Any time something starts going awry, a SpaceX ninja will pop up and set things back on course.  They don't really deny being SpaceX, but they hide their credentials and don't make it obvious.  They don't want to steal thunder from the civilian crew, or overshadow the events in any way.  But they're there, lurking in the shadows, making certain all the festivities and events go off without a hitch.

(Coming up: how a prominent space ninja saved us from missing the launch.)

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

[Greg]

Once rockets go up who cares where they come down.
That's not my department.

[Drunk Monk]

Apogee!

[Greg]

Is Jeff Bezos like that guy in High School who wanted to take people for a ride in his new car as a way to make friends.

[Greg]

I don't know why I am so irritated by this Bezos charade. How much ego stroking does the man need? Does he have to open the capsule door after the landing.

The announcers made it clear that it was important to get the artists into space, one of the reasons for this project. Shatner is an artist. Let's launch him. And yet when Shatner tried to relate his experiences immediately after the landing, Bezos interrupted him to grab a champagne bottle and spray the crowd. I had to shut it off.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Once rockets go up who cares where they come down.
That's not my department.

+10 points for Tom Lehrer reference.

[Greg]

Once rockets go up who cares where they come down.
That's not my department.

+10 points for Tom Lehrer reference.

+ 10 points for recognizing said reference.

[cranefly]

Once rockets go up who cares where they come down.
That's not my department.

+10 points for Tom Lehrer reference.

+ 10 points for recognizing said reference.

-20 points for suspecting there was a reference, but not making the effort to look it up.

Shatner is really bulbous these days.  But damn!  He seems a lot more spry than me.

Ditto on the Bezos angle.   Sad to see Shatner made a shill for him.  Earlier I saw an interview where Shatner praised him to high heaven for leading the effort to bring Space within reach of civilians.  No mention of Musk.  Then again, I suppose one's gotta stroke one's feeder.

[Greg]

Look it up? What?

(I've forgotten a lot of things in my life. The MLF lullaby isn't one of the. )

I was thinking of my mom who is three years younger than Shatner going on the trip.

[Drunk Monk]

After all is said and done about Shatner, he's still my captain. 

And this was glorious. 

[Greg]

I'm not mad at your Captain. I'm mad at the circus.