Shuttle Launch

Kennedy Space Center and the Shuttle

Slide Show of Kennedy Space Centre

Video of Shuttle Launch expertly shot by rock steady hand John :)

We left the apartment on Wednesday about 10:20 with 10 minutes to get to the shuttle bus for the ride to the airport. We had reduced out contingency time by about 5 minutes due to late packing. We walked out the onto the street and Murphy struck. Bad sign of things o come. They were digging up the road we had to take to get to the pick up. We had to take an entire block deviation.

Exhausted we got to the pick up as the bus arrived, and got to the airport in time.

Our flight with Continental Airlines to Houston took off on time at 1:00 pm scheduled to get to Houston at 6:10 and we had a 6:50 connection to Orlando. All appeared good however we did not realize it but Murphy had sneaked aboard the plane.

We had to deviate because of storms and arrived at Houston late, lost our landing slot and by time they started boarding in Houston we were stacked n a holding pattern.

We finally landed at about 6:45 and raced off and up the air bridge, fortunately our departure gate was directly opposite the arrival gate so we ran straight across the terminal and into another air bridge and on to the next plane. We beat Murphy but had not lost him.

Got to Orlando and picked up the hire car.  John had not lost his suicidal tendencies from Niagra, took off like a maniac out of the airport, did not follow his navigators instructions, took off in the wrong direction and we got lost, in alligator infested country.

Got to the hotel after 1:00 am and hit the sack only to have the air conditioner rumble like a truck idling through the night.

Thursday we drove to Kennedy Space Centre. Just amazing. Impossible to describe everything suffice to say everything you see in real life is much much much bigger than you could have ever imagined. We boarded a tour bus and saw the Saturn rocket used to get man to the moon. The base with the rocket engines is enormous about 10 meters wide and the rocket is over 40 meters long. They have the rocket, moon landing modules and all the rest of it in a cavernous building.

The shuttle itself needs to be seen up close to appreciate its size and the size of the solid fuel boosters and external fuel tank. I am going to have to let the pictures try and convey the magnitude of it all.

We spent a very wet day, with thunder storms and lightning, experiencing KSC. Would recommend it, KSC – not the storms. The launch did not look promising.

We had to endure the rumbling air con and rise at about 2:45 to board a tour bus at 3:30 to take us from Orlando to KSC and the launch on Friday. Before we slept we checked the weather and other reports and there was still only a 30% chance of launch. They were to hold a meeting at 1:30 am to re-evaluate the weather and determine if they would start filling the external tank. First thing I did on waking was to check the NASA site and, good news, they had started the tank filling at 2:00 am, so things looked good.

We boarded the bus and by the time we got close to KSC the traffic was unbelievable. Cars and buses everywhere. When we finally got to KSC before sunrise there would have been thousands of cars in the car park and buses.

We found some seats on the “bleachers” or stands and settled in to a 5 hour wait and hope and observe the sky and weather.

There was a big TV screen in the area we sat in and they streamed footage of the astronauts being suited u and strapped into their seats, with video coming from the cockpit itself other internal areas of the shuttle. Incredible viewing. Unfortunately in true American style they had to get some country singer on stage and entertain the crowd and gee them up. For a moment I thought we were going to hear "Achy Breaky Heart"

So we lost the cockpit footage and had to look at this dork prancing on the stage in his cowboy boots and hat. 

"Houston we have a serious problem here"

  

Our views site did not allow visibility of the actual pad due to trees blocking the line of site.

We finally got back to mission control footage just before launch and experienced the whole countdown, down to ignition, main engine start and blast off.  We saw the launch on the screen and then seconds later the shuttle appeared above the tree line on a pillar of fire. It was spine tingling stuff. It accelerated at an incredible speed and rocketed up into the sky leaving a cloud of vapour spreading out below the incredibly bright, white, tail of fire. 

After it disappeared above the clouds the viewing continued on the screen from a video mounted on the fuel tank, saw the solid rocket boosters fall away, the earth slowly becoming smaller and finally when the shuttle detached from the tank the video continued with the tank appearing to just hang in space with the shuttle gradually moving away from it. Just amazing.

Regrettably that was it. It was all over.

Time to head back with a head full of memories, and the mundane, long traffic jammed ride back to the hotel.

We had to get up at 3:30 am on Saturday to get the hire car back, board our flight at 7:00 to Minneapolis, arrive at 9:30, for a 2 hour layover, and leave at 11:25,  and hopefully get back to Calgary at about 1:35. 

We managed to sort out the car quickly, checked in and were ready for breakfast at about 5:30. I had used my considerable charm to get us exit row seats. Fate had been kind. After all the uncertainty, the rain and thunderstorms on Thursday the shuttle had taken off. It had actually happened, and we were tired but early for our flight. Ah life is good. 

Murphy struck

Our flight was delayed for one hour to 8:00 am. One hour lost from our layover.

Murphy put the boot in.

Flight was delayed another hour. No time left from our layover. We were in deep s%%%t, (pronounced “moo poo”).

Delta Airlines rescheduled us with American Airlines to Chicago, and a four and a half hour layover then United Airlines to Calgary at 5:30 and arrival in Calgary at 8:30. There are time zone changes at each stage as we fly north east. 

So we arrive in Calgary 7 hours later than planned and to cap it we had a screaming baby 1 row back

.

But we saw the last shuttle fly. Life is good. Bugger you Murphy.

So it is now Sunday morning and with a travelers hang over I finish my Shuttle blog.

“Houston – we do not have a problem”