So...the Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch has been postponed again until July 11th at 7:39PM. Since I will be in Greece at that time (and because it will be nearly 2 in the morning, though that hasn't stopped me so far...), I will not see the launch in person and doubtful I will see it live via tv/internet/other communication medium.
But...just because the launch has been postponed does not mean that there was not an adventure tonight nor imply that I will not try (for the third time) to see SOMETHING launched into outer space. Because this video would be essentially the same thing as the last video (except with a different location), I'm just going to tell you all what happened this evening/ morning. It was pretty awesome anyways.
So, 7:51pm: I leave my grandparents' house in Kissimmee, Florida and begin my journey to the Kennedy Space Center. According to the Kennedy Space Center website and to two of the three semi-reliable sources via their toll free info line, the walk up tickets for visitor complex viewing would go on sale at 10pm. It takes approximately 1-1.25 hours to get to KSC from my grandparent's house in good driving conditions, but, in my uber-nerdiness, I wanted to make sure that I didn't drive all the way over for nothing so I left 45 minutes before I really needed to. This was the best decision I made the entire evening. Not that I made any bad decisions, but I digress...
Just as I was pulling out of the driveway, the sky magically opened up and unleashed a massive thunderstorm that followed me all the way from Kissimmee to Cape Canavaral. At one point, I pulled off at an exit just to see if it might die down, but it didn't so onto the B-line I went with all the other nerds of Central Florida traveling at 20 miles an hour with flashers flashing. But, the weather cleared so in the end, the weather tacked on only about 30 minutes to the drive.
Approx. 9:30PM- I pull into the parking lot for the KSC Visitors Complex, got out of my car, and hurried up to the gate. There was already a mass of people (maybe 50-75) waiting for the tickets to go on sale.
10pm: An announcement is made that the storm had prevented fueling to begin (originally scheduled for 7pm), and a decision as to whether or not the launch would happed would be made. Meanwhile, they were not going to sell any tickets until the decision was made. So, we all got comfortable and began the process of casually making friends with the people around us and, most importantly, the people with the name tags and walkie talkies who would have the lastest breaking news on what was going on. Meanwhile, the lightning and rain continued.
10:30pm: A second announcement is made saying that the reason for the delay in the fueling was the lightning, and a decision would be made shortly. Ten seconds or so after this announcement was made, a bolt of lighting streaked across the sky and lit the whole place up like daylight. It was at this time that a large, universal sigh occured among everyone standing in line.
10:53pm: Another announcement is made saying that a decison concerning whether or not the launch would occur would be made at 11PM. Once again, the lightning sitmulated a crowd-wide bemoanment. As the elventh hour literally approached, people began to flock like moths to a light to anyone and everyone who had a name-tag and a radio.
11:00pm: No announcement made.
11:03pm: Still no announcement. The people with name tags and radios begin to shift nervously as the crowds around them thicken.
11:07pm: The crowd begins to ease back as they come to a realization that no matter how close they are to the radio people they are, when the announcement is made, they will eventually find out.
11:15pm: An announcement is made. Fueling has begun and the launch is a go. There is much rejoicing. People begin to enter and the mood is suddenly very different. Everyone seems full of energy and life. I get into the park and am quite excited to be there. I make my way to the different exhibits.
Let me just pause here and say how strange it is to be at any sort of amusement park/ visitor complex place when there is almost NO ONE there. The place was so completely diserted that it was actually a little eerie and uncomfortable. While everyone got their tickets around 11:30 or so, not everyone went immediately into the visior complex; most went back to their cars and slept. Anyways, back to the adventure:
Between 11:30 and about 12:30, I meander about the complex and go into the shop, where I buy a patch and a pin for the STS-127 Endeavour Mission (the one we were all there to see). I then get my hand stamped, go back to the car, drop off the new goodies, get my still camera and head back in, just in time to see the launch update and the Astronaut Encounter with Former Astronaut Jon McBride. I actually got a cool video of his presentation which I will post eventually, perhaps on YouTube. After his presentation, a few brave souls went up to him to talk to him and get pictures. Unfortunately, the picture I got with him did not come out at all (quite blury and dark...), but I did get a nice handshake, so that was pretty neat. It was at this time, after the Astronaut Encounter, they began to express some concern about a hydrogen gas leak in the same spot as the leak that scratched the first launch time, but there was no word about whether or not the mission would actually be postponed.
2:00AM-After a bit more meandering, I head over to the Shuttle Launch Experience, the one and only "ride" at the complex. It was pretty cool and supposedly fairly realistic. While standing on the dots outside the doors of the ride (you know...each dot represents a seat so everyone claim a dot type thing), there was a boy who was going to be sitting right in front of me crying. I figured he must have been scared, but then he made it known that he really had to go to the bathroom. At this moment, I became a bit concerned...this was NOT the child I wanted to be sitting behind at the moment. His family tried to convince him that he could hold it, but looking at his tears, he had a different idea about his personal bladder control. You have no idea how much I wanted to kindly but firmly suggest to his parents that they let the poor thing go to the bathroom before taking him on a semi-thrilling ride, but luckly, one of the ride attendants did that for me.
As for the ride itself, it was pretty amazing. They jolted you around, leaned you back until you were verticle, and changed the pressure in the cabin to simulate going the speed of sound withing a space shuttle. I got a bit dizzy during it, actually, but nothing serious. It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend trying it if you are ever at KSC.
When you exit the ride, you are a bit disoriented and dizzy, but to make the transition easier for you, they take you through this spiral walkway with all the space mission info on little placards. Walking in a somewhat tight circle after going on a dizzying shuttle simulation is fun.
2:10am- I walk out of the Shuttle Launch Experience when a voice echoes throughout the park: The STS-127 Space Shuttle Endeavour Mission scheduled for 5:40am has been scrubbed. A new launch date has not been announced.
It was so sad. Everyone had taken so much time (remember this: everyone who was going to be on site for the launch had to be within the visitor complex parking lot by 11pm) and already gone through so much. It was really, really sad. People began to move to the exit. I stayed for about fifteen minutes afterwards, seeing if I could get any answers like how long it would be before we had the leave and whether my ticket was still valid to come back Thursday for the LRO Rocket launch (it is!), and, at 2:36am, I got into my car and headed home.
I pulled into the driveway at 3:45am. Thus ends part deux of the NASA Launch Adventure.
But...will there be a Part Tres? Absolutely! Because my admission ticket is valid for re-entry within seven days, I can come back Thursday and watch the LRO and/or LCROSS rockets launch! While they are unmanned, they are still supposedly pretty spectacular to watch. Those go up at 5:12pm, so I will try for the third (and most likely last) time to see a launch during this vacation.
Alright, well, seeing that it is 5am now, I think I am going to head off and get some sleep, though I'm still pretty awake due to the night's excitement.
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