Return to Flight
posted by Jen | 11:00 AM
Liftoff!
How can I even explain my feelings right now? First of all, I was totally expecting to wake up this morning and finding out the weather was bad or something else went wrong. I woke up after about 5 hours of sleep - no alarm - 10 minutes before the scheduled launch time. I flipped on the TV just before the restarting of the clock after the scheduled L-9 min hold. Everything looked normal. A couple minutes later, the gantry to the hatch retracted. OMG, we're still GO! Aerosurface and gimbal checks went off. The nose cap retracted. CAPCOM said his final words of goodbye.
I always remember the last 15 seconds of a launch count seeming to take a long time. It always seemed ages between the T-30 sec call and the sound supression system activating, the sparklers lighting, the engines firing up, and the SRBs lighting and lifting the shuttle off the pad. This time, though it was all a blur. In my head was this rising litany "Oh, my God the sparklers are lit... Oh, my God, the engines are firing... Oh, my God, THE STACK IS MOVING... OH, MY GOD, WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING BACK TO SPACE!!!!"
Thouroughly unable to contemplate going back to bed, I've been sitting here watching NASA TV and trading instant messages with friends. Surfing space news sites, and contemplating doing the job for which I've been training for 3 years for the first time.
It's a good day.
How can I even explain my feelings right now? First of all, I was totally expecting to wake up this morning and finding out the weather was bad or something else went wrong. I woke up after about 5 hours of sleep - no alarm - 10 minutes before the scheduled launch time. I flipped on the TV just before the restarting of the clock after the scheduled L-9 min hold. Everything looked normal. A couple minutes later, the gantry to the hatch retracted. OMG, we're still GO! Aerosurface and gimbal checks went off. The nose cap retracted. CAPCOM said his final words of goodbye.
I always remember the last 15 seconds of a launch count seeming to take a long time. It always seemed ages between the T-30 sec call and the sound supression system activating, the sparklers lighting, the engines firing up, and the SRBs lighting and lifting the shuttle off the pad. This time, though it was all a blur. In my head was this rising litany "Oh, my God the sparklers are lit... Oh, my God, the engines are firing... Oh, my God, THE STACK IS MOVING... OH, MY GOD, WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING BACK TO SPACE!!!!"
Thouroughly unable to contemplate going back to bed, I've been sitting here watching NASA TV and trading instant messages with friends. Surfing space news sites, and contemplating doing the job for which I've been training for 3 years for the first time.
It's a good day.
4 Comments:
Yeah! for you and Becky and Sarah and everyone there! So what will you be doing during the mission?
I'm the Trajectory Officer on the planning shift, while the crew is asleep. After we dock I get to move over and sit in the Flight Dynamics Officer seat. That means that I'm going to be in charge of the Shuttle's trajectory. Of course, while we're docked that's not too hard. :)
Ok, I am completely jazzed that I found the NASA TV signal streaming on line. Am I going to get to see any of you in that room? If so, at what times? It will be so cool to watch people I know.
BTW, my friend A. of yellowstone fame was good friends and grad school pals with Kalpana Chawla from the Columbia mission. This launch for him was bittersweet.
I am sitting in the front left corner of the Shuttle control room. It's kind of hard to see me in the big shot, but if I happen to be standing up...
My shift is from 3pm - midnight.
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