for today. We've been waiting since Thursday for the launch and have kept the
rental car in order to drive over there with proper restraints for the kids. December 4-5, 2001 - Cape Canaveral
I drive to the front desk to download my e-mail and
discover on public radio that the launch of STS 108, the space shuttle Endeavor,
is a go
for today. We've been waiting since Thursday for the launch and have kept the
rental car in order to drive over there with proper restraints for the kids.
After an easy drive we hit the Kennedy Space Center and the security. I had been led to expect huge back-ups and delays for security. Actually, we have a placard to place in our window since the grounds are closed to all visitors except ticket holders on launch days. We drive through the first security checkpoint, past a field of old rockets and into the Visitor's Center, where the parking lot is nearly empty. At the entrance to the Visitor's Center we encounter the most careful security precautions yet. We have been told not to bring backpacks into the Center. Nevertheless, they make me turn my video camera on and look through the lenses of my binoculars. They carefully search Irene's fanny pack including going through her wallet. She thanks them for being careful. Mission Patch - STS 108
The Visitor's Center has been jazzed up since we last visited. It has two I-Max theaters, a 3D show for kids, play areas, a "meet the astronaut" platform, and several other activities, including several eating places. Even so, there's not enough to do while we wait to take buses out to the launch viewing site. We shop, eat ice cream, and wait on metal benches watching astronaut Bill Pogue hold periodic briefings where he tells what's happening as we move toward launch time and answers astronaut questions. I comment to Rick that the most remarkable thing about him is.nothing, which is, in itself, remarkable. He seems quite an ordinary engineer type considering that he's ridden the rocket into space and spent 84 days in the SkyLab.
At about 3:30 we head for the buses for a scheduled 5:45 PM launch. The site is along a narrow waterway. Old vehicle assembly buildings stand across the water on the barrier island. Launch pad 39B from which STS 108 is to be shot into space stands about six miles away behind a mangrove swamp. With binoculars we can just see the top of the gantry and the rocket itself through the haze. The voice of the NASA public affairs officer can be heard on the PA system behind us. Why do they all sound like Shorty Powers who's been dead for years?
The launch is scheduled for 5:19 P.M. To the east we can see banks of clouds, which are said to contain rain. The breeze is blowing pretty hard. The countdown enters a scheduled 45-minute hold. The communicator checks the readiness of monitoring sites and emergency landing sites around the world. They're all go. The countdown resumes at nine minutes. Planes fly through the clouds to assess the risk. At T minus three minutes the launch is scrubbed. We climb back on the busses and are returned to the Visitor Center. As we debark the busses, they hand us new admission tickets to the Kennedy Space Center, but if we come back for the launch tomorrow we will have to pay for the bus rides again.
We start home but decide to stop for something to eat, heading towards Titusville. As soon as we leave the causeway we see roped off parking areas with views directly out to the launch pad across the Intracoastal Waterway. We drive home trying to decide whether to come back tomorrow. In the morning, the kids go to Epcot while we take a break. Around 1:00 P.M. we pick them up at the gate and head down Rt. 50 for Cape Canaveral, again. We drive through Titusville and into the first parking area we see. Someone is charging $10.00 to park - cheap at three times the price. From here we can look directly at the shuttle sitting on the launch pad about six or eight miles away across the bay.
We set up folding chairs along the shore, buy some snacks at a nearby gas station, which also kindly provides use of its squeaky clean rest rooms. We settle in for the three-hour wait until the scheduled launch. It is windy today and partly cloudy. Some concern is expressed concerning whether the launch will take place today. The countdown resumes and soon the crowd by the bay is counting, too. Ignition. A splash of flame that soon begins to rise. I struggle to get a video, watch through my binoculars, and watch through my eyes. I fail at all three, finally giving up on everything but plain old vision. The Endeavor soon disappears into the clouds. A few moments later the roar of the engine washes over us. High above the shuttle reappears and we see the separation of the fuel tanks. The clouds close in again. The column of smoke over the launch site turns a lovely pinkish red as the sun sets behind us. We pack up and head home. Denny's serves its usual awful meal. I keep promising not to stop there.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-108/
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/shuttle/sts-108/html/fd1.html See the launch we watched from Titusville