Holiday Pt 2 – The Launch

Having barely survived the sleep deprivation and all that lead up to the scrubbing of the first shuttle launch, we stoically decided that we would indeed back it up with yet another night of sleepless insanity and return to the Kennedy Space Centre for the re-scheduled launch of STS-130.

We slept for most of the morning and went Outlet shopping for the afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner and then headed back to the bus stop to get picked up for a return to the KSC. Being the second day and with only 24 hours notice that the event was on seemed to significantly change the number of people that were able to attend. It was also Sunday night rather than Saturday which may have deterred a few locals who had to work.

Whatever it was, it made things better for us as we were through the gate quickly, spent more time in the Space Centre and didn’t have to line up for 2kms to get back on the buses when the time came to move over to the causeway. For some reason we still spent a bucket of time in the bus waiting (I think they held them all until the shuttle had been fueled) and because the bus driver we had on the second day was complete crap compared to the first day, despite the reduced numbers, we ended up on exactly the same piece of real estate. This time however, we were much better prepared for the cold, double panted and extra-womble like layered to repel the chill wind. We'd even stopped to buy a couple of beanies!



And there we waited, counting the hours, then the minutes until the launch was due, again watching the clouds overhead, hoping against hope that we would be more fortunate.



The reduced numbers gave us some time to move around a little and the wind wasn’t quite as fierce, so the cold was slightly more bearable. Thomas and I wandered down to the launch clock that you see if you ever watch one of these things on the web and the T-20 hold came and went.




There were whispers of 60% chance of launch, dropping to 40% at some point, climbing again … all designed surely to keep us nervous with anticipation. The T-9 hold came (a 30 minute hold in itself) and we continued to count the minutes, watching them creep by, waiting whilst the kids slept. Then a cheer went up, we had moved past the T-9 hold, things were happening, it looked like it would be a go (but we held our breath because our tour operator from the day before had told us of a time when a launch had been scrubbed with 2 minutes on the clock). The real no turning back point is at 30 seconds.



We woke the kids up, shaking and talking and shaking until we knew they were awake enough not to succumb to sleepy bo-bos at the critical moment and then waited just a little bit longer.

Then we heard it, “Go for Launch!” 10 seconds … the free hydrogen burnoff … 9 seconds … 8 … 7 … 6.6 seconds … Main Engines Start … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …0! Ignition! Hold down release and launch!



The first thing that we could see (being some 5 miles or so from the launch pad) was a burst of fire down near the base of the pad. Then the night sky is lit up until it is the colour of a beautiful orange summer sunset, almost as bright as day light.




The tail of flame shoots skyward propelling the shuttle into the heavens. You can’t see it for the intensity of the light, but you know it’s there with its crew strapped in and flying. 20 seconds or so after the launch, as the shuttle shoots upward, the wall of sound catches up, the deep base rumble washing over you, literally rippling the water, stirring up the ‘gators and giving you yet another sense of the power and wonder that is unfolding before your eyes.

As the shuttle climbs, the intensity of the light fades and the shuttle tilts over and rolls ready for separation of the boosters.



There’s cheers from the crowd as it is announced that separation has been achieved, memories of Challenger vivid amongst the launch community, everyone hoping that they never see anything of its like again.



It continues to fade until the night sky has resumed its dominance over the intruder which disappears toward the darker sky of space, its light now white, like an overly bright star before it winks out, only 3 and a half minutes from that moment when ignition began.



The words really don’t do it justice, nor do the pictures. It truly was a once in a lifetime, awe-inspiring spectacle that I count myself incredibly fortunate to have witnessed it.

Holiday Pt 1 - Emily the Unsleeping and Thunderbirds aren't Go.

In addition to being the day before we set off on our Search for the Sun, Friday the 5th was Caroline’s birthday. Knowing that our departure was scheduled for the not so kid friendly time of 12:40am on the 6ht, 6th, the plan was to go out for birthday dinner and then put the kids to bed for a quick nap before heading to the airport.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Keg with Bob and Nancy and the girls and then went home with the kids’ excitement levels being tweaked up a notch with the reducing time until our scheduled departure. We cleaned house, booked a taxi and tried to get four children to go to sleep. Emily simply wouldn’t. Thomas was trooper and the first one to the land of sleepy bo-bos and even Michael and Sam went to sleep. But Emily was a right little bugger and only fell asleep about an hour before we intended to leave for the airport.

At the scheduled time we peered out the front window waiting for the taxi, but 10 minutes after it was due to arrive, there was no sign of it. Caroline called the taxi company and they said that they’d send another one as quickly as they could.

I started waking the kids up, which was an effort and a half. Talk about out to the world. You seriously have to wonder about the effectiveness of a smoke alarm with kids when you’re in their room all but yelling over the alarm that’s going off and still not being very successful. Sam has taken to sleeping with one quilt under him and another over the top and as I woke him up, he started pulling the top one back over the top of him. I dragged it off him, only to have him sleepily start to drag the ‘under-quit’ up over him instead. I had to drag that off him as well and it wasn’t really until I started to bodily pull him from the actual bed that I started to get any sort of responsiveness that one could relate to being awake.

A short time later, with still no sign of any taxis I started to stuff our luggage into our car. The taxi showed up as I was working on bag #3 and so we quickly transferred it, stress levels rising as we attempted to get everything we’d packed, plus the 6 of us into the minivan cab. We made it without anyone losing any limbs and arrived at the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight.

Of course the next issue was the fact that there’s an in-flight entertainment system, kids that have had just enough sleep to boost them and desperately tired parents (and kids, even if they won’t admit to it). The first flight was about 4 hours in duration and despite threats, bribes and every other trick in my arsenal, Emily simply would not sleep. Knowing that at the end of the flight we’d only have 3 or so hours in the Toronto airport before another 3 or so hour flight down to Miami and that at the end of that flight, I had a 4 hour drive to look forward to, I wasn’t really coping very well.

Emily spent almost the entire flight awake, of course only really nodding off at the end so that I had to practically carry her sleep-walking style, up the aerobridge and into the terminal.

By the time that we’d collected our luggage prior to customs, Emily was of course falling asleep every 3 steps and any time we paused, she’d simply drop where she stood and attempt to sleep.

For the second flight, she sat next to Caroline and I managed to get enough sleep to survive the drive to Orlando without incident. Finally we were at our hotel.

Now if only that were the end of the bone wearying itinerary, it would have been ok. As we’d left Miami for Orlando, we’d stopped to do some shopping, picking up some blankets, chairs and food because a mere hour or so after we arrived in Orlando, we were due to be picked up and taken to the Kennedy Space Centre.

Yes, there was a shuttle launch scheduled and we decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We made it to the space centre and arrived to the strains of our guide Milton telling us that not only was this the last ever scheduled night launch for the shuttle, but that he’d never seen so many people ever show up for a launch. It was packed. As a consequence, by the time we managed to get in the gate and take a quick turn at the launch simulator, it was basically time to line up to get back on the bus to go to the causeway where we’d be watching from. After carrying the chairs and blankets around all night, it was good to get some respite, when we finally made it onto the bus, about an hour after we had originally been scheduled to. We’d started the evening with something like an 80% chance of launch, but by the time that we were on the bus, it was down to about 60%.

Out at the causeway, we managed to snag our own piece of real estate, one row back from the rope and with a view of the little speck of illumination that was the shuttle on the launch pad.


(Click on the pic to Enlarge)

We snuggled up as warm as we could manage, the wind working hard to chill us to the bone (because we came to Florida for the sun of course) and us with an eye to the sky as the early morning started quite clear, but gradually clouded over.

Clouds would drift in and drift out, but the chance of launch was being continually cut. When it was down to 30%, I still had a confident feeling that things would work out for us. The clock continued to count down, we continued to freeze. We made it all the way down to the T-9 minute hold without any mechanical incident to halt proceedings and sat with our fingers crossed.

We took a few pictures, feeling somewhat camera-inadequate as we stood amongst thousands upon thousands of enthusiasts with camera equipment worth the price of a small third world nation and between the distance, lack of a tripod and the limitations of our camera, did the best that we could:




(Click on the pic to Enlarge)

And then came the words we’d feared. The launch had been scrubbed. The cloud cover was too low and quite simply, the shuttle wasn’t going to fly. So at 4:30am after travelling since 12:40am the previous day, we packed our weary kids and bodies back into the bus, faced with the question … if it was only delayed 24 hours, would we stuff our hands back in our pockets and drag ourselves out there again?