Day 3698

I knew it was going to be a good day when I looked out my hotel window and saw blue sky. Things started looking even better a few hours later when I was issued my first press pass. The little orange badge might not have been a big deal for some of the other reporters, but it represented kind of a milestone for me. I can drive my own car through the security check points now and didn't need to take the bus. I could get closer to the rocket than I ever dreamed possible. Best of all, I got to learn from some of the best.

Did I mention that I managed to get on the press bus to the Solar Orbiter rollout this morning? The rollout is exactly what it sounds like. The rocket slowly rolls on special tracks from the tall building when it was protected during assembly to the launch pad several hundred yards away.

The rollout is always a good sign because it means that the launch team is very confident that the launch will actually take place. The actual launch is tomorrow around 11 PM, but we are getting very close. It was great riding on the press bus and hanging out with the other photographers; I got lots of tips on how to take good rocket pictures. I was glad I decided not to leave a remote camera near the launch site after I heard what might happen. It is apparently very easy to have your camera destroyed. Your tripod can be knocked over by hight winds. An unexpected rainstorm can ruin your camera unless it is in a waterproof housing. The worst danger is that highly corrosive exhaust fumes from the solid rocket boosters could completely destroy your lens and camera. Most of the photographers I met today had lost at least one camera. Everyone reminded me to never leave my best camera at the remote site. "Take an old one," they told me.

After the rollout was finished I decided to go see the Saturn Experience. I've already seen one Saturn 5 when I was at Johnson Space Center in Houston, but why not see another. There are three of these rockets left. One is in Houston, one is here at the Space Center, and the third is in Huntsville, Alabama. These rockets were already manufactured and ready to go when the Apollo Program was cancelled. They were supposed to go to the moon too, but unfortunately never made it due to budget cuts.

One of the high points of today's visit was talking with a retired engineer named Lee Solid who worked on the Apollo Program. He was a docent at the Saturn Experience. This guy was responsible for the Rocketdyne F-1 engines that powered the Saturn 5 first stage. Wernher von Braun was his boss. "Werner liked the engine guys," Lee told me. I asked him if he ever got to see an Apollo launch in person. He laughed. "I was sitting in the control room for every single one of them," he said. Then he pulled an old Apollo 11 Security badge out of his wallet and showed it to me. "I found this in my attic a few years ago," he said. "I'm glad I didn't throw it away." Lee told me that he always liked to leave a thumbprint on the nozzle bell of each F-1 engine that left the factory. Years later he and some other old timers were invited to a special 50th Anniversary celebration where they got to witness the first Falcon Heavy launch. He was able to see Elon Musk's car being loaded into the nose of the rocket and asked if he might be able to leave a thumbprint on this car as well. "Sure, go for it," the Space X folks told him. I don't know why, but I loved this story.

The launch is tomorrow. The weather still looks good. Everyone seems optimistic. Early tomorrow I get to go out to the pad again for another photo opportunity. I'm hoping to see a German scientist I met today. He designed one of the main science instruments on the Solar Orbiter. The guy was really interesting and said he was invited to the pad tomorrow as well. I had lots of question about what his spectrograph did. He seemed puzzled that an ad guy like myself even knew what a spectrograph was. Truthfully, I'm a little puzzled myself.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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