Day 4710

What a way to start the day. The Artemis-1 launch was spectacular. The launch team must have learned a lot from their previous attempts because the entire countdown went very smoothly this time. There was some drama along the way, but it was clear that NASA was determined to launch Artemis today if at all possible. At one point everyone thought the launch might get scrubbed when a small hydrogen leak was discovered with only about twenty minutes left in the count. 

They didn't stop though. A special red team trained to work under hazardous conditions was sent to the launch pad to fix the leak. Evidently this is very dangerous because when a rocket like this is fully fueled, a spark near a hydrogen leak could cause the whole thing to explode. The red team fixed the leak like it was all in a days work. A little later a tracking radar down range wasn't sending data and stopped the count again because of a faulty ethernet switch. This was quickly fixed and the count resumed. There was still some caulking on the Orion capsule that came loose during Hurricane Nicole, but the launch team didn't seem to think this was a problem.

It's weird to think that the launch was almost stopped by a few loose bolts and a faulty ethernet switch. I guess low tech can trump high tech on just about any launch. The thousands of people who have worked on the Artemis program must have felt vindicated today. The rocket has received a lot of criticism lately, but almost everything worked perfectly this morning. The Orion capsule is on the way to the moon right now. 

This was the most spectacular launch I've ever witnessed. The huge rocket turned night into day during liftoff. The exhaust flame was so bright that it literally looked like the sun has risen. Artemis was also extremely loud. I'm sure this launch could be seen and heard for miles. I was hesitant about going to this launch because there was a good chance it wouldn't succeed. There were literally thousands of things that could go wrong. I'm glad I went though. It isn't everyday you get to see the most powerful rocket in the world heading toward the moon. The next Artemis will have people on board. Hopefully I'll be around to see that one too.

I didn't get back to the hotel after the launch until almost 4 AM. I immediately began to wonder why I was staying another day in Titusville and changed all my reservations again. I was lucky to get the last seat on an afternoon flight back to Dallas and I'm home again now. Brr. It's cold here. The weather was a lot nicer in Titusville. I saved some money by cutting a day off my stay, but unfortunately not enough to pay for the furnace repairs. Yikes. The special variable speed motor the furnace required was four times as expensive as an ordinary electric appliance motor. 

Tomorrow I'll unpack and write my article for SpaceFlight magazine. For now, it's time to get some sleep. I doubt if there will be any more launch trips this year. Hopefully there won't be any more broken appliances either. 

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day