Day 4488

It was a beautiful day for a launch. The temperature was 70 degrees with clear skies and no mosquitos. You couldn't ask for more in Florida. It's amazing how routine Space X has managed to make these launches seem. There are rarely any delays or problems these days. Lift off occurred right on schedule. The Falcon 9 booster, which has already flown four time before, landed safely on the drone ship again and the Axiom-1 astronauts are on their way to the space station.

It felt good to be back at Kennedy Space Center. I reconnected with some of the other launch photographers and met a few new NASA media relations contacts. The guy who had his camera set up next to mine was shooting footage for an iMax movie. He had two assistants and $50,000 worth of equipment. My little camera and tripod looked pretty humble by comparison. I did manage to get some good pictures though. Launch photography is weird. You spend several hours setting up your equipment and making sure it all works correctly. Then the launch itself is over in just a few minutes. 

This was the first daytime launch I've seen in quite a while. Night launches are more dramatic. You can see the rockets exhaust a lot longer at night. Often you can see stage separation and watch the second stage ignite. Daytime launches have their advantages as well. One of the biggest advantages is that you can actually get some sleep after the launch.

I wish Southwest Airlines had more flights to and from Orlando. Even though the launch was over before noon, the first flight home didn't leave Orlando until 7:30 PM. That's a long time to wait for a plane. It's a long time to wear a mask as well. I wasn't in any hurry to leave the space center, so I went and had barbecue at the NASA cafeteria. The cafeteria was being remodeled, but they set up tables where you could eat outside. It was a perfect day to have a brisket sandwich at an outdoor table and watch the eagles fly around the Press Site. There was actually an eagle's nest with a young eaglet inside right next to where I parked my car. 

When I did get to the airport is was an absolute zoo. There was a huge line at the TSA checkpoint. For a little while I thought I might be late for my plane, even though I arrived with hours to spare. When I eventually got to my gate I discovered that my flight had been delayed. It wasn't just my flight either. I noticed that there were many delayed or canceled flights at the other gates as well. I think almost half of today's Southwest flights had some sort of delay.

With so much time to spare, it seemed like a good time to take a long walk. I walked up and down the concourse, stopping to read the menus at a variety of different restaurants. Eating is a good way to kill time, but I wasn't really hungry. The Sonny's barbecue I had for lunch really filled me up. I managed to get 20,000 steps today. I'm surprised that I didn't get more. When we were finally ready to board our delayed flight, there was an announcement that we would have to wait a little longer because the pilot hadn't arrived yet.

Dawn wasn't nearly as eager to see me when I returned home as she was to see Janet after her recent trip. I kind of expected this, but it would have been nice to see a wagging tail. I did finally get Dawn to take a cookie from me, but she still seems a little nervous. We're going to have to work on building trust again.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4484

Well, I'm still here. I got a message from Space X late last night saying that the Axiom-1 launch had been delayed for two days. I'm really glad they sent me the message last night instead of this morning, because I would have been on my way to Florida. I hastily rescheduled my airline, hotel, and rental car reservations and discovered that prices vary wildly depending on which day you travel. It's a lot less to fly on a Wednesday than on a Monday, but Friday is more expensive than either of those days. I was lucky to be able to reschedule on such short notice. It wasn't entirely smooth sailing though. I had to use a different rental car company because my first choice was completely out of cars on the new dates I selected. I hope there aren't further delays to this launch. A lot of people are traveling again and it's not always easy to make changes.

I guess I was right to be apprehensive when I learned that the Artemis-1 dress rehearsal was having problems. Pads 39A and 39B are close together, so what is happening on one will often impact what is going on at the other. The giant Artemis moon rocket is always going to be first in line down at the space center. I guess the Axiom Space folks will have to wait. Oh, well. I was glad to be able to sleep in longer this morning, but I'm going to have to unpack my suitcase to find today's evening meds.

Since I was home today, it was just another day to visit the rescue Dalmatians at the kennel. There are so many dogs now that it takes us quite a while to see everyone. These dogs always make us laugh. Dorothy and Candy are wild. Julip and Willie are shy. Oliver and Jo Jo are big clumsy goofballs. Rocket is still scared, but he seemed more relaxed than last week. Charlie is just Charlie. We had a good time this afternoon. Several dogs are being looked at, but nobody got adopted this week. I don't know if we'll see Sammy again, but her puppies are all healthy and doing well. Their eyes are open now and they are getting their spots.

I took several short walks today, but didn't feel up to taking my regular long walk. I probably wouldn't have had time anyway since we spent so much time up at the kennel. My shoes feel different now since I've already transferred the custom orthotics to the new Hokas that are currently sitting inside my suitcase. It's not worth the trouble to transfer them back again.

We are under a severe weather warning tonight although I haven't seen or heard anything yet. So far the storm seems to be moving to the north of us. I hope this continues. Tonight's storm is associated with high winds and possible tornadoes. That's the last thing we need. I still worry that one of our remaining large Oak trees will be toppled in a big storm. We've already lost several this way. I always see downed trees in the park after a major storm. Our own trees are about the same age, so you never know.

I got a notice this morning that my application to attend the NASA Crew-4 launch was not accepted. That's just as well because I couldn't have afforded to go to two launches so close together anyway. Crew-4 is scheduled for next week. I just applied to attend both launches in hopes that one of them would come through. All is well. Now I've just got to decide whether to go out to McDonald Observatory at the end of the month. It's not an easy decision.

There's not much on the agenda tomorrow. My bags are packed and even if it rains tonight it's still supposed to be a nice day tomorrow. Maybe I'll sleep in late again.

Dottie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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