I sailed through the gate without any problems and wound up at the Press Site a few minutes later. There wasn't a lot going on since this wasn't a NASA launch. I asked some guys setting up a platform with lights if this was for the afternoon press briefing. Nope. The film crew was setting up to live stream tomorrow's launch. I was hoping to attend the press briefing, but the only information I got from Space X was a dial in number I could call if I wanted to ask a question over the phone. I wandered around taking a lot of pictures and eventually ran into another reporter who seemed to be doing the same thing. She was a staff writer for The Atlantic and told me that Space X had only invited 27 journalists to the briefing, which was apparently going to be held inside the Space X hanger next to Pad 39A. If the reporter from The Atlantic didn't make the cut, I imagine that my little magazine was way down near the bottom of the list.
The NASA Press Office was closed, but there was a sign on the door saying that the press could still eat at the nearby NASA cafeteria. I've eaten there before and the barbecue is quite good. Since I was getting hot from wandering around outside, I went over to the cafeteria to cool off and ended up eating a big pulled pork sandwich with a huge tumbler full of sweet tea. I shouldn't have done this because I never eat lunch anymore. I was full for the rest of the day.
When I was driving back to Titusville along Kennedy Parkway I ended up passing a gigantic transporter carrying a Falcon 9 rocket. The convoy with the rocket was going about five miles an hour, so I slowly and carefully passed the transporter in what was left of the right hand lane. The transporter was huge. It was originally built to move the space shuttle around and NASA sold it to Space X when the shuttle program ended. I really wanted to pull over and take a picture but the highway had soft shoulders and there were at least six police cars in the convoy and I didn't want to do anything wrong. It was a cool experience though. I was only about five feet away from the rocket when I was passing the convoy.
When I exited the secure area and passed the Visitor Center Complex I though I might spend the remainder of the afternoon visiting the Atlantis exhibit again. I didn't want to pay the $50 admission fee plus an additional $10 for parking, but I had an idea. Last night I found an old annual pass to the visitor center inside my passport that NASA had given me in early 2019. It had expired, but I asked the guys at the gate if they would still honor this pass since the visitor center was closed because of Covid for the entire year during 2020. It must have seemed like a strange request because the guy at the gate had to call his supervisor, who in turn had to call his supervisor. Eventually they let me in for free and I didn't have to pay for parking either.
When I got back to the hotel I watched a live feed of the press briefing on the Space X web site. It's just as well that I didn't try to ask questions. All the questions from reporters were very serious. I wanted to ask Hayley what she would have done if her Mom said no. Hayley has said several times that she asked her Mom if it would be OK before accepting the Inspiration 4 offer. I wanted to ask Jared Issacman about all the commercial tie-ins associated with this mission. Everyone is wearing a different brand name watch. Martin Guitars is sending a ukulele into orbit which Chris Sembroski will supposedly play. 66 pounds of hops are on board which Samuel Adams will use to brew a special beer when the astronauts return. A bunch of other stuff is on board that will be auctioned off to raise money for St. Jude Children's hospital. We've been hearing about Commercial Crew missions for quite a while now. This crew will probably end up making commercials.
All in all, it was a very good day. It didn't go as I expected, but in retrospect it was probably even better than I expected.
Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day |
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