Day 4896

It was a beautiful launch this evening. The weather cooperated. There were no serioous problems with the rocket, and the launch took place right on schedule at 5:37 PM. Since the AX-2 Mission was going to the International Space Station, the launch had to take place exactly at 5:37 PM. A delay in the launch was not an option. With an instantaneous launch window and weather deteriorating for the rest of the week, it was a good thing the Axiom team was able to get off the ground today. The weather looks bad tomorrow.

There are always a few dramatic moments in any launch. Today there was a small leak in a nitrogen attitude control system that the first stage booster uses while returning to the landing Zone. There was also a threatening anvil cloud getting close to the three mile exclusion zone surrounding the launch pad. Anvil clouds produce lightning and a lightning strike to a rocket in flight is never a good thing. Fortunately all obstacles were overcome and the Dragon capsule is already on its way to a rendezvous with the international space station.

The day got off to a very early start. I had to pick up my press credentials at 5:45 AM. No breakfast today. The restaurant wasn't even open yet when I left the hotel. After picking up my credentials I joined a group of photographers being bussed out to the launch pad to set remote cameras. I don't set remote cameras myself, but I like taking pictures near the launch site. There was an hour delay when one of the shuttle busses hit a pole in the press site parking lot, knocking one of its rear view mirrors off. The bus seemed fine, but NASA is very strict about its rules. We had to wait for a substitute bus and driver.

I returned to Titusville to get some lunch after our trip to the launch pad. I had to go to Sonny's and get some barbecue, even though the brisket gave me heartburn on my last visit. It's a good thing that I don't take many of these trips. My blood pressure and resting heart rate always go up when I travel. I never sleep well either. My life in Dallas may be boring at times, but it does keep me healthier. 

After lunch I returned to the press site for some interview opportunities before the launch. I'm never very comfortable doing this sort of thing, but the magazine wanted me to try to interview some of the Axiom people. I guess the interviews went reasonably well. I may not be a real journalist, but I'm learning to act like one. I'll be able to incorporate a few quotes from my interviews into the article I'm going to write.

I had no camera problems today. I've been plagued with minor camera problems on recent launch visits, but today everything went perfectly. I think the pictures came out pretty well. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe  I'm finally learning to be more methodical and consistent about launch photography. Hopefully, I'll get a good night's sleep tonight before heading back to Dallas tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be back here again, but I'm glad that these periodic launch visits still give me pleasure. It was a very good day today.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4619

I got as message today that NASA was providing a wide variety of one-on-one interview opportunities with people connected with the Artemis program. This sounded interesting, so I went to their website link and looked for someone to interview. Every time I found someone interesting and selected them I received a message saying that another person had picked the same person at almost the same time and they were no longer available. I tried again and again and every single time someone else had grabbed my time slot first. After seven of eight tries I just gave up. 

It probably would have been easier to interview some obscure technical person, but I wanted to interview an astronaut. The astronauts available for interviews were by far the most popular. Most of the available time slots were snapped up in just a few minutes. The feeding frenzy for interviews was one more sign that this launch is going to be a three ring circus. I've heard that 700 journalists will be covering the launch. I guess it's an honor to be included in this group, but I still wonder if I made the right decision. I really hate crowds.

There was rain in the forecast for today, but true to form we never got any. Our sunrise walk was pleasant, but it got hot pretty quickly. By the time I finished breakfast the temperature was already too high for another walk in the park. Oh, well. I guess I was planning on going to the gym anyway. I got a late start because I wasted a lot of time trying to snag an interview on the NASA website. When that failed I paid some August bills. Actually it was a good thing that I got a late start at the gym. I didn't have to spend the entire afternoon looking for something to do.

I'm eating lunch again, which I haven't done in a long time. This means that I am probably gaining weight as well. After lunch I installed the new firmware in the star tracker and gave it a spin.  This update was major. So many things had changed that it was disorienting at first. I had a lot of trouble getting the camera to connect, but eventually I succeeded. Since the tracker worked fine once I managed to get the camera connected, I suspect that I may have installed one of the cables improperly. The cables are definitely a weak link on this thing. They are very finicky.

After I put the tracker away I looked at the NASA interview website again and discovered that a retired European astronaut was available. I hope he speaks English. This guy is German and I've totally forgotten the German I learned when I was working in Europe on the Siemens account. I never was very fluent but at least I made an effort. German is not an easy language to learn. I'm glad I was finally able to secure some sort of interview with an astronaut. It makes me feel a little more legitimate as a journalist.

I thought it was going to be too hot for Dawn's training class tonight, but it quickly became obvious that Dawn really wanted to go. Dawn loves that class. Janet said the weather was fine once the sun went down. The weather certainly didn't bother Dawn. She did great tonight and came home with a blue ribbon. She's got quite a collection of ribbons now. Dawn is full of surprises. I never expected her to be a star at class.

Looks like we may still get some rain later tonight. I'm not counting on anything though. Somehow the rain always seems to miss us.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3974

I got an e-mail today saying that NASA was providing a limited number of one-on-one interview opportunities with Crew-1 mission specialists prior to the launch. I signed up to interview the Commercial Crew Program Launch Integration Manager and was subsequentially approved. Good grief. Why did I do this? I guess I'm really a reporter now. I'll have to think of some intelligent questions to ask before I leave. Do I record the interview or make notes in a little reporter's notobook? Personally, I'd rather just listen and write down what I remembered later. That would probably look very unprofessional though. A lot of reporters I saw the last time I was at the Space Center carried little notebooks with them. Maybe I'll do that. I'd better remember to take something to write with too. I forgot to take a pen with me when I went to McDonald Observatory. A pen is definitely simpler than a tape recorder. Somehow I hate to add audio equipment to the camera gear I'm already taking.

I found a raincoat I liked at REI. I took a coupon with me that I got in the mail a few days ago which said I could save 20% on any item in the store. When I tried to use the coupon the clerk said it wasn't valid until three days from now. I bought the raincoat anyway, but I kind of felt cheated. If someone sends you a coupon you ought to be able to use it as soon as you receive it without reading a bunch of fine print with a magnifying glass. Janet said that maybe I should have bought a larger size, but the coat looked good in the store mirror. It's going to be warm at the Space Center anyway. It might be wet, but with temperatures in the 80's I don't think I'll need a sweater under the raincoat.

I didn't feel like getting up this morning. I'm definitely not a morning person. I usually wait until I hear Janet call out "thirty minutes" before I get out of bed. Dawn and Janet are always up before I am, but thirty minutes gives me enough time to make the bed and get dressed before we leave on our morning walk. It was pretty warm this morning. I'm always surprised at how different each day begins. Yesterday I needed a warm coat. Today a t-shirt was fine.

I got Emma up on the Dalmatian Rescue website today. It wasn't really necessary to add her to the site since she is already adopted, but people are always interested in learning about new dogs in the program. I used to work on several animal rescue websites, along with my regular clients, but the Dalmatian site is the only one I've got left.  I think if I didn't update this site periodically, I would forget how to work with HTML documents entirely. It's kind of alarming how much I've forgotten already.

I'm not going to get my special N-95 masks in time for my trip. The company said that they would refund the fee I paid to expedite my order, but that they were running behind and wouldn't be able to ship for at least another week. Why did I not anticipate this? I thought I ordered in plenty of time, but I should have known by now that nothing goes smoothly in 2020. Oh, well. I have other masks. We bought a ton of them back when toilet paper was in short supply.

Tropical storm ETA is less of a worry now, but I'm sure I'll find other things to worry about. Lets face it, I'm just not a good traveler. Hey, what are you going to do? You can't see many stars in Dallas and they definitely don't launch rockets here.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

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