This past weekend I took
a trip with several of my fellow interns to Florida’s Space Coast. We found $40
flights (round trip) from Atlanta to Orlando, and then rented a car for the
weekend to drive to Cocoa Beach. Sharing a hotel room, we spent four nights on
the coast, but the largest motivator for our trip was to see the launch of
SpaceX’s CRS-15 mission from SLC-40 in Cape Canaveral. We didn’t have any hang-ups
with our flight, and while we didn’t sleep more than about 45 minutes that
night, we were able to get on base to watch the launch from only 3 miles away.
This was my first
rocket launch to witness in person, and the flight was SpaceX’s final launch on
a Falcon 9 Block IV first stage booster. Liftoff took place at 05:42 EST. It
took a good 15 seconds before we began to hear anything. I started to think there
wouldn’t be a sound, but then it grew and got so loud. It was like a
firecracker explosion, but continuous for over a minute as the Falcon 9 climbed.
The flame was almost blinding at this pre-dawn launch. Just before MECO, the
rocket’s exhaust plume caught the sunlight and a halo seemed to fill the sky.
It turned rainbow, and even after the second stage was confirmed in orbit, it shone
so brightly. That was what surprised me most, that even though that bright
point in the sky that was so clearly visible, was in orbit. The spacecraft is seeing the complete darkness of space,
the curve of the earth, yet it shone like a beacon in the sky, easily seen on
the surface. I understand the ISS does this too, but this was a space capsule I
just saw sitting atop a rocket on the ground just minutes earlier.
That moment already
made the entire trip worth it, and it couldn’t have been better (well, maybe with
a booster landing attempt). We all returned from Merritt Island to eat
breakfast and then return to the hotel to sleep the rest of the morning.
We spent Saturday at
the KSC Visitor Center which was essentially a space amusement parks with
space-themed kiosks, restaurants, and exhibits. The Atlantis exhibit was a
little over the top, but the bus tours of the VAB, LC-39a, and LC-39b leading
to the Saturn V museum were solid.
Sunday was beach day
with us renting surfboards and paddleboards. I’d never surfed but managed to
catch a wave and stand up on my second try. Unfortunately, too much time in the
sun that afternoon without enough to drink hit me with a case of sun poisoning even
though I didn’t get sunburned. I’d never heard of the term before (not even in
all my years in scouting), so I was skeptical that sun poisoning was actually a
thing, but I wasn’t denying that I was sick.
The return journey
Monday was rough, but I was well enough to go to work a few hours that same
day. I felt back to normal Tuesday, and week 6/10 wrapped up uneventfully. I’m
typing this from the Huntsville airport as our intern group prepares to fly to
Cincinnati for the AIAA Joint Propulsion and Energy Conference this morning.
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