After Bill Nye wrapped up the guest speaking portion of the morning, we took a short break and started to get ready for the planned launch time of 11:34am. We had NASA TV on inside the Tweetup tent, all looked to be on track and the countdown was proceeding as planned. We made our way out of the tent to the bleachers on the Launch Complex 39 Press Site lawn. Only four miles away, we could see the tip of the Atlas V rocket peeking above the trees at Launch Complex 41. It was amazing to think that less than 24 hours ago, I was standing next to a rocket that will be launching in minutes.
As we stood in the hot, humid Florida air waiting for the launch, some people in our group had their iPhones tuned to NASA TV and were giving us updates. All of a sudden, at T-4 minutes, someone announced that the launch team had a problem with a helium leak on the ground, so the countdown was holding. Apparently it wasn't a leak on the rocket, but rather a problem with a helium tank on the ground at Launch Complex 41 that's used to supply the Atlas V rocket. The launch team had to meet to assess the severity of the leak, and discuss the effects of the leak with a rocket launching next to the tank. This is when I sent out my first Tweet about the hold:
The @NASAJuno launch is holding at the moment. Only 1 hour launch window today then we have to wait until tomorrow. #NASATweetup
Since the launch window was only open for one hour, we were starting to get a tad bit nervous that they wouldn't be able to fix the leak, and they would have to scrub the launch and try again 24 hours later. About 15-20 minutes later, we heard an update that the leak situation was still being discussed by the launch team, and now there was a boat that wandered into the hazard area cordoned off by NASA off the coast of Cape Canaveral. A fishing boat clueless about the launch, or some people trying to get a good view of the launch from the ocean? Not sure, but whoever it was, they were now part of the countdown hold until NASA can clear them out of the area.
As my Tweet shows, we had hopes that the 12:13pm launch time would stick, but that came and went with the countdown still holding. The launch window closes at 12:43pm, so we were about 30 minutes away. By now many of us had moved out of the sun and back into the tent, to stand in front of the A/C units and watch the NASA TV feed for updates. We could see the Atlas V rocket on the launch pad venting its liquid oxygen tank, ready to leap off the pad and into space. Finally, at 12:18pm, the launch team polled all the different individuals involved with the launch, and the launch was a "go" for 12:25pm.
Nothing like cutting it close! Getting all of us #NASATweetup people a bit nervous with a new @NASAJuno launch time of 12:25 ET
My Tweet seemed a bit skeptical, but this seemed like the real deal. The launch team determined the leak to be fixed and it was safe to proceed, and the range cleared out the lost boater. We all made our way out to the lawn for the launch. Since this was my first launch, I decided that my cameras would stay in my pocket for the initial liftoff, so I could soak in the experience. My little Canon point and shoot couldn't capture the moment like the professional NASA photos anyway, so I'll just show you some of those.
As we approached 12:25pm, it was apparent that this would be a "go", and we wouldn't have to worry about a scrub. We all chanted 5-4-3-2-1 and all of a sudden, the Atlas V rocket began to rise above the treetops.
Photo courtesy of NASA
This was an Atlas V version 551 rocket, so the five solid rocket boosters strapped to this thing made it just jump right off the pad. Even though we were four miles away from the launch pad, this baby appeared to be moving very fast. The Atlas V rocket achieved mach 1 about 30 seconds after launch. It was an intense flame, almost too bright to look directly at. A few seconds after launch, the sound came rolling across the Turning Basin lake and hit us. It was a powerful sound like I had never experienced before. Like I mentioned, I've watched many, many launches on TV and online, but microphones and speakers just can't accurately reproduce the sound, and the feeling of the sound, that you experience in person. I loved feeling the rumble of the solid rocket boosters pushing Juno toward space.
Ten seconds after launch. The black line you see on the left side of the smoke plume is a shadow cast by the plume.
Ten seconds after launch, when I snapped out of my awe induced trance, I pulled out my camera and shot the picture above. The smoke plume was so thick it cast the black shadow you see on the left side of the photo.
The Atlas V rocket with the Juno spacecraft at the tip of the smoke plume
The rocket moved so fast, it was a tiny dot in the sky before you knew it. We had perfect weather, with no clouds to obstruct our view of the Atlas V rocket heading up into space. A handful of the last shuttle launches had to deal with low, thick cloud ceilings, so those people viewing the launch only got to see it for a few seconds before disappearing above the clouds.
Almost out of sight
It was very cool to watch something climb so high, it just disappeared into space. I tried to capture the picture above just as the Atlas V rocket was too small to see.
The smoke plume was so tall, it was hard to get it all in the frame
After a successful launch, as the smoke plume started to slowly dissipate, all of the Tweetup attendees hung around the bleachers for a few minutes excitedly discussing what we just witnessed. The adrenaline rush of watching the launch was great.
We all eventually made our way back in the tent, and many of us stood around the monitors showing the NASA TV feed. About 30 minutes after launch, we watched NASA TV as the Juno spacecraft detached from the Centaur upper stage and started its five year journey to Jupiter.
Unfortunately, we were also faced with the fact that this was the end of the Tweetup's officially planned activities. The two days flew by, but my NASA experience wasn't over quite yet. Check out my next blog entry for highlights from my trip to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the Astronaut Hall of Fame and the Endless BBQ. I'll leave you with some Juno launch videos courtesy of NASA and United Launch Alliance:
The NASA social media team really worked hard to put on a couple action packed days for our Tweetup. I'm guessing that one of the most challenging aspects of setting up the Tweetup was coordinating the guest speaking portions of the two days. Both days consisted of some very important people involved with the Juno spacecraft, the Atlas V rocket, or with NASA in general. Trying to schedule all of these people to speak to 150 space loving nerds in a tent the day before launch and the day of launch must have been difficult.
The morning started with a talk by Andy Aldrin, who works for United Launch Alliance. He talked about United Launch Alliance's role in the future of space exploration, and he even talked about his father. Looking at Andy's last name, it should be pretty obvious that his father is Buzz Aldrin. Looks like the space program runs in the blood. When asked about growing up with Buzz Aldrin as a father, Andy said that he lived in Houston on a street where all his friends has astronaut fathers. Hearing the way Andy talked about his father, you can tell he really admires Buzz's accomplishments.
Waleed Abdalati, NASA Chieft Scientist
Next up was Waleed Abdalati, who is the Chief Scientist for NASA. He gets to set the course for NASA's scientific endeavors, and is the face of NASA in the scientific community. He is a very funny man and an engaging public speaker. He made a statement that many Tweetup participants took notice of (via a flurry of Tweets) stating that your job shouldn't be draining, but rather it should be energizing. If you get home at night and you're physically drained, you body is telling you that's not the job for you. After hearing Waleed's talk, you can tell that he's energized about his job.
Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator and astronaut
Our next speaker was Charles Bolden, the NASA Administrator (head honcho) talking to us about NASA's future. He's also a former astronaut, flying on the shuttle for four missions. In 1990 he was the pilot of STS-31, which was space shuttle Discovery (which we saw in the VAB) deploying the Hubble Space Telescope. During his speech, I thought to myself "this is the closest I've ever been to someone that's been in space." A goofy thing to think, but true! If you would like to see a video of Charles Bolden's talk to all of us in the Tweetup tent, it's posted on YouTube.
The main theme of Charles' talk was making the point that just because the shuttle program has come to an end, that doesn't mean NASA has also come to an end. He promoted the unmanned missions (robotic missions, as he said) as the building blocks to the manned missions of the future. He said that without the unmanned missions, we wouldn't have the data and research to carry out the higher profile manned missions. He also talked about either SpaceX or Orbital Sciences sending up a cargo ship to the International Space Station in early 2012. Charles also mentioned that in early 2012, NASA will put out a request to the private space companies for proposals on their crew capable spacecraft ideas, with the goal of returning American crews (on American spacecraft) to orbit sometime between 2015 and 2017. He also pointed out that there has been (and continues to be) Americans in space aboard the International Space Station for over 10 years. So the U.S. is still committed to space exploration and is in the beginning of a new chapter in the space program.
Charles made a point about the importance of Juno using solar cells to power the spacecraft, rather than nuclear power, like many other unmanned spacecraft. When asked by a science teacher in the Tweetup crowd how he would respond to students that say they want to have his job when they grow up, Charles joked "be careful what you ask for." I can understand that comment, in a time when funding is being cut and he constantly has to explain that the shuttle program wasn't 100% of what NASA was doing. He wrapped up his talk by thanking us for our enthusiasm for NASA, and used a fellow space program enthusiast and previous NASA Tweetup attendee, Kate Arkless Gray, as an example of the power of using social media to promote NASA. Kate's an avid Twitter user and space fanatic that has traveled from her home in the U.K. to experience shuttle launches and NASA Tweetups. As he was mentioning Kate, I knew that the NASA Administrator remembering her and mentioning her name would make her year. After his talk, Charles Bolden agreed to join all of us in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building for a group photo.
Group photo with Charles Bolden, Waleed Abdalati and Andy Aldrin. You can find me by looking at the water tower to the left of the VAB. I'm in the orange shirt, about four people to the right of the water tower.
Doug Ellison demoing "Eyes on the Solar System"
After our group photo in front of the VAB, we headed back into the tent for the demo portion of the morning. The first demo I attended was from the JPL'sDoug Ellison. Doug is a Visualization Producer at the JPL, and one of the creators of the "Eyes on the Solar System" website. This is a very cool website that allows you to see visualizations of all the items (naturally formed and man made) in the solar system. If you want to see Juno on its way to Jupiter, this site will show you. How about the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn? You can see that too. I can see myself spending lots of time on this site.
Preston Dyches showing us some of the materials used on Juno
I spent the rest of the demo period listening to Preston Dyches, from the JPL, talk about some of the materials used on the Juno spacecraft. It seems the keys were finding lightweight materials that would also withstand the harsh environment in space, as well as the healthy dose of radiation that Juno will receive around Jupiter. Preston passed around some of these materials for us to see.
Titanium used on Juno
One such material is titanium, that is used on Juno to protect many of the scientific instruments. A couple of speakers on the first day also talked about the 1/2" thick casing of titanium around Juno's electronics.
One of Juno's solar cells
As Charles Bolden pointed out, as did other speakers on the first day, Juno is a solar powered spacecraft, rather than nuclear powered. Preston passed around one of the solar cells that make up the large solar panels on the spacecraft. Preson reiterated that Juno needs such large solar panels due to the low intensity level of the sun's rays at Jupiter. Since Jupiter is so far away from the sun, compared to earth, the solar panels near Jupiter will only produce 4% of the electricity that they would if opened on earth.
A couple other speakers we heard from during the morning were Rex Englehardt and Mike Ravine. Rex is from NASA's Launch Services Program. As Rex described it, he "buys rockets for a living." The Launch Services Program is the group within NASA that contracts the private space companies, like ULA, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, to provide launch vehicles for NASA's unmanned spacecraft. Mike Ravine is the individual responsible for creating JunoCam, which is the camera attached to Juno. It seems that the biggest challenge to creating JunoCam was to create a camera than will withstand the super high levels of radiation that surround Jupiter.
Aerogel
I'm going to jump ahead real quick (post launch), since this is a demo that should be included in this section. After the launch, Stephanie Smith from the JPL passed around a piece of the lightest man made solid substance called Aerogel. It's essentially spun glass that looks like a block of frozen smoke. It was used as a lightweight insulation on spacecraft Stardust as well as on the Mars Rover. It was a very odd sensation holding it. Hard to describe how light it was. Even though it has the name "gel" in its title, it's a solid. OK, now flashback to before the launch, for the last speaker of the morning.
Bill Nye, The Science Guy
Our final speaker was a big crowd favorite: Bill Nye, The Science Guy. He was at Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch, and agreed to talk to all of us in the Tweetup tent. He's a very enthusiastic guy, and is exactly like you've seen him on TV. If you would like to watch his talk to all of us in the Tweetup tent, it's posted on YouTube. Bill talked about the importance of teaching children math and science, his enthusiasm for the Juno mission and future NASA missions, and talked quite a bit about The Planetary Society, of which he's executive director. He was in a room full of 150 space nerds, so he was in his element. He took plenty of questions from the audience, and even stuck around after his talk and came back after the launch to take pictures with us. He was a big crowd favorite.
After Bill Nye's talk wrapped up, we had about 30 minutes until the launch of the Atlas V rocket with the Juno spacecraft. Well, it turned out to be more than 30 minutes until launch, but you can read all about that in my next blog entry detailing the Juno launch.
As bus 1B made its way from the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center toward Launch Complex 41, we passed by Launch Complex 40, which is currently used by SpaceX. SpaceX is one of the exciting, up and coming, private space companies that seem to be shaping the future of space exploration. Their big money maker is the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, and their Dragon spacecraft that can either carry cargo to the International Space Station, or carry humans in a capsule. The company is headed by Elon Musk, a 40 year old who made most of his money as one of the founders of PayPal. He has wonderful visions of private companies involved in the future of space flight, and is continually dumping money into developing and expanding SpaceX. Click here to watch a (slightly outdated) tour with Elon of SpaceX's Cape Canaveral facilities and Launch Complex 40.
SpaceX is the current resident of Launch Complex 40, which was previously used by the Titan rockets since the 60's. As we drove by, we noticed their shiny (literally) new building that is used to process their Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Just last week, the state of Florida approved $7 million in funding to stimulate the state's aerospace industry, and it looks like SpaceX will be the recipient of that money. This will allow SpaceX to expand their facilities at Cape Canaveral, and not doubt bring jobs to the region.
Past the SpaceX Falcon 9 facility and their Launch Complex 40, we continued down Titan III Road to Launch Complex 41, the current home of the Atlas V rocket with Juno perched on top. LC-41 is another launch complex that was previously used to launch Titan rockets. Just before reaching LC-41, we passed by the Vertical Integration Facility.
Atlas V and Juno paired up in the Vertical Integration Facility (photo courtesy of NASA)
Think: mini Vehicle Assembly Building. The Atlas V was assembled vertically in this building, the Juno spacecraft was placed on top of the Atlas V, and the morning before launch day, the entire rocket was rolled out vertically on a mobile launch platform down railroad tracks on Titan III Road (seen in photo below), and onto the pad at LC-41. This concept is different than, for example, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launches. The Falcon 9 is assembled horizontally, then rolled out to Launch Complex 40 and stood upright at the pad.
Railroad tracks the Atlas V's mobile launch platform rides on from the Vehicle Integration Facility to Launch Complex 41
From the LC-39 Press Site and our Tweetup tent, four miles away from LC-41, all you can see are these four lightning towers and the very tip of the rocket. Florida weather can pretty wild, so all the launch complexes on Cape Canaveral have extensive protection from lightning strikes.
Juno waiting for its ride to Jupiter via an Atlas V rocket
The version of Atlas V rocket being used to launch the Juno spacecraft is a version 551, which is the largest version of Atlas V. You can see two solid rocket boosters on this side of the rocket, and there are three other SRB's on the other side. The people standing in front of the mobile launch platform give you a good idea of how tall this rocket is: 197 feet. The Juno spacecraft is encapsulated in the white bulb/cone that you see on the top. The SRB's and the bottom stage of the Atlas V will provide the initial thrust for liftoff, but they'll eventually be depleted and detach, and the upper Centaur stage will take over. The white cone will split open, exposing the Juno spacecraft, which will detach from the upper Centaur stage and begin its five year long trek to Jupiter. Juno will travel out into space for one year, head back toward earth for one year, slingshot around earth to gather speed, and spend the next three years heading to Jupiter. The Atlas V is an expendable launch vehicle, meaning the rocket is used one and not recovered. It was amazing feeling knowing that I was standing next to a rocket that would launch less than 24 hours later, carrying a spacecraft that will study a planet that 400+ million miles away. It really puts things into perspective when you start thinking about that.
Shuttle Launch Complex 39A
As we jumped back on bus 1B and headed toward our next destination, the Vehicle Assembly Building, we drove on Cape Road and took a left at Launch Complex 39A, the last standing space shuttle service structure. Less than one month earlier, this was the location that STS-135 Atlantis launched from, which was the final space shuttle mission. Our bus slowed down long enough for us to snap some close up photos of the historic pad. One of the buses (number three, I believe) was able to convince their tour guide to stop and let them get out to take pictures of LC-39A. Unfortunately, due to our little missing door incident earlier, we were pressed for time, so we didn't stop. It was still amazing to be so close to the pad, even though we were in a bus.
Crawler tracks
When the program was still in existence, the space shuttle would be vertically attached to the external fuel tank and the solid rocket boosters in the Vertical Assembly Building, then placed on the Mobile Launcher Platform, and the Crawler would move the whole package along Saturn Causeway vertically out to one of the LC-39 pads. The Saturn V rockets in the Apollo program followed the same path. As we drove along Saturn Causeway, I noticed the crawler tracks were still visible from when the final space shuttle was rolled out to the pad. The stones used along the Crawlerway are river rock brought in from Alabama and Tennessee, because that special rock has less of a chance of creating a spark as the 2,721 ton Crawler moves over it.
LC-39 Launch Control Center
Just before we got to the Vehicle Assembly Building, we passed by the LC-39 Launch Control Center, which houses (behind the black windows) the firing room used for the Saturn V and shuttle launches. As soon as the Saturn V or shuttle would clear the tower, control of the rest of the mission would be handed over to the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Hence the famous Apollo 13 quote: "Houston, we've had a problem."
One final stop left on our amazing KSC and Cape Canaveral tour, and they've saved the best for last: the Vehicle Assembly Building with a little surprise waiting for us in there.
ULA employees showing us a scale model of the Atlas V rocket
After our stop at Launch Complex 17 to see the Delta II Heavy that will launch the GRAIL spacecraft, we hopped in bus 1A to continue on our tour to the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center, Launch Complex 41 with the Atlas V rocket that will launch Juno tomorrow, and finally the Vehicle Assembly Building with a little surprise inside. You'll read about Launch Complex 41 and the VAB in future blog entries, because this entry is all about the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center.
United Launch Alliance is the private company that produces and launches the Atlas V, Delta II and Delta IV rockets. The recently retired space shuttle is the only launch vehicle that NASA owns. Otherwise, they rely on private companies to produce launch vehicles for NASA missions. Popular private space companies are SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, and United Launch Alliance. ULA is co-owned by Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who produce the Atlas and Delta rockets. You may be thinking the same thing that SpaceX did in 2005, and that's why they filed suit against Boeing and Lockheed Martin, accusing them of violating antitrust laws when they decided to create ULA. That suit got tossed out and ULA formed in 2006.
I mention all of this, because when we stepped foot in the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center, operated by ULA, I started thinking about the private sector's involvement in the future of space exploration. Now that the space shuttle program has come to an end, the private space companies are all presenting NASA with launch vehicles that will carry astronauts and cargo into space for future missions. With the perception that the privately owned companies can perform these tasks faster and cheaper than a government run organization, it looks like the future of space flight will involve NASA and the private sector working hand in hand.
When we arrived at the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center, I could immediately notice the difference between NASA and the privately owned ULA. ULA operates the Atlas V Ops Center, so it was ULA employees giving us the tour. Right off the bat they explained that everyone must stay together, and we could only snap pictures when they said it was OK to do so. There were always multiple security guards and ULA employees with us, making sure we didn't wander down a hallway that we shouldn't be in. A couple of times a fellow Tweetup participant cracked a joke, but the ULA employees weren't having any of it. It was all business there, and I suppose I can see why that was the case. They had a $1.1 billion spacecraft (Juno) sitting on the tip of their Atlas V rocket that was set to launch the next day. If anything went wrong with their launch vehicle and Juno was destroyed...well...I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that phone call.
Our tour started with the ULA employees showing us a scale model of the Atlas V rocket. (see the picture at the beginning of this post) The Atlas V is an important launch vehicle for ULA, since Boeing recently announced that the Atlas V will be their rocket of choice to test their seven seat spacecraft capsule. Next up on the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center tour was the firing room. Unfortunately, this was one of the areas that we weren't able to take photographs. Kind of odd, since they show the firing room on NASA TV HD, but I suppose being a private company, ULA doesn't want something confidential to leak out via a tourist's photo. Here's a photo, courtesy of NASA, showing the firing room:
Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center firing room (photo courtesy of NASA)
We were up on the second floor, in the glass windows looking down on the control room. It would be great to witness that room in person on launch day, but the viewing area is reserved for the clients that purchased the Atlas V they're launching, and I don't have $200 million to drop on a rocket. Someone from our group jokingly asked where the big red "launch" button was, and it turns out there's no such button. The ULA employee did say that there's an actual button at the launch director's console for aborting the launch.
Atlas V rocket that will launch the Mars Science Laboratory mission with the Curiosity Rover
After checking out the firing room, we went back downstairs and were led into a large hanger that was currently home to the Atlas V rocket that will launch the Mars Science Laboratory mission and Curiosity Rover in November 2011. Looking at the picture above, you can see the upper stage is missing. It's actually in the room with us, but it's detached and behind the lower stage that you see. We weren't allowed to photograph the upper stage, and the ULA employees and security guards made sure we didn't venture around the lower stage for a sneak peek. I'm sure there was a perfectly acceptable reason for why they didn't want images of the detached upper stage floating around blogs just like this one. We're talking about multimillion dollar rockets, so I can see why a privately owned company would want to keep some secrets to themselves.
The business end of an Atlas V rocket
It was an amazing feeling standing ten feet away from a rocket that will soon be propelling a spacecraft toward Mars. The picture above shows the bottom of the lower stage, obviously lacking the solid rocket boosters. The lower stage sits on a frame of wheels, essentially making it a super expensive tractor trailer. It's transported down the highway towed behind a truck. Make sure to give the driver a wave next time you pass an Atlas V on the highway.
The lower stage of the Atlas V was so long, it was hard to get it all in the frame
This hanger was the last stop on our tour of the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center. As we piled into bus 1A, we couldn't help but notice that the bus' front door was now sitting on the rear seats. No clue how it happend, but while we were touring the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center, our bus' door fell off. Well, who needs a door anyway, right? Unfortunately, NASA decided that we needed a door, so we had to wait for a replacement bus. If you know anything about Florida in August, you know that temps tend to run on the high side, and the humidity makes it possible to slice the air with a knife. Combine those facts with sitting on a crowded bus, on pavement, in the afternoon sun, with no door....well, you get the picture. Luckily bus 1B showed up to save us, and we were on our way to our next stop: Launch Complex 41 to see Juno atop its Atlas V.
Launch Complex 17 with a Delta II Heavy inside the service structure
After a wonderful morning getting to know my fellow Tweetup participants, and hearing stimulating talks from many of the Juno and launch services team members, it was time for our bus tour of Kennedy Space Center. This is a portion of the Tweetup that everyone has been very excited about. This wasn't the KSC tour that you can purchase from the Visitor's Complex. This was a tour of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station sites that only employees really get to see. The tour consisted of visiting Launch Complex 17 to see the Delta II Heavy rocket that will launch the GRAIL spacecraft, the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center run by ULA, Launch Complex 41 to see the Atlas V rocket with Juno on top, and finally the Vehicle Assembly Building, which contained a surprise for all of us. You'll read about the last three sites in subsequent blog posts, because this post is all about Launch Complex 17.
After lunch, we all piled in three buses and headed off in different directions. I was on bus 1A (I'll explain that in the next blog entry about the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center), which started off on our journey to our first stop at Launch Complex 17, which is currently home to a Delta II Heavy rocket that will launch the GRAIL spacecraft to the moon on September 8th, 2011. I was lucky enough to be sitting near Dave Allen, a fellow Tweetup attendee, who really knew his KSC/Cape Canaveral history. He was giving the back of the bus a great, impromptu tour as we made our way to LC-17. On the Air Force Station, we drove by what looked to be one or two of the space shuttle solid rocket boosters.
Dave also made sure to point out the location of Launch Complex 5, which was where Alan Shepard left earth for 15 minutes on a Mercury Redstone rocket in 1961, becoming the first American (second human) in space. Based on the number of rocket failures the American space program experienced in the early years, I think it's safe to say that Alan Shepard is a daredevil. They were still unsure of the effects that space would have on a human, and especially unsure if the rocket would even get off the launch pad successfully. Shepard had plenty of time to think about all of this, while the techs on the ground worked out issues with Alan in the capsule on the launch pad for over four hours. His frustration with the delays caused him to say one of my favorite phrases to the crew: "light this candle."
Launch Complex 17 A and B
We finally arrived at our first stop: Launch Complex 17 on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This launch complex has been home to the Delta launches since the early 60's. Currently, pad 17A isn't in use, but 17B is, and was loaded with a Delta II Heavy rocket that you can see inside the support structure.
Launch Complex 17B with a Delta II Heavy rocket inside the support structure
Looking closely, you can see the many solid rocket boosters that surround the bottom of the Delta II Heavy. This rocket is awaiting delivery of the GRAIL spacecraft that will study the moon's gravitational fields to determine the moon's interior structure. Actually, the GRAIL spacecraft is really two twin spacecraft that will both orbit the moon together. FYI: GRAIL stands for "Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory".
When the GRAIL spacecraft is delivered, it will be placed atop the Delta II Heavy right at the launch pad. The right side of the support structure contains a crane that will lift the spacecraft to the top of the rocket. When it's launch time, the support structure rolls out of the way to expose the rocket on the pad. Launch is set for September 8th, 2011.
NASA employee (in black baseball cap) and ULA employee (in blue polo shirt) talking about the GRAIL mission and the Delta II Heavy rocket
While we were at LC-17, we were treated to a quick talk about the GRAIL mission and the Delta family of rockets from a NASA employee and a United Launch Alliance employee. I really wish I remembered their names, but I didn't write them down. Very interesting guys that gave us some great info. ULA is the private contractor (owned by Lockheed Martin and Boeing) hired by NASA to coordinate the launch logistics for the GRAIL mission, and also the Juno mission. ULA produces the expendable launch vehicles (Delta II, Delta IV and Atlas V rockets) that launch NASA unmanned spacecraft missions. It was interesting to see how the private companies are now so involved in the space program.
The ULA employee made sure to point out the fact that the Delta II rocket has had a 100% success rate. I'm not sure exactly what he was referring to, since a Delta II rocket exploded shortly after takeoff from LC-17 in 1997. I'm guessing he was referring to a different, more modern version of the Delta II that hasn't experienced a failure. The ULA employee did mention that there are more Delta II rockets built and ready to go, which was a reference to the fact that NASA (and the Air Force) may or may not decide to continue using the Delta II. When asked about ULA's competitors in the private space flight market, he posed the question: what would you rather trust to keep your your astronauts and expensive cargo safe, a rocket that has had two test flights (SpaceX) or rockets (from ULA) that have had hundreds of successful launches? He also stated that all the GPS satellites we use on a daily basis were put into orbit by Delta rockets. The NASA employee did make a funny statement when someone asked about the condition of the pad right after a launch. He said it's just like when you throw a BBQ at your house, you come out with the power washer the next day and flush everything away. He said it's surprisingly cleaner than you think, but still does require a good cleaning.
So far, our KSC and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station tour was off to a great start. Next stop, the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center to see ULA's firing room and to stand 15 feet from the Atlas V rocket that will launch the Mars Science Laboratory mission with the Curiosity Rover in November.
