A Few Minutes on the Outside

A majority of the posts I have written over the past year have been focused on looking at what KSC does from the inside. I would like to wander away from that for a couple minutes to talk about you - the people outside the gates.

As I mentioned in the last entry, I was not able to watch the launch of STS-120 from the space center. My flight for Houston departed at 2:00pm. There was no way I could watch from Kennedy and still make it to Orlando on time. If you have never visited for a launch you will have to trust me when I say that traffic leaving the Titusville/Cocoa Beach/Merritt Island/Port Canaveral area after liftoff is terrible. There are actually people at KSC who will take launch days off just to avoid it.

My plan was to arrive at the airport just before launch and watch from the roof of the parking garage before going inside to catch my flight. It wasn't what I wanted, but I had no other choice. The entire drive felt like a race. If I lost, I'd miss the launch completely. If I won, the prize was a few minutes standing alone on a hot roof wishing I was back at KSC. I wasn't very excited about either outcome.

It was close, but I won. Imagine my surprise when I reached the top level of the garage and discovered clusters of people scattered against the railings and standing outside cars with radios tuned into the launch commentary.


They didn’t clap and cheer at liftoff like the Kennedy crowd does, but their presence on the rooftops sent me a very clear message. You, the people outside the gates, still care about what we do. Despite our failures you will still press pause on your day to watch 7 people realize their dreams at 25,800 miles an hour. Or, as I discovered days later in Houston, you'll still wait in the cold just to watch the International Space Station pass overhead on a clear night. In a world as rushed as ours that's very encouraging to me. Knowing people care about the missions we've dedicated our lives to makes a big difference. Everybody I shared this story with during our day of lunar meetings smiled too.

I don't know who you were standing on the rooftops with me. I don't know if it was your first launch or just your most recent. But whoever and wherever you are, thank you. It is because of you that I will remember STS-120 as a launch that inspired me; not because I again enjoyed the privileges my badge grants me, but because I lived momentarily as if they had been taken away. It turns out that 50 miles west of the launch site is exactly where I needed to be.


God speed, Discovery.

Closing Up to Finish Launch Preps

Last Sunday Discovery was rolled out to Pad 39-A to do the final preparations for launch later this month. The target date for the next blast off is Tuesday, October 23rd, around 11:30am. I have to leave for Houston that day, so unfortunately this will be the first launch I will miss since I started working at the Cape almost 3.5 years ago. Is it wrong if I hope they have to delay it a week?

Anyway, I was very surprised when I got into work on Monday and found that they had not moved the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) into place over the orbiter yet. I immediately went to look for one of our new contractors, Phil, so I could get him out to the Pad before the move took place. That first glimpse you get of the shuttle from up close is truly awe-inspiring and I didn't want him to have to wait for the next process flow to see it. As we drove past the security check point I told him that showing my badge and having the guard say "Okay, go ahead" still hasn't gotten old.

I knew we were rushing the clock, I just didn't know how much. They already had the clears (areas you can't go into unless you're essential for the operation) set up. The move began just after I got a few shots of Phil with the vehicle behind him. The pictures for this entry will enlarge a bit bigger than usual if you click on them. They're not full size, but they're still pretty nice.

Here's Discovery looking like she's ready to leap into the sky without her crew.

This is where they drive the RSS from. It's a little car at the base of the structure.


I was surprised to see people riding the RSS as they moved it into place. I guess I've always been so focused on the vehicle that I never looked away to notice. That guy standing by the doors to the Payload Changeout Room (PCR) - aka the white thing in the upper center of the picture - must be very brave.

This one I really liked because of the people standing in the foreground. I think it gives a great overview of the whole operation and some terrific perspective on the size of the "toys" we play with at KSC. I was closer to the people than the vehicle and they are still dwarfed.

I also took Phil over to the VAB at the end of the week. They're busy stacking boosters for the STS-122 mission that will launch in early December. It was nice to walk around a bit and remember what the rest of the space center is doing while I'm off on travel, which I am doing a lot of lately. Most importantly, I love sharing this stuff with people who have never seen it before. The grin on Phil's face was priceless. I would still bring everybody in to wander with me if I could.