An Historic Launch! (Part 2)
Now we approach the launch!
When we went into Fishlips, the Lockheed Martin group was already setup with a welcome table with lots of swag including posters, keychains, treats, and stickers! We proceeded upstairs and found a table for all of us. Lockheed had provided food and drinks so we had an opportunity have some great treats while we mingled with the actual dignitaries!
Lockheed Martin hosts with Dianea’s Canadian Flag
The stairwell at Fishlips. Our Exolab mission patch is there!
As launch time approached we made our way out onto the upper deck with the rest of the crowd, hoping that everything would keep going as well as it had and we would have a launch! With as many people in the area as there were the cell signal was awful so we had to rely on some very delayed feeds from NASA for the countdown.
Finally the countdown reached zero and we saw a great ball of fire rise from the ground seven miles away. I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of launches, including a night launch of shuttle Discovery, but for a daytime launch at this distance that was the BRIGHTEST flame I’ve ever witnessed from a rocket! Of course we all saw it long before we heard it, and as that initial compression wave hit it was a deep rumble that shook the ground, and you could feel it in your chest!
Everyone was cheering the entire time as it rolled to it’s planned trajectory, taking it out over the ocean.
There they go!
Rightfully so, you are always told to not worry about watching a launch through your camera/phone, as you can always find better images later taken by professionals. That didn’t stop us from sneaking a couple, though!
Erica & I got a quick selfie as the ship flew over us!
Max zoom from my iPhone 17 Pro of humans heading back to the Moon!
Once the booster rockets were expended, they were jettisoned. When this occurred, it resulted in the best reaction from some engineers watching with us: “It worked! We get to keep our jobs!!”
It was also a very emotional moment for our friend, Brian. As a former astronaut trainer that has watched many of his friends fly off into the heavens, he watched with tears in his eyes. “It never gets old,” he said.
(And revisiting the whole “Don’t watch with your camera because there are professionals that will get better shots” idea, Brian got an amazing shot of booster sep!)
As those four brave humans disappeared from sight, we were left amazed, hugging each other, laughing, and crying. We had just witnessed history!
Booster Sep. Picture by Brian Ewenson
Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!
In the afterglow, we were left to deal with the aftermath: Traffic!
There was no way we were getting out of the area anytime soon, and Fishlips was closing so they could clean up from our mess!
We made our way to another restaurant to relax and talk the night away as the full moon rose from the ocean.
“Hey everybody! That’s where they’re going!”
Heading out towards the future.
Luna.