This is the third and final of three posts about my NASA Tweetup experience surrounding the GRAIL Delta II Heavy launch. It’s been just over a month since I got to see the launch, but wanted to close out my trilogy of posts on the GRAIL Tweetup experience.
If you haven’t read part one or part two already, you may want to. If you’re tired of all my GRAIL-related posts, tweets and pictures, sorry. It was just a cool and unique experience.
As cool as the first day on the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station were, the second day was the climax — getting to see the Delta II Heavy rocket carrying the near identical twin GRAIL spacecraft lift off.
It was an early morning, as we had to be in the parking lot by 6am to catch our tour bus headed for the causeway — our vantage point for the launch. I headed out a little before 5am in the darkness of the Florida morning from my in-laws’ home in Winter Park (outside of Orlando). I pulled in prior to 6am in the NASA-owned parking lot just adjacent to the Astronaut Hall of Fame building, and a few miles west of the Kennedy Space Center. It was still pitch black, and it was obvious everyone was up a little too early.
Our final guest speaker from the day prior, Neil deGrasse Tyson was present and soon had a bunch of the tweeps surrounding him. With the daylight still a good half hour to hour away, Neil deGrasse Tyson gave an impromptu astronomy lesson, pointing his surprisingly effective green laser skyward. He’s an interesting, intelligent, verbose and dynamic guy. Check out a sample interview.
Soon we were boarding the busses, and headed East in a set of busses to our causeway vantage point, somewhere right along here. We had two launch windows — each of a whopping second: 8:37:06 am and 9:16:12 am. If anything went awry with the first, the second launch attempt roughly 39 minutes later could be used. The Delta II rockets obviously didn’t have the complex navigation systems of the space shuttle, making the launch windows each extremely short.
The time before launches and obviously our time on the NASA causeway was all about waiting. While the GRAIL launch facility the day before was sweltering, the early morning on the causeway was nice, with a pleasant breeze. Those pleasant breezes though translated into even stronger winds higher up. Along the causeway, speakers were setup on poles that piped in commentary of what was going on. Sadly, we soon learned from this voice that high altitude winds had scrubbed the first attempt.
Then it was time for more waiting for the second launch opportunity. As the second second-long launch window approached, we again found out that the weather balloons were reporting too high winds for launch. Early morning dejections meant I was back in Orlando by lunch. Patience is definitely a must for launches of spacebound vehicles. We had another set of opportunities the next morning, just slightly earlier.
When I awoke the next morning at again a way-too-early time, I checked email on my iPhone and found the day’s pair of launch opportunities were scrubbed, as the GRAIL launch team had found a possible problem while draining the fuel from the rocket. Back to bed.
Throughout the day, we got email updates, and while we were only promised two days of launch opportunities, we ended up having a pair for Saturday morning as well. Sadly, a lot of the tweetup members had missed their window, and were headed back to their parts of the world. But those of us who could make it, did.
Again meeting in the same parking lot just west of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, it was another early early start. It turned out our launch vantage point was different for Saturday’s launch. Instead of the causeway, we were bussed to the KARS park, which is a recreational area setup for the Cape’s employees, and I believe a slightly closer and less obstructed vantage point for the launch.
After arriving, we all set up along the edge of the water, a damp wooden fence our new perch. Now it was time for waiting again. The wind was calmer — at least at sea level, so we were all hopeful.
At KARS, some of our entertainment came in the form of some Mantees surfacing near us throughout the waiting time. As the first launch window approached, we again got dejected by those damn upper level winds. Boo! One more chance to see the launch window, and we were out of opportunities.
Everyone was hopeful though. As that second launch window of the Saturday morning approached, mixed reports came in — was it scrubbed? Was it a green light?
In the end, it all worked out. Our last chance to see the GRAIL launch up close and personal, and it was a go. NASA helicopters that had earlier flown around, patrolling, now hovered in place as the Delta II rocket’s launch was imminent.
As the clock reached zero, a ton of smoke engulfed the rocket. Unlike my TV and NASA TV online views of shuttle launches, the smoke didn’t billow out in all directions. Instead, for a few seemingly long seconds, smoke and flame clouded the view of the white and blue rocket. I wasn’t sure at the time if it was normal or not, but then quickly, the rocket accelerated up and away from Earth in silence from our vantage point.
Eventually, the sound of the launch reached us, with the rocket already high in the sky, a beautiful smoke trail etching across the sky and cutting through the clouds.
I’m so thankful that I was able to finally see a launch from such a close and relatively unique vantage point. If you have the opportunity to see a launch via NASA’s various Tweetup events, do it. They treat you well and fill you up with information.
You can find more information on the official NASA Tweetup site. They’ve since expanded the tweetups to other NASA locations besides Florida, making it more convenient and a possibility for more people. Thanks again to everyone involved. See my launch video below I took with my Flip camera. While there are plenty of better ones, this is the one I was able to record.