Grow Your Imagination

I’m not sure what I was expecting for this launch — “Shuttle Lite,” perhaps.  After all, the Ares I-X rocket was the equivalent of one shuttle Solid Rocket Booster, with a dummy upper-stage stacked on top.   I’ve seen about 15 shuttle launches, each complete with TWO SRB’s plus the shuttle’s main engines.  So, hey, whatever the Ares I-X launch was going to look like, it had to be a shadow of Shuttle, right?

Wrong.

When people ask me,  I always say a shuttle launch is a three-fer.  First you see it lift off the pad, completely silent.  Then a few seconds into it, you hear it — it builds like a bass roar, like someone turned the volume on the stereo down, cranked the bass up as high as it will go, and then slowly turns the sound up.  And then you feel it — a pressure wave that hits you like a hot wind in the face, growing so intense your teeth almost start to chatter.  And the fire coming out of the business end of the rocket!  It is as bright as staring at the sun…tears stream down my face as I look at it and try not to turn away.  Well, Ares I-X matched shuttle step for step…maybe even more intense (if that is possible!).  And the sight of it!  Shuttles launching on a rendezvous trajectory to the International Space Station take off and head northeast across the Atlantic.  From our viewing point at the Kennedy Space Center Press Mound, they seem to arc away from you.  But Ares I-X, on a more easterly trajectory, arced across the sky from left to right in a grand sweep that we could follow for what seemed liked ages (though it was only a few minutes).  It was a heart-in-the-throat experience.

Was it the start of a new era in manned spaceflight, or a one-off “streak across the sky” for a rocket that is not meant to be?  I don’t have a crystal ball on that.  The ball is in the Obama Administration’s court.  Whatever the future holds, I was unexpectedly stirred by this launch.  At KSC there was a sense of hope and possibility in the air that is just plain missing as the shuttle program winds down.  It was different.  A good different.

As for our webcast on launch day, I’m one of the folks behind-the-scenes, trying to keep the show online and the trains running on time.  I was absolutely thrilled with  our production this time around — I really think we are hitting our stride now.  I’m looking forward to our STS-129 coverage on November 16!  It is hard to believe there are only six more missions left in the shuttle program…each orbiter will fly two more times.  And then, no matter what, there will be a gap — probably a long one — before the U.S. is flying our astronauts to space on our own vehicles again.  I’m on the edge of my seat:  will there be an Ares I-Y?