Although the wind had died down from a few nights before when Discovery rolled out to the launch pad – it was still very cold. The United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV rocket was primed and ready as was the GOES-P satellite which was poised to pro vide far greater data regarding destructive weather patterns. This night’s skies however were of a variety that pilots have dubbed – ‘severe-clear’ in other words there wasn’t a single cloud in the icy sky.

[Image Courtesy of Alan Walters]

To the left of the steaming Delta was SpaceX’s Falcon-9, poised for flight and looking pristine after tests that have moved along very well for the upstart company’s latest effort.

The scene took on a surreal beauty as the last rays of sunlight bathed the launch towers in a red-orange glow, while all around wildlife scurried this way and that. All of the little elements, the cold air, the other rocket on the launch pad and the critters roaming or flying about – defined the magic that is happening at almost every moment at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Hold – the first sign that there might be trouble. Flight managers kicked the launch back a half an hour to 6:47 p.m. Then another 10 minute hold. I was starting to get a bad feeling, that those high-level winds would cause a scrub for this evening. However, flight managers are a steely bunch and although conservative they unleashed the primal fury of the Delta IV rocket with its GOES-P payload at 6:57 p.m. the ground trembled and the eyes watered as the blinding light let the world know that the mission was on its way.

[Image Courtesy of Alan Walters]

As the plume grew longer and longer, the time came for SRB separation and the twin solid rocket motors slipped away from the roaring rocket, forming tumbling points of light as they returned to earth. The vehicle was now merely a point of light and its thinning plume formed a graceful exclamation point around the planet Mars. Tired, cold and in desperate need of a restroom, my fellow journalists and I headed back onto the bus, confident that NASA could add yet another success to its track record.



lock