02-10-10 Titusville, FL Satellite Launch (Not)

[Rick] We got up this morning and rushed over to Cape Canaveral to watch an Atlas 5 missile take off carrying a government satellite into orbit. This satellite is aimed at the sun and will spend the next 10 years sending data back to earth regarding the sun and changes of the sun. We went to a park at the jetty and inlet that separates the town and beach from Canaveral Air force Base. This is the same inlet that cruise ships like the Disney Line use to access the Atlantic. The ships dock at the Port of Canaveral and within a few minutes can be into the ocean heading for the Caribbean.

The launch pad

There were hundreds and maybe thousands of people on the beach and walkway to see the launch. Too bad. The wind was above 20 kts and it was cold. (If you are a regular reader of this blog, I did not have to tell you that.) NASA has a 1 hour launch window on this type of flight. The launch was “NO GO” at 1026, the expected time. After a 30 minute wait, they announced that they would wait 30 more minutes. However, at the end of the hour, the wind was just too hard and the mission was scrubbed for today. There is a 1 hour window each day for the next week.

The Beach

The city of Canaveral has built a viewing stand out over the beach. The jetty is build of huge rocks. I spent the waiting time behind the large rocks to block the wind. It was still cold.
We picked up Betsy’s bike from the shop complete with a new rear wheel.
We took advantage of having a car and stocked up on groceries.

The Platform

Rick keeps warm...