Scrub-a-dub-dub

There's a theme to this week and it seems to revolve around a certain Shuttle launch. STS-93 is suppose to be a landmark mission with the first ever woman commander of a US space flight along with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Myself, Dr. Leake, and Erika are a faithful bunch of launch goers. We again drove about four hours down the the Kennedy Space Center to catch the second attempt at the launch. With clouds swirling around us and lightning in the clouds, we had constantly dimishing hopes that NASA would be successful tonight.

Much to our dissappointment, clouds swirled around the Cape and covered an area that Jim told us had to be clear in order for the launch to proceed. The group (along with a new member, Dr. Barnbaum) grew more anxious every minute and was confident that our travels wouldn't lead us to such a dead end twice. With an extended launch window and a lot of crossed fingers, the event was again postponed. A storm cell that billowed up from the southern part of the Cape wriggled its way inland. A radius of 10 miles around the launch pad was the boundary NASA had against the storm. It didn't stray further than 8-and-a-half miles.

After the event, we all drove back to Jim's house and soon there after hit the road back to Valdosta. I got one really great picture out of the event that a nice environmental engineer let me take through the eyepiece of his camera with a most impressive telephoto lens. Although a traffic jam prevented our swift departure from Merrit Island, I fell fast asleep in the car.

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Wed. July 21, 1999

Scrub-a-dub-dub

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