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Years Later: Day Four: Tuesday, August 10, 2001, Liftoff!
On August 10th, the second attempt for STS-105 had to be on the most perfect
day since we arrived in Florida. The sky was clear but there was no one
we met at KSC that believed the Orbiter would launch. I had a good feeling
that this was the day for a successful lift off and the first time, I
became excited.
We decided to kill off some time at the Visitor Complex
before boarding our buses. Helene decided to stay at the Protocol Office
to mingle with the families of the crew while Ron and I visited the mockup
of the Orbiter at Spaceport USA. The mockup was once used for wind tunnel
testing. There is a two-story ramp and elevator to the two levels of the
Orbiter. We enter the cabin area on the second level between the cargo
bay and cockpit. Sitting inside the cargo bay was an U.S. satellite and
the amount of space was big enough for a tour bus. The Orbiter's cargo
hold, with payload attachment points along its full length, is adaptable
enough to accommodate as many as five unmanned spacecraft of various sizes
and shapes. The Orbiter supplies payloads with electrical power, heating
and cooling, data transmission or storage, displays for the payload specialists
aboard, and communications with ground stations.
The next attraction was
the Mars Research Station Lander, supported by the Mars Society. The Mars
Society has initiated the Mars Analog Research Station (MARS) project.
A global program of Mars exploration operations research, the MARS project
will include four Mars base-like habitats located in deserts in the Canadian
Arctic, the American southwest, the Australian outback, and Iceland. In
these Mars-like environments, the Mars Society will operate extensive
long-duration geology and biology field exploration operations conducted
in the same style and under many of the same constraints as they would
on the Red Planet. By doing so, we will start the process of learning
how to explore on the red planet.
Next to the Lander, we visited the Space Shuttle exhibit, which is housed
in a dome building with large television screens with a live feed of the
STS-105 on the pad. Surrounding us are models of the Orbiter spacecraft
and exhibit panels. Visitors get a good perspective of the size and scope
of a fully assembled Space Shuttle as they view this scale model. From
the sound system we hear that the storm that was threatening the launch
has now holding and it was time for us to head for the buses.
We moved outside to the Banana River to claim our place at the bleachers for a good view of the launch. Launch managers worried throughout the day that thunderstorms might force a postponement for the second attempt but the rain and dark clouds stayed far enough away for a launch. Mission Control's announcement about the weather report was clear for launch at t-minus and 9 minutes, and the crowd erupted into applause and my heart started racing from excitement. Storms edged close enough to KSC to force launch controllers to move up the launch by five minutes to 5:10 p.m. to avoid another delay. Flight mangers preferred to launch at 5:15 p.m. to save fuel.
After 30-years since I first saw my first launch on TV, I was about to see a live launch before my eyes. I can only imagine when I was kid firing off my Estes Model Rockets at school how the engineers, technicians and astronauts felt when they launch the real hardware.
As Mission Control narrated the countdown, it was very quiet around us as the count proceeded. Even though the Space Shuttle was 3 miles away, the ground started to rumble like a 3.5 Earthquake, a loud thunderous echo cracking around us, as Discovery ignited its 3 main engines and boosters leaving its Gantry at 5:10 p.m. The white-hot flame was so bright; I had to wear my sunglasses as the STS-105 started to leave Cape Canaveral. The skies were surprisingly clear to watch the engines until it was a faint blue dot, as the Space Shuttle left a tail of smoke from the Shuttle's gaseous cloud, it was the most beautiful sight in Florida skies. Once we see the Solid Rocket Boosters separate from the Orbiter during throttle up, we know that the crew would be in safe orbit. The feeling to see the launch fulfilled my dream, thanks to Buddy Nelson. It was reported during the lift off that the space station was soaring above the Pacific, just west of the Galapagos Island. The Discovery will be chasing Alpha for two days at 17,500 mph, and dock on Sunday.
As soon as we leave KSC, it started to rain so hard, we couldn't see outside windshield of our car. We decide to wait it out by going to the Astronaut Hall of Fame, outside KSC, which is next to Space Camp. The museum is one of the largest collections of personal astronaut memorabilia with actual space artifacts, displays and exhibits dedicated to the heroes of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Unfortunately, the museum had just closed but their gift store was open for business. As traffic dissipated from the launch, we started back to the motel for our journey home.
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