During Project Mercury, NASA televised the launches nationally and started hours before launch time. This was back when there were only three channels so you wouldn't have been flipping away to HBO for a movie instead. Spaceflight was brand new and the whole world was excited for it.
I wasn't even in my teens yet and the sibs were younger still but my ol' Dad insisted this is history and you must see it. The drawback to that is the launches were at Cape Canaveral in Florida and we were in California where launch coverage would start (I think) at four a.m. and get up, get up, get up.
Note: don't read a word of resentment as I'm glad he did it. The launches made for a family time, albeit with quite a bit of grouch flying about, and that was cool because no-one really had to do anything except watch and hang out. My ol' Dad was only partially being the Headmaster since really he loved the launches and wanted to share that ... so get the hell out of bed.
There were often launch delays and there would be a hold at T-15:00 for a problem with fifteen minutes to go. They could and did call a hold even with only one minute to go so that suspense came every time. The most famous example of that was when, after a large number of launch holds, Alan Shepherd almost demanded of Mission Control, "Let's light this candle."
Since he was flying the mission and it was the first one, call him brave or crazy as you like. (NASA: Project Mercury)
The latest launch time in the window today was 6:42 pm EST and there were multiple holds at four-minute intervals. That was just like the Project Mercury days in which it went down to the wire for whether they could have to scrub the mission.
There was no scrub and the mission did launch at the end of the window at 6:42 pm, looking absolutely grand as she flew. Coverage continued until booster separation and it cut off just after which seemed a bit short but there's not much reason to cover it beyond that.
The times get exciting with a launch every few days. (Ithaka: One Launch Yesterday at Baikonur and Another Tomorrow at Cape Canaveral)
Make that 'Today at Cape Canaveral' and it was a night launch which made for a spectacular success.
The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance, a major competitor with SpaceX. ULA used an Atlas booster for the launch by request from NASA since it can carry a heavier payload than the ULA booster and is incredibly reliable, etc.
I wasn't even in my teens yet and the sibs were younger still but my ol' Dad insisted this is history and you must see it. The drawback to that is the launches were at Cape Canaveral in Florida and we were in California where launch coverage would start (I think) at four a.m. and get up, get up, get up.
Note: don't read a word of resentment as I'm glad he did it. The launches made for a family time, albeit with quite a bit of grouch flying about, and that was cool because no-one really had to do anything except watch and hang out. My ol' Dad was only partially being the Headmaster since really he loved the launches and wanted to share that ... so get the hell out of bed.
There were often launch delays and there would be a hold at T-15:00 for a problem with fifteen minutes to go. They could and did call a hold even with only one minute to go so that suspense came every time. The most famous example of that was when, after a large number of launch holds, Alan Shepherd almost demanded of Mission Control, "Let's light this candle."
Since he was flying the mission and it was the first one, call him brave or crazy as you like. (NASA: Project Mercury)
The latest launch time in the window today was 6:42 pm EST and there were multiple holds at four-minute intervals. That was just like the Project Mercury days in which it went down to the wire for whether they could have to scrub the mission.
There was no scrub and the mission did launch at the end of the window at 6:42 pm, looking absolutely grand as she flew. Coverage continued until booster separation and it cut off just after which seemed a bit short but there's not much reason to cover it beyond that.
The times get exciting with a launch every few days. (Ithaka: One Launch Yesterday at Baikonur and Another Tomorrow at Cape Canaveral)
Make that 'Today at Cape Canaveral' and it was a night launch which made for a spectacular success.
The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance, a major competitor with SpaceX. ULA used an Atlas booster for the launch by request from NASA since it can carry a heavier payload than the ULA booster and is incredibly reliable, etc.
2 comments:
Call me a romantic but launches today lack yesterdays luster
Back to making Ol Dad staple
Fudge
That was romantic stuff. Some things sucked but those didn't.
He got some of you lit up on bridge too. I never did have much use for card games but that turned into bridge madness for a while for a few.
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