#24 STS-130 Endeavour Shuttle Launch
It’s pretty hard to describe how amazing it is to see a space shuttle launch. You really have to see for yourself. There are only five launches remaining, so quickly write your Congressman or Senator to request a VIP invitation. Here are some resources to get you started:
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/letterscongress.htm
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
I wrote our Congressman about five months in advance. His assistant called me about a week after I mailed the letter to request the names of everyone in my party and the details on the launch we wanted to attend. She said she would submit our information to NASA for “consideration”. Almost exactly one month before launch day, our beautiful invitations arrived in the mail. The invitations required an RSVP, which I immediately confirmed. A week before launch, NASA emailed a detailed itinerary with instructions on where to meet the bus that would take us to the launch site.
We arrived at our friend’s house in Melbourne around 6pm and had the kids go to bed until 10pm. We arrived at the rally location in Merritt Island around 11:30pm and waited in line in the freezing cold until about 12:15am. They checked our IDs against the guest list and handed us our bus passes. The busses shuttled us to Kennedy Space Center where we had to get off the bus, wait in another long line to go through metal detectors, and wait to re-board the bus while police dogs searched for bombs. Finally, we arrived at the Causeway launch viewing site (about 6.5 miles from the launch pad). We unpacked our sleeping bags and lawn chairs and tried to sleep until the launch at 04:39am. I’m not sure exactly how cold it was - maybe 40 degrees - but I’m certain the night got colder as the wind blew over the river. I don’t remember whether it was my shivering or the lady at the concession stand yelling, “We’re out of hot cocoa - sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits are $2″ that kept me awake. Although, now that I think about it, it could have been the flatulent old man that parked his lawn chair above my blanket-covered head that kept me reconsidering the importance of “101 Things To Do Before You Die”.
At that point, I swore to myself that I would not attempt another shuttle launch. That was also the same moment, 10 minutes before launch, that they announced that the shuttle launch was scrubbed due to clouds that could prevent an emergency landing.
We attempted another shuttle launch the next night (after deep soul-searching); however, my husband let us girls sleep on the warm bus until 10 minutes before launch. I do love him so! We were all in chipper spirits as we ran out to the launch site to hear the final countdown - 10 - 9 - 8 - I should call my mom - 6 - 5 - ring, ring - 3 - “Hello?” - 1 - LIFT OFF!
Husband: “Get off the phone!”
Me: “I don’t want my mom to miss this!”
Mom: “Is everything okay? It’s 4am.”
Me: “Listen to the shuttle launch!”
The moment was so magical. I felt like a kid again, when all things were possible and dreams really do come true.
Watch our launch video here:
About the STS-130 launch:
There are several things that are special about this launch: first launch of 2010, last night launch, and last U.S. built modules delivered for the International Space Station (ISS).
The mission will last 13 days.
There are 6 crew members: George Zamka (Commander), Terry Virts, Jr. (Pilot), Nicholas Patrick (Mission Specialist), Robert Behnken (Mission Specialist), Stephen Robinson (Mission Specialist), and Kathryn Hire (Mission Specialist).
You can text “follow spaceflightnow” to 40404 to get twitter updates of the launch texted to your cell phone. I was able to keep everyone around me updated on the status of the launch because of these convenient texts. Be sure and turn the messages off by texting “leave spaceflightnow” when you want to sleep through the night again.
