Joi's 2010 adventures, part 1 (the BIG one!)

[JoitheArtist]

Yes. Joi got to WATCH A FRAKKIN' SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH. I can die a happy woman now.

This whole crazy adventure actually started last August! The word went out over Twitter that NASA was organizing another "Tweetup," a gathering of Twitter fans for a special event. 150 of NASA's Twitter followers would be chosen to go to the launch of shuttle Discovery, with access to the press site, talks from astronauts, and special tours. Over 3,000 people applied. We were all waiting on pins and needles on the day of the announcement of the attendees. @NASAtweetup sent out a tweet saying, "Check your emails!" I logged in, waited for it to load, steeling myself for disappointment...And saw an email with the word "confirmation" in the subject line. I had to read it several times to convince myself it was true.

I traveled to Florida at the end of October and met up with my fellow attendees. I'd known some of them from Twitter, and others were new to me. They came from all over the United States, as well as Canada, England, the Phillipines, Costa Rica, and Australia. First, of course, was an impromptu Halloween party at a local bar and grill, then out to one of the houseshares for a followup party! I stayed late, but had to hitch a ride back to Orlando where I was staying with friends.

(Yes, in the first pic I am dressed in steampunk gear, and holding a rubber chicken. And yes, in that other picture, that is a woman dressed as sushi being attacked by a woman dressed as a geisha. It was a fun party. )

(to be continued: I have a LOT of pics.)

[JoitheArtist]

We were supposed to have one day of talks and tours, and see the launch on the following day. Well, the talks and tours went well (we heard from astronaut Ron Garan, a couple of NASA bigwigs, got a demo of the orange flight suits, and a demo of Robonaut! Also a tour of the Saturn V center, and a trip out to the launchpad) but the following day, we learned that the launch had been delayed. I had to fly back home, and did so with a heavy heart.

Over the following months, all of us waited for news of Discovery with bated breath, ready to drop everything and head back to Florida whenever we needed to!

Our NASA liaison, Stephanie Schierholz, was amazing: not only did she organize the original Tweetup, but she extended our press passes, arranged for future talks, and kept us all in the loop with up-to-date information!

[JoitheArtist]

Finally, the new launch date was set, and we all began to buy plane tickets, arrange for rental houses, and make plans. That week, Twitter was on fire with Tweetup attendees talking about flying in to Florida, seeing who else was in town, and getting excited! I was determined to get a houseshare with fellow attendees, since being stuck in Orlando hadn't been fun! We got a house that was about 15 minutes down the road from Kennedy Space Center.

On Wednesday, February 23, we were (almost) all present, and made our way down to the Kennedy Center Press Site to watch the Rotating Service Structure be pulled away from the Shuttle, leaving it ready to launch! We all hailed the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building, aka the freakishly huge building you see near the beginning of "Apollo 13." It's hard to explain it, but we all had a huge affection for that thing--it's so iconic!)

It was foggy and COLD, but there were few complaints: we were all just so excited! Of the original 150 attendees, almost 100 had returned for the launch. Old friends greeted each other with smiles and hugs, and new friendships blossomed among people who were just now connecting faces and names. Everyone was snapping pics of each other, the VAB, the countdown clock: everything.

We piled into our buses and drove the 3 miles to the launch pad. It was dark by that time, but the pad was brightly lit. As the shuttle came into view, a loud cheer went up from our crowd. There she was, our beloved shuttle Discovery! (After all the launch delays, we had dubbed her "Diva Discovery.") We got to watch as the service structure was rotated back, leaving the shuttle free and clear on the launch pad. A cheer went up as soon as we could see the shuttle, and we must have each taken at least 100 pictures! She's a beautiful bird...

[JoitheArtist]

The morning of the launch dawned bright, clear, and warm, and the radio announced that the weather was "90% go for launch!" My friend Kassy was amazed: "I've never heard them say more than 80% before!" We left our rental house, stopped for a breakfast of bagels and fresh citrus (oh gods, the citrus in Florida...amazing), and headed out to the site! We all clutched our press badges: they were our key to getting in, and we had held onto them for FOUR MONTHS. After passing several check points, we saw the "0 days to launch" sign, and cheered! It was really happening! In fact, we pulled over and took pics of the sign, as did several cars behind us. The NASA folks were pretty damn tolerant of our geekiness.

[JoitheArtist]

We milled around the press site, trying not to get in the way of the regular press folks (who seemed a little confused by our presence!) and taking lots of pictures and generally being the geeks that we are. We all had our cameras and computers, and were streaming video and audio to the internet, posting on Facebook and Twitter. One guy had an iPhone mounted on his hat, and was broadcasting everything through justin.tv. We got presentations by astronauts Shannon Walker and Leland Melvin (Astronaut Melvin had a VERY funny and gross story about the spacetoilet. I will have to find my video of that, because it is EPIC.) NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun spoke to us about his vision for the future of spaceflight, and we got another Robonaut demonstration (I got to help!) We even walked over to the road from the Vehicle Assembly Building, and waved to the astronauts inside the "astrovan" as they drove out to get into the shuttle. The whole time, the countdown clock was ticking down, and we were getting more and more excited. The weather was perfect, the timing was perfect, all systems were go...

[Dave1982]

Me. SUPER JEALOUS!!!

[JoitheArtist]

It got close to time for launch, and we began to head out to our viewing spots, setting up cameras, recording sound, etc. The clock was ticking down...less than 5 minutes! We're in the launch window! Then word came: a delay! NO! It couldn't be! Not after all this time! We waited, anxiously wondering if we were facing another launch scrub, feeling a sick sense of dread. We knew the countdown clock had stopped with about 2 minutes to go, but from where we were standing, we couldn't see it. Then...a cheer from the crowd! The countdown had resumed, and we were go for launch! Someone pulled out a radio, and we listened to the countdown continue...48 seconds...35 seconds...10 seconds...

6.6 seconds, and main engine start! Clouds of white smoke began to billow up from the launchpad, and the biggest cheer you've ever heard erupted from the crowd! Funny thing, though, since we were about 3 miles from the launchpad, you saw the smoke long before you heard the roar.

0! Liftoff! The shuttle began to rise, and we could see the flames of the rockets over the tops of the trees! The soundwaves from the rockets began to hit us, a stuttering roar that shook the ground, our bodies, and even our clothes. It's something that you never really hear, but the sound of a rocket launch is even more memorable than the sight of it. Sounds like the biggest firework in the world, crackling and sputtering. One of my friends got audio of it: I was standing near him at the time, so I'm probably one of the voices on there.

Up, up, and up she went, trailing smoke like a Roman candle, climbing up into the sky, as we all screamed and shouted and cheered and cried. We cheered when she passed the throttle-back point when Challenger exploded, and watched as the solid rocket boosters fell away, watched until Discovery was no more than a tiny distant speck, traveling many times the speed of sound, and watched until we couldn't see her anymore. Then we began crying and hugging and were basically all one gigantic emotional mess. Probably not a pretty picture, but we didn't care. I also got some video just after the launch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIyE66uWm14

(almost done!)

[JoitheArtist]

After it was all over, I had to sit down and process what I'd just seen. In fact, none of us were leaving: we were all too stunned. We milled around, talked, cried, and utterly failed to put any of it into words. One girl had brought her violin, and stood at the water's edge playing a farewell for Discovery. I ended up scribbling down a poem (which I later refined), just because I had to express something at that moment.

Launch

First the unexpected silence,
Main engine start;
Billows of cloud pour into the silence, softening it.
But only for a moment.
Then the cheer goes up, the unending exultation
That is drowned only by the sound of thrust
Rippling the air, the ground,
Our clothes bits of fabric that ripple like fragile flags
With the power of distant flight.
Then the sound, that stuttering roar,
Echoed by the roar of the crowd.
For a few moments, the sky has two suns,
One a burning flame, a mechanical torch shot out to light the darkness,
Poised atop a pillar of smoke, dancing up and away.
Then the torch becomes a candle, then an ember
Falling toward our horizon as it reaches for orbit
On the other side of the sky.
The roar is gone,
The shudder of thrust has moved into our hearts, our guts.
It is in our marrow, impelling us outward and upward.
We are launched into a new life, a new world,
Opening eyes new-burned in the rocket-fired twilight.
Our next steps onto the grass are our first:
Still unsteady, but the slow beginnings of flight.


You wouldn't necessarily think that seeing the launch of a shuttle (the last launch of this shuttle, in fact) would be life-changing, but it was. Several people from that tweetup have begun pursuing jobs in the space industry, and one is moving from Australia to Canada to try to do the same. A large majority of us keep in touch, talk via Twitter, Skype, and Facebook, and even visit each other. Even now, I'm still trying to process the whole thing, and figure out what all changed when I saw that rocket go up, but I do know that nothing is the same. I feel like I've been living in two dimensions all my life, and suddenly find myself in a 3-D world. The world is an amazing place, and human beings do some incredible things.

To infinity...and beyond!

(Ok, I'm done with the story now. Thank you for your patience! )

(and now I realized that I labelled this thread as Part 1, when it should be Part 2. ARGH.)

[Racket_Man]

Me. SUPER JEALOUS!!!

I 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th and 6TH that sentiment. heck I had to settle for just watchin the Moon launches on TV back in the late 60's

[Cazzi]

Add me to the list of green with envy!

heck I had to settle for just watchin the Moon launches on TV back in the late 60's

Same here, but boy did we see some history in the making anyway eh? That is one of my biggest early childhood memories; I went to bed very late that night

[JoitheArtist]

Same here, but boy did we see some history in the making anyway eh? That is one of my biggest early childhood memories; I went to bed very late that night

I would give almost anything to have seen a Saturn V launch. I got to stand underneath one at Kennedy Space Center ( http://twitpic.com/332p1m ) and I'll never forget the sheer size of the thing. They say that it's the most powerful engine ever built (7.5 million pounds of thrust!) and when it launched, it was the loudest noise made by man with the exception of an atomic bomb. Amazing piece of engineering.

[Racket_Man]

I would give almost anything to have seen a Saturn V launch. I got to stand underneath one at Kennedy Space Center ( http://twitpic.com/332p1m ) and I'll never forget the sheer size of the thing. They say that it's the most powerful engine ever built (7.5 million pounds of thrust!) and when it launched, it was the loudest noise made by man with the exception of an atomic bomb. Amazing piece of engineering.

I most likely got to see the same vehicle waaaay back in the mid 1970's when we did a vacation down in Florida. they had the 3 stages of the rocket (including the escape rocket on top of the Apollo capsule) out near the parking lot broke apart by stage. I think I have paper pics scanned somewhere.

[JoitheArtist]

I most likely got to see the same vehicle waaaay back in the mid 1970's when we did a vacation down in Florida. they had the 3 stages of the rocket (including the escape rocket on top of the Apollo capsule) out near the parking lot broke apart by stage. I think I have paper pics scanned somewhere.

Yeah, it's probably the same one housed in the Saturn V center now: it's separated into its stages, and just a few feet off the floor, so you can really get a good look at it. A hell of a machine, that one.

[Jester]

I live in Florida, and have never seen a launch.

Amusingly, a friend of mine went up to see one....and it got scrubbed. We laughed our asses off at him, only because he had been gloating about going to it.

The NASA folks were pretty damn tolerant of our geekiness.

I am sure they are quite used to it.

I had to settle for just watchin the Moon launches on TV back in the late 60's

I was conceived right about that time.

I most likely got to see the same vehicle waaaay back in the mid 1970's when we did a vacation down in Florida.

1977, my family went to Florida on vacation, including a trip to the Space Center, and saw the (at the time) prototype for the Shuttle, which had yet to be launched. I believe the one we saw was the original Enterprise; I don't think the one we saw was ever launched. I DO remember one of my favorite toys as a child (I was 7 in '77) was the toy Space Shuttle I got from the gift shop. It was AWESOME. (Actually just a plastic piece of crap version, but the bay doors opened and every thing!)

[JoitheArtist]

I live in Florida, and have never seen a launch.

My friends in Orlando have never seen one either, except from their house. I think they may try to go out to the causeway for the last one, though.

I am sure they are quite used to it.

Oh, they are! Truth be told, I think they enjoy having us around because then they get to be treated like rock stars. And considering our group was there TWICE and we are all a little bit crazy...well, let's just say that we were "memorable."

1977, my family went to Florida on vacation, including a trip to the Space Center, and saw the (at the time) prototype for the Shuttle, which had yet to be launched. I believe the one we saw was the original Enterprise; I don't think the one we saw was ever launched. I DO remember one of my favorite toys as a child (I was 7 in '77) was the toy Space Shuttle I got from the gift shop. It was AWESOME. (Actually just a plastic piece of crap version, but the bay doors opened and every thing!)

Enterprise is due to be displayed in New York (though some NYers have been extremely ungracious about it) in the near future. LA is getting Endeavor, so I'll have a shuttle to visit, hooray! And since it was Discovery that we saw launch, my group is planning a reunion when she goes on display at the Smithsonian.