The night of the shuttle launch

The launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor was Tuesday, March 11, 2:28am. We were all excited because night launches are rare and supposed to be spectacular. The only problem is that night launches are just that, launches in the middle of the night.

The plan was to take a nap, then head to the launch. Unfortunately, CJ was not going along with the program. He simply did not want to nap. He was just too excited to be in Florida, with mommy and daddy, both grandmas and grandpa. Oh well. At 10:30pm on Monday night, we set off for Kiwanis Island, where the buses for family members were scheduled to pick us up.

After fighting nap time all day, CJ fell asleep in the car. Maki bundled him up, and put him down on a park bench to keep napping. Kiwanis Island is south of Kennedy Space Center(KSC), and we were told later that the various guests were picked up at various locations to avoid bus and traffic jams. At Kiwanis, we met Maki's parents and brother, and three Japanese astronauts. One had been up twice before and was scheduled to go up later in the year. Naoko was also there with her daughter and husband.

We boarded the buses around 11:30pm and drove to the Saturn V building, which is now a museum, since the program was cancelled many years ago. The Saturn V building is like a mini-Air and Space museum, with cool exhibits and a food court. An actual Saturn V rocket is on display, as well as a lander. CJ stayed asleep and my mom was good enough to park on a bench and let him sleep on her.

Guests of the astronauts had a prime viewing location behind the Saturn V building, an area called Banana Creek. The area was restricted to astronaut guests, although other guests were in nearby viewing areas. There were many volunteer guides, including Jack Martin, who were assisting the guests and answering questions. We also had three female astronauts explaining the launch sequence the entire time.

There was even a countdown clock and we received regular updated from the KSC mission control tower. The countdown clock is really interesting. It doesn't count down as you would expect. There are several hold periods, during which the countdown clock just stops. For example, the countdown clock stopped at T (takeoff) -20:00 and T -9:00m. A volunteer explained that the holding period allows NASA to extend the prep time. When the clock stops at T-20:00, it doesn't mean that launch will happen in 20 minutes. It means they did a countdown, they are holding, and are waiting for the next signal to keep counting down. Continuing the countdown means all is well and the launch is proceeding.

We met several volunteers in their 70s who say they volunteer at every shuttle launch. They seemed just as excited about STS-123 as any other launch. And boy did they know about seemingly everything to do with the launch.

At around 2:00am, things got serious. The astronauts encouraged us to get settled on the bleachers and wait for the countdown and launch.