Nothin' could be finer...
Aug. 29th, 2000 08:28 pm...than to hear a loved one's voice after a lo-o-ng trip. I called Galina's sister in Moscow around 2 pm (11 pm Moscow time) and learned that Galina arrived okay. Yowzah! That tight feeling in the chest just melted away.
On the work front, after nearly five years, it's looking as if I may be going to KSC for a launch. The launch of STS-106 (a.k.a. ISS flight 2A.2b) will be attended by a number of officials from both the U.S. and Russian space programs (two of the STS-106 crew are cosmonauts), which usually indicates that there will be a nonstop series of meetings - both official and unofficial - between the two sides. My mission is not too glamourous: I'll be running interference for and backing up the primary interpreter team. The boss pitched the assignment at me as a kind of perk - which I suppose it is. After all, it's not every day you get to witness the unleashing of over 7 million pounds of thrust under something the size of an 18-story building and watch it go Out There Real Fast.
On the other hand, the purpose of my going is to intercept and absorb a lot of last-minute requests for support, run errands, and play Stars and Stripes Forever on a kazoo while standing on my head in the deep end of the...whoops, I seem to be getting carried away. Nobody'd let me play kazoo; they'll have to settle for a nose flute.
At any rate, aside from the 10 minutes or so that it takes for STS-106 to go from liftoff to insertion, life can be expected to be pretty hectic at the Cape. It ought to be interesting, though, and I have a pile of stuff on my desk that Must Be Finished before I climb on the plane.
The satellite programs on my Windows box and on my PalmPilot both predict that Mir will make a pass almost directly overhead in our area tonight at 9:40 local time. I plan to attempt to take a 16-second exposure during the pass, since the video route didn't work the last time, when I was trying to track the ISS. We'll see what develops.
Cheers...
On the work front, after nearly five years, it's looking as if I may be going to KSC for a launch. The launch of STS-106 (a.k.a. ISS flight 2A.2b) will be attended by a number of officials from both the U.S. and Russian space programs (two of the STS-106 crew are cosmonauts), which usually indicates that there will be a nonstop series of meetings - both official and unofficial - between the two sides. My mission is not too glamourous: I'll be running interference for and backing up the primary interpreter team. The boss pitched the assignment at me as a kind of perk - which I suppose it is. After all, it's not every day you get to witness the unleashing of over 7 million pounds of thrust under something the size of an 18-story building and watch it go Out There Real Fast.
On the other hand, the purpose of my going is to intercept and absorb a lot of last-minute requests for support, run errands, and play Stars and Stripes Forever on a kazoo while standing on my head in the deep end of the...whoops, I seem to be getting carried away. Nobody'd let me play kazoo; they'll have to settle for a nose flute.
At any rate, aside from the 10 minutes or so that it takes for STS-106 to go from liftoff to insertion, life can be expected to be pretty hectic at the Cape. It ought to be interesting, though, and I have a pile of stuff on my desk that Must Be Finished before I climb on the plane.
The satellite programs on my Windows box and on my PalmPilot both predict that Mir will make a pass almost directly overhead in our area tonight at 9:40 local time. I plan to attempt to take a 16-second exposure during the pass, since the video route didn't work the last time, when I was trying to track the ISS. We'll see what develops.
Cheers...