Up and running!

BAIKONUR - The Clintondale charter flight landed a couple of hours ago and although the passport and customs formalities weren't extensive, there was only one line, so they took some time to complete, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

After returning to the hotel, I checked to see if there were any messages for me, since I didn't know what arrangements were in place for us to leave for the airport. Since there were no messages, I wandered over to the hotel bar and sat down, ordering a martini, which was expertly made in front of my eyes.

As I nursed the concoction, I spied a group of men sitting around a table and drinking beers; some were speaking French. I went over and asked if they were headed for Kazakhstan today; they were.

That was how I found out we were leaving for the airport at 6:45 am.

They then invited me to dinner, and I went along (by this time, it's nearing 9 pm). It turns out the group was from an outfit called Astrium, out of Toulouse, who built the bird that's to be launched during this campaign.

Anyway, that's all that I have time to write about right now. I've got to go get ready for a safety briefing in... 20 minutes, during which I'll be working.

Cheers...

Old home week...

Most of the people I'm working with are not the same crew that helped loft the AMC-9 bird into orbit, but many familiar faces are here. There's Olga F. (with whom I work at JSC from time to time), Sergei Z. (who was here for AMC-9), as well as some folks on the hotel's staff who remember me (albeit I, to my discredit, did not remember them). Then there are some familiar faces among the folks on the Russian side, working for Khrunichev.

Assignments are posted for tomorrow. I've got to get some sleep.

Cheers...