Another long one...

I started the day working the morning status/scheduling meeting and ended the day doing chacoutage (aka, "whispered simultaneous") at the plenary session of the State Commission that approved tomorrow's 6:30 am rollout of the launch vehicle, thereby starting Day 1 of pad activities. I am well and truly beat.

My Day 1 activities start at 9 am, supporting the movement of an umbilical rack from the control room in the полтинник to the so-called "vault" (подстолье), which should go until about noon. By that time, the LV should be at the pad and erected, waiting for the mobile service tower to be moved into place. Various tests will take place on Day 2 and 3, with Day 4 reserved as a backup day in case additional time is required. Day 5 is launch day, when the launch vehicle is loaded with propellant, the service tower is moved away, and the rocket is sent on its way.

In miscellaneous news, I've finished the electronic version of Right ho, Jeeves and a paper version of a mystery written by John Lantigua titled The Ultimate Havana, which I found to be both very absorbing reads. I am a few pages into an electronic version of Jim Ellroy's The Big Nowhere, but I find that Ellroy is a hard author to absorb a few pages at a time. Ah, well...

There's a "site survey team" here, consisting of folks from ILS and their client for a future launch. It's an interesting process, I guess, but I'm not at all sure why it's necessary, as ILS has been doing these launches for some time and their client is no newcomer to Baikonur, either. Then again, I'm no expert and it's none of my business; just an observation. In any event, it's nice to see some new faces around here.

I am running on fumes right now, so I think I'll go brush my teeth and set my alarm.

Cheers...