Prop load, continued...

Yesterday was devoted to reconfiguring the processing facility to load fuel onto the spacecraft today, a process that is as demanding as loading oxidizer. Separately, fuel and oxidizer are substances that chemically represent a lot of pent-up energy and the key to releasing it, so much so that you don't have to do anything more than allow them to come into contact with each other for the energy to be released furiously; such propellants are called hypergolic. (In contrast, the air-gasoline mixture in our cars requires a spark to initiate the release of energy during each engine cycle.)

Two interpreters are supporting the prop load; two others are supporting what will likely turn out to be (if Tuesday was any indication) an all-day meeting to iron out a portion of the overall launch script. Moi, I am scheduled to go support folks going to the Gagarin museum over on the other side of the cosmodrome, with a possible trip into town thereafter. It sounds like a day of excursions, but it will, I fear, be a work day that puts my French skills to the test yet again.

The reaction of my French colleagues seems mixed, though I may be reading too much into nothing at all. It seems to me, after the trip to the "zone of relaxation," that some of the group is more friendly to me than before, while some others (and the most demanding of the group are among these folks) seem almost to not acknowledge my existence as they pass by me in the workplace. I seem to get along best with one of the French security guys, Eric, who is equally interested in picking up more English. I get the feeling that, were I to hang out with him long enough, it would only help me improve my French.

* * *The last call for the bus leaving for the Soyuz launch last night caught me in my room, comfortably set up to do nothing at all. I decided to skip the trip and watch what I could from the front of the hotel. As it turned out, the Soyuz launch was scrubbed with just several minutes to go, and the word is that the rocket will be removed from the pad for additional work, thereby eliminating our group's attendance at its launch from our agenda pretty much permanently. We are told, however, that there will be a Dniepr launch later in the month, viewable from the same observation point. If you are a space enthusiast, you've just got to love this place!

In any event, there's about an hour left before the excursion leaves. I think I will try to bone up a little on words that might come my way during the rest of the day.

Cheers...