![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
L minus 6 hours, 7 minutes...
Nov. 8th, 2006 07:54 pm...as I post this, and there's not much time left to write, as I still have a bunch of things to do before trying to get a couple of hours sleep before reporting for work at the Polyot Hotel.
Yesterday started out slow and then sped up, especially near the end of the day. What capped the day was one of those strange gatherings where people gravitate together and suddenly realize that they've got hardly any time at all to get rid of the food and beverages they've been keeping in their rooms. Suddenly, you've got a table full of various goodies (foie gras, sprats, pickled mushrooms, beer, vodka, etc.) and folks are having a pretty good time without it being a formal party of some kind.
The latest scoop is that we're going to try to get out of Baikonur on the 10th, in the afternoon, instead of the 11th. This won't affect my itinerary at all, as I had intended to spend some time with Galina's mother and sister before going home on the 14th, but it does sort of cut one day's pay from my invoice. I plan to make it up with the outside job I have waiting for me (though I was able to get a chunk done yesterday - part of the speed-up I mentioned - today was one of those days that required complete attention be given to the job at hand).
It's been a pretty smooth campaign so far, and blessed with very good weather. That changed today, as we got hit with cold, windy air and an interruption in commercial power (fortunately, all critical launch components are running on uninterruptible power, so we weren't affected, except emotionally, waiting for word).
A tradition among the people who launch rockets is to write some kind of personal message on the fairing, which is the part of the rocket that goes around the payload, up on top. I seem to recall "dedicating" the rocket I helped launch during my first campaign to Huntür; this one, I'm "dedicating" to the new kid on the block, Matthew.
Cheers...
Yesterday started out slow and then sped up, especially near the end of the day. What capped the day was one of those strange gatherings where people gravitate together and suddenly realize that they've got hardly any time at all to get rid of the food and beverages they've been keeping in their rooms. Suddenly, you've got a table full of various goodies (foie gras, sprats, pickled mushrooms, beer, vodka, etc.) and folks are having a pretty good time without it being a formal party of some kind.
The latest scoop is that we're going to try to get out of Baikonur on the 10th, in the afternoon, instead of the 11th. This won't affect my itinerary at all, as I had intended to spend some time with Galina's mother and sister before going home on the 14th, but it does sort of cut one day's pay from my invoice. I plan to make it up with the outside job I have waiting for me (though I was able to get a chunk done yesterday - part of the speed-up I mentioned - today was one of those days that required complete attention be given to the job at hand).
It's been a pretty smooth campaign so far, and blessed with very good weather. That changed today, as we got hit with cold, windy air and an interruption in commercial power (fortunately, all critical launch components are running on uninterruptible power, so we weren't affected, except emotionally, waiting for word).
A tradition among the people who launch rockets is to write some kind of personal message on the fairing, which is the part of the rocket that goes around the payload, up on top. I seem to recall "dedicating" the rocket I helped launch during my first campaign to Huntür; this one, I'm "dedicating" to the new kid on the block, Matthew.
Cheers...
