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Other bits...
Nov. 10th, 2006 05:57 amI plan to return to the sack in a few minutes to catch a couple of more hours of sleep. I may then sleep some more on the plane to Moscow.
We almost missed the ICBM launch yesterday afternoon, and the rocket actually took off while I was walking along a berm north of building 92A-50 to a better vantage point. If I hadn't heard exclamations that amounted to "Tally ho!" from the Astrium team members who had climbed up on top of some water tanks behind the berm, I probably would've missed the whole thing, as by the time the sound of the takeoff reached us, the rocket had almost entered the cloud layer above us.
For the few moments I did see the rocket, it was evidently performing a maneuver to quickly establish its departure attitude, reminding me slightly of a busboy adjusting the position of his hands to keep an unbalanced stack of dishes he's carrying from falling over onto the floor. After it disappeared, we were bathed in a sort of "baritone" roar, far short of the deep, bone-rattling bass I've experienced during Proton and Shuttle launches.
I had spent some time with Google Earth trying to figure out where the launch site was. One of the Russian managers had indicated it was about 1500 meters from the Fili, which I found difficult to believe. Well, as it turned out, as I jogged back from the berm (sans jacket, which I had forgotten at the Fili) I observed a malevolent, oxidizer-tainted plume suspended vertically over the freshly vacated launch site. I quickly noted my position and lined the plume up on two other items in my immediate field of view. Using Google Earth, I sketched a line joining the three known points and extended the line eastward, past the Fili.
My line passed very close to a complex that I had examined a day or two ago, but which did not seem to be a likely ICBM site. A closer look at the site today revealed - why didn't I see this before? - three closely spaced, round openings approximately 18-22 feet in diameter.
Duh!
The site is located about 2.5 km from the Fili.
Yikes!
I've gone through my stuff and packed a completely "disposable" rucksack with a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, and a couple of changes of underwear, which I plan to leave behind in case I do come back (and somehow, my luggage manages to miss my flight). The rest will be "backhauled," as the campaigners call it, to the US.
Time to try to get another couple of hours of shuteye.
Cheers...
We almost missed the ICBM launch yesterday afternoon, and the rocket actually took off while I was walking along a berm north of building 92A-50 to a better vantage point. If I hadn't heard exclamations that amounted to "Tally ho!" from the Astrium team members who had climbed up on top of some water tanks behind the berm, I probably would've missed the whole thing, as by the time the sound of the takeoff reached us, the rocket had almost entered the cloud layer above us.
For the few moments I did see the rocket, it was evidently performing a maneuver to quickly establish its departure attitude, reminding me slightly of a busboy adjusting the position of his hands to keep an unbalanced stack of dishes he's carrying from falling over onto the floor. After it disappeared, we were bathed in a sort of "baritone" roar, far short of the deep, bone-rattling bass I've experienced during Proton and Shuttle launches.
I had spent some time with Google Earth trying to figure out where the launch site was. One of the Russian managers had indicated it was about 1500 meters from the Fili, which I found difficult to believe. Well, as it turned out, as I jogged back from the berm (sans jacket, which I had forgotten at the Fili) I observed a malevolent, oxidizer-tainted plume suspended vertically over the freshly vacated launch site. I quickly noted my position and lined the plume up on two other items in my immediate field of view. Using Google Earth, I sketched a line joining the three known points and extended the line eastward, past the Fili.
My line passed very close to a complex that I had examined a day or two ago, but which did not seem to be a likely ICBM site. A closer look at the site today revealed - why didn't I see this before? - three closely spaced, round openings approximately 18-22 feet in diameter.
Duh!
The site is located about 2.5 km from the Fili.
Yikes!
I've gone through my stuff and packed a completely "disposable" rucksack with a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, and a couple of changes of underwear, which I plan to leave behind in case I do come back (and somehow, my luggage manages to miss my flight). The rest will be "backhauled," as the campaigners call it, to the US.
Time to try to get another couple of hours of shuteye.
Cheers...
