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A successful return-to-flight...
Aug. 19th, 2008 05:53 pmThe Proton-M carrying the Inmarsat-4F3 spacecraft launched at 4:43 am local time and all systems performed flawlessly, ending with separation of the upper stage from the spacecraft at around 2 pm local time. The reported orbital parameters were well within allowable limits
I am told that the audio of my callouts never made it past a relay station between Over Here™ and Over There™, so nobody in the US heard anything I said. Fortunately, folks in Baikonur did, and said nice things about my work, for which I am grateful. In the end, I ended up supporting the Program Integrator and the Program Director over a 16 hour period (although there was about a 3-1/2 hour gap between the fourth and fifth upper stage burns where everyone returned to the Fili for an ounce or two of shuteye).
Near the end of our stint, the Program Integrator, who hails from New Zealand, broadened my horizons by showing me a YouTube video of a rugby team (The All Blacks, I think) doing a haka, which is - if I am not mistaken - a dance of the indigenous Māori people. My cultural lesson kept getting interrupted (mostly because it took a long time to download the video), so I don't think I got the full effect, which will have to wait until my return to a place where broadband Internet access is a reality.
By now, my sister-in-law should be in the States, and if things have gone to plan, she and my wife are overnighting in Albuquerque and will be getting up in a couple of hours for the ride back to Pagosa.
There is a party scheduled for 7 pm. I attended a celebration earlier, at the Kometa, with the French, so I've already got some accumulated party time today; hopefully, there won't be much toasting at this evening's shindig. I am tired, and want to have enough energy later - or tomorrow morning - to pack my stuff.
Cheers...
I am told that the audio of my callouts never made it past a relay station between Over Here™ and Over There™, so nobody in the US heard anything I said. Fortunately, folks in Baikonur did, and said nice things about my work, for which I am grateful. In the end, I ended up supporting the Program Integrator and the Program Director over a 16 hour period (although there was about a 3-1/2 hour gap between the fourth and fifth upper stage burns where everyone returned to the Fili for an ounce or two of shuteye).
Near the end of our stint, the Program Integrator, who hails from New Zealand, broadened my horizons by showing me a YouTube video of a rugby team (The All Blacks, I think) doing a haka, which is - if I am not mistaken - a dance of the indigenous Māori people. My cultural lesson kept getting interrupted (mostly because it took a long time to download the video), so I don't think I got the full effect, which will have to wait until my return to a place where broadband Internet access is a reality.
By now, my sister-in-law should be in the States, and if things have gone to plan, she and my wife are overnighting in Albuquerque and will be getting up in a couple of hours for the ride back to Pagosa.
There is a party scheduled for 7 pm. I attended a celebration earlier, at the Kometa, with the French, so I've already got some accumulated party time today; hopefully, there won't be much toasting at this evening's shindig. I am tired, and want to have enough energy later - or tomorrow morning - to pack my stuff.
Cheers...
