Hard to think of it as Saturday...

There comes a time during every campaign where it really doesn't make much sense to talk about "the weekend" any more, because the satellite's launch drives the work schedule and "time off" is something that happens when it happens, regardless of what day of the week it might be.

I reached that point today during the current campaign, although tomorrow (Sunday) is going to be largely a day off for most campaigners. I've volunteered to stick around the area and be the "on call" interpreter while most of the crowd heads into town for some R&R.

A couple of days ago, the Russian side announced there would be three other launches at Baikonur during our stay here.

We were all aware of a Russian Federal launch on July 2, because that launch vehicle is making use of the resources that our launch vehicle will use once the Federal launch vehicle rolls out to its pad located not very far from our hotel complex. (Indeed, the word is that we will have to temporarily evacuate our digs for that launch, owing to the proximity of the pad to our hotels.)

Before that launch, however, we were informed there will be a Soyuz launch on June 25 (next Tuesday), somewhere around 23:30 local time from area 31, located on the other side of the Baikonur facility, as well as a night launch from a silo located about 1500 meters from our hotel complex on June 27 (next Thursday), for which we will again be temporarily rousted from our rooms for the sake of safety.

Based on my previous experiences, night launches are not as impressive as ones where you can actually see a rocket take flight, but they aren't too shabby, either. I look forward to seeing what I can see.

Cheers...