Scoping out the Progress launch...

[alexpgp]

For the second time in a week, I've hit Google Earth to figure out where to look to catch tonight's Progress launch. Here's the final image I worked up:



I've taken the liberty of labeling the little pimple at the top of the image, which is the launch site. The large building in the foreground is 92A-50, and above that are the placemarks for the Fili Hotel and the WWII memorial named after a local fellow who went off to fight the Nazis. The unlabeled placemark near the left edge is the complex at pad 39, for reference.

If we don't get out of here soon, I have a good idea of where to look from outside of 92A-50, and if we do get back to the Fili soon, I have a good idea where to look on the horizon with regard to the pad complex and the memorial. The distance to the launch is a few kilometers less than it was the other night, but I doubt it's sufficiently closer to actually hear anything (we didn't the other night). As I look out the office window, I can see a high overcast, which won't matter much, as the Soyuz roll program will pitch it over away from where we are, eastward.

I think I'll go and quietly nose around and try to find out when work will secure for the day.

Cheers...