Night Owl

It’s the middle of the night and I’m at work. This is the first time I’ve been so “fortunate” as to get the middle-of-the-night shift, and the only thing that’s making it bearable is the fact that my internal clock is already completely screwed up thanks to the jet lag associated with the trip to Japan. I’m working Orbit 3 for the first time, which is the “planning” shift. The crew is asleep, and down here on the ground we’re getting everything planned and prepared for Flight Day 2 tomorrow. Since the crew’s asleep, it’s pretty quiet. Today’s shift is 2-11; tomorrow is 1-9:30. Since I work in rendezvous, I get to go on-call after we dock for a while. Then I’ll have to do two more nights prior to undocking. Unfortunately those two nights will probably include Thanksgiving. But that’s life in the space program.
While waiting on some data, I was reading through an article that talked about each crew member on the current shuttle mission and realized that this is a big flight for my alma mater, Georgia Tech. Three of the crewmembers — pilot Eric Boe, mission specialist Robert Kimbrough, and mission specialist Sandy Magnus (who will remain on the space station until February) — have graduate degrees from GT. Maybe they can all get together and sing the Ramblin’ Wreck.
The launch was a beauty. This was the first in a while that I’ve watched from the comfort of my couch (instead of from my console in Mission Control), and it was nice to be able to watch the camera view instead of data. I’ve been lucky enough to see two launches in person — in 1997 and 1998 when I was an intern. Both were thrilling, but the first was a night launch, and I still remember how spectacular it was. The pad was miles away, but when the shuttle lifted off, it was like a sun rising in the darkness. Everything around me was silhouetted against the bright light of the engines. It was absolutely silent for a moment as we all watched the bright ball of light rise into the sky, and then came the sound, delayed due to the distance it had to travel to reach our ears. The sound of a space shuttle main engine burning is hard to describe. It’s not quite a roar, not quite a growl. It doesn’t whoosh like a model rocket engine, buzz like a small plane’s propeller, or scream like a jet. Instead, it is crackling, popping, creaking, and rattling accompanied by a heavy rumble so low in pitch that instead of hearing it, you feel it. The vibration shakes you even after originating miles away.
Maybe that description can help you enjoy this HD video of last night’s launch! It picks up 9 minutes before launch, but you can fast forward to the good stuff if you want: