Fly Away

Countdown again.  This time I am waiting for my flight out of Orlando back to Houston.  The shuttle was delayed once again, this time because of weather.  I’m not familiar with the history of shuttle launches, so is this constant delay-thing common? 

I completely understand that this whole business is risky, and that everything needs to perfectly align, but how many days can they play with people’s emotions/plans.  I’m not just thinking about me; the emotional rollercoaster the astronauts and their families are riding is surely out of control at this point.  Say your (hopefully not final) goodbyes, I love yous, be carefuls, prepare yourself emotionally, physically, mentally……. Annnnnnnd…. Just kidding, delayed 24 hrs.  And again.  And again.  And again.  Surely sleep is hard to come by not only for the families, but also for the astronauts.  But then again, maybe this is exactly what they are trained for? Expect the unexpected. 

As soon as we found out at 7:00 am, I was on the phone to change my flight (againnnn) to one departing today.  Mom is staying around for one more day.  I really really hope that everything works out for a launch tomorrow.  She has been so excited to witness this piece of history for a long time, and I want her to experience the thrill of seeing a rocket blast off into space.

So a couple days ago, which we thought was the eve of the launch at the time, we played a little game.  How many different license plates can we spot while driving out the of KSC parking lot.  In only three rows, we spotted 14 different states’ plates: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia.  Just another testament to what a big deal this is!

This whole scenario takes me back to the first day in my MBA program’s stats class… We started with a relatively simple problem analyzing numbers/statistics.  All we knew was that we had to decide whether or not to perform “the task” based on a certain collection of variables.  Aside from numbers, we were to take into consideration the fact that people had traveled from all over the world to see “the task.” It was all or nothing because lives were at stake.  My group decided not to, it wasn’t safe enough.  Turns out we were given some of the same data NASA officials analyzed to launch the Challenger that exploded upon entry into space.  It was a solemn ‘aha’ moment. 

Unlike the problem, though, NASA officials are currently confident that all hardware and software is functioning properly for this mission...  Just waiting on Mother Earth to agree that it is good timing…

It's been a long couple weeks for me.  I'm just ready to sleep in my own bed.

xoxox