For the first time in over 50 years, mankind is on its way to the moon.
At just after 6:35PM the Artemis II mission of the Space Launch System lifted off from launchpad 39B on Cape Canaveral. After a nearly flawless countdown that began with fueling early this morning, the rocket launched just 11 minutes after the initial planned time of 6:24PM.
I was on the scene for the entire day on and around the Max Brewer Bridge in Titusville. I began my morning early leaving my campsite at just after 5AM. This put me in Titusville a little after six, and parking was already filled up in the most popular spots. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to go very far at this early hour and had plenty of time to get set up to take photos of the rocket with the sun rising behind it on what would become a spectacular day.
I spent my day wandering around Titusville and Sand Point Park where I had parked. I was the first person to park there in the early morning hours, but by noon the place was absolutely roaring with people, and by 3PM it was a certified zoo. It was a fun zoo, though, and between reading and wandering around I met many people. Several were from out of the country and, through sheer luck, had happened to be visiting the area during the launch. They all shared my enthusiasm and were full of questions about the launch which I was more than happy to answer. A few even asked me for directions- which with some help from Google I also assisted with.
I found my spot on the Max Brewer Bridge fairly early by my standards, about 4 hours before launch, but there had been people there since sunrise. By the time 6PM rolled around the bridge was chock full of people all anxiously awaiting the launch.
I had my trusty Bearcat scanner tuned into the NASA broadcast to keep us all up to date on the latest, and our patience for the day was rewarded at 6:35PM when the massive rocket roared to life.
As the rocket roared overhead, we first heard nothing- we were 10.5 miles away of course- but soon the ground began to shake and after 30 seconds the full blast of the rocket arrived. The sound shook you to your bones, and the flames appeared like the sun bright enough to leave temporary spots in your vision.
The crew, comprised of Commander Reid Wiseman (NASA), Pilot Victor Glover (NASA), Mission Specialist Christina Hammock Koch (NASA), and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency) will spend a couple days in Earth orbit checking out the many systems of their Orion capsule. Then, they will perform an engine burn to send them on a trajectory around the moon. On this mission, the astronauts will not be orbiting the moon, but will just do a “slingshot” fly-by around 4,000 miles away. They will become the first humans since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 to see the “dark side” of the moon partially illuminated on their trip around.
After launch, the eastward trajectory meant we weren’t able to see the booster separation from our location as the smoke plume sat between us and the rocket. Of course, I couldn’t resist getting a selfie with the rocket plume.
This certainly won’t be a day I’ll forget for a very, very long time.
