You ask why we’re wearing those plastic cones? We have absolutely no idea, but they certainly are inconvenient. They contstantly bang into things, sometimes even get caught, and seem to irritate our people when we press them against the backs of their legs trying to sniff. But they have to stay on all the time, even while we’re sleeping. Until Thursday, when the stitches come out. What stitches? Oh, about a half-dozen each. As we’re not currently in that state known as berserk, we have no recollection of the vicious fight we got into a week ago over prime sniffing rights through the porch rails to the kittens hidden in the bushes below.
Month: September 2013
Watching the satellite launch
I stayed up really late last night, then drove about a mile to where I thought I had a plausible view of the horizon to the south southeast at about 11:25pm. Stepped away from the car and hope nobody would call the police or set the dogs on me. Checked the compass app on my phone to be sure I was facing Wallops Island, 124 miles or 200km away. A few minutes later there it was — a streaking fireball climbing up out of the trees and to the left. Seconds later it seemed to stop climbing and then started to drop, an illusion as it was now traveling away from me. I couldn’t take my own photo (I tried), but I saved this later from NASA.
Gradually the sausage shape flame shortened to a spot. I saw the first burst of energy when the first bit of rocket was ejected, and after a longer gap, the second also. I thought I could see a con trail in the sky but it was so faint I might have imagined it. Then it was gone. No cheering crowds, no dogs, no police, so home and to bed.
The NASA video I took the screenshot from is here on Youtube. LADEE stands for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer.