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SLS - Artemis 1

Nocturnal sunrise

16.11.22, Arthur Sommer

After returning to the grandstand, we followed the events with utmost attention. Sakurako scoured Twitter for news regarding the start time. The window opened at 1:04, but the SLS was getting shy, as someone in our stands said, and needed another moment.

Team back at the tribune. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

At T -00.10.00 (10 min) the countdown stood still for what felt like an eternity. Now all departments had to give their green light. While everyone held their breath in anticipation, a handful of people from the Banana Creek crowd were interviewed. In the meantime, the first "go" messages were heard. Now it became clear, history was going to be made today. It was getting more and more exciting, gradually the emotions and excitement were rising inside me.

Finally the time had come. After some delay, the 10 minute countdown continued and all of Banana Creek cheered. Those 10 minutes flew by. At -6 minutes, most of the spectators stand up. I look over at Sakurako and she looks over at me. I think we could see each other's surprise and indeed a slight confusion, but at least as much anticipation.

Arthur and the crowd standing up. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

By now, everyone was pulling their smartphones out of their pockets. I did likewise to the crowd and prepared the stabilized GoPro. Now I was already tingling almost all over. While I still didn't fully realize what we were about to experience, my gaze alternated between the bright scoreboard and the dim horizon.

The board now showed the view of a camera pointed at the RS-25 engines of the SLS, while the commentators, from the moment of the first sparks, began to count down the last 10 seconds ever louder and more excitedly. We joined in loudly from our grandstand. 3...2...1... The Solid Rocket boosters ignited at 1:48 and gave full thrust. All you could see on the board was fire. On the horizon, as if in one blow, in the dead of night, the sun rose. So brightly shone the trail of fire, which grew longer and longer as the rocket rapidly took off. At the same moment, huge clouds of smoke shot out left and right. While I was trying to capture as many reactions from our group as possible with the GoPro, I first realized how badly my hands were shaking. With moist eyes, I followed the cone of light, which by now was already high in the sky.

SLS lift-off at 1.48 am from launchpad 39B. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

Since we were standing just 5 km from launchpad 39B, it took just 15 seconds to hear that monstrous masterpiece. First, however, we saw the previously smooth water of the pond in front of us roughen and start to dance. Next, a soft drum-like sound reached me. At the same time, I felt a gentle physical recoil against me. This heralded the orchestra of thrusters. I didn't know what I was expecting, but definitely not that. A damn loud rattling and clattering, a drumming and beating, a crashing and thundering. Just a musical masterpiece. It was such a deep sound that spread throughout my entire body and made me feel my heart as I had never felt it before. At that moment, a single tear of joy actually flowed down my left cheek. As we stood there staring up at the illuminated sky, I wanted to cheer or somehow otherwise scream the joy out of me, but I felt paralyzed. Not a peep made it out of my open mouth. I was literally speechless.

SLS lighting up the nightsky and crowd at Banana Creek. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

We stood there for another good 10 minutes, watching the Solid Rocket Boosters separate from the rest of the rocket and the nighttime sun steadily get smaller and whiter until it finally disappeared behind a thick layer of gray clouds and flew even farther away from us.

So that was it, THE event. An emotional journey to the moon. This is exactly what we had been preparing for for so long.

Cosma collected the cameras she had carefully set up earlier with me, while Ralf captured the first reactions of the other team members. The expectations of all of us were more than exceeded and we were overjoyed that it finally worked out today. With the words of our American grandstand comrades "Third time's the charm" we boarded our bus and left Banana Creek around 2:20 am.

 Group photo after successful launch. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

In the bus, the overhead light was on again, but this time it didn't bother me, as fatigue overcame me out of nowhere. The red tail lights of the vehicles in front of us blurred hypnotically-circularly with the otherwise pitch-black surroundings, until my eyes finally fell shut. When I woke up, we were already in the large parking lot where our journey began. From here, unfortunately, our team already parted ways again. Sakurako drove with Valencia to Titusville and from there on her own to Daytona. Of course we couldn't let her go without a proper goodbye. An hour later we arrived at the Motel 6.

Team saying goodbye to Sakurako. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

Even though we didn't make it to bed until around 4am, I agreed to meet Cosma again for sunrise. This time a normal one. After waking her up several times, we walked to the beach and admired yet another beautiful sunrise. Today the clouds caught the first rays of the sun as well. We see something so similar every day, but still very special. Now that we challenged our sleep rhythm one more time, it was really time to go to sleep.

I didn't wake up again until noon, made myself a little something for breakfast, wrote a tiny bit on the report, and slept even more. Around 4:30pm, Valeria informed us that she would be flying to California later today. Her Uber driver was also on his way. Thereupon we prepared a quick farewell dinner with cake. Half an hour later, we were already saying goodbye to Valeria. By then there were only four of us left.

At the end of the day, we continued to write down our experiences and let this more than special day pass in review one more time.

 


Moon within reach

15.11.2022, Arthur Sommer

Cosma and Arthur infront of the SLS. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

So today is the day. The big day dawned with the first normal sunrise on the foggy horizon. Morning dew could be seen in many places. Car windows, plants and the beach were moist, almost as if it had rained before. Although there were clouds between us and the sun again, which is gradually becoming a habit, nevertheless such a sunrise remains magical.

Cosma and Valeria were still deeply asleep, so I went with Ralf and Jesco to the Waffle House. Today was going to be a special day, so we had a special breakfast. When we came back, I already started writing my report. After a while the two late sleepers woke up and around 1pm we found ourselves at the Beachside Hotel. There we met the nice lady named Lou, with whom we got along so well last time. We stayed there for just under four hours writing the long report on Embry-Riddle University.

When Cosma and I arrived in the hotel room shortly after 5 pm, things started to get serious. Now we were just focused on getting started. After the preparations, such as packing all the camera equipment and putting on the team outfits, Ralf held a briefing. He explained how everything was going to work. I thought now I was ready for what was coming up today. However, at this point I couldn't guess in the slightest how we would feel afterwards.

The sun had been setting for a while when we sat down in the SUV. Paradoxically, a relaxing, classical-like tune was playing on the radio, accompanying us on our way to the event of the decade. This song was followed by a Christmas carol. At least until Ralf finally changed the station. On the roadsides we could still see some damage left by storm Nicole. Because of that there were less people and campers who would have watched the start from everywhere. I thought that was kind of a shame, because it made the evening feel less meaningful. At least until now.

Far too early, we arrived at a huge parking lot with two little NASA flags at the entrance. There was hardly another car here until now. Maybe 20 to 30, which is virtually nothing. Since we arrived a good hour before the meeting time, we now even had room to maneuver for an improvised meal and presence on social media. 7:30pm, more and more guests gradually drifted in, including Sakurako, who was picking up Valencia from Titusville.

 Valeria and Arthur waiting in the parking lot. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

While we were waiting, empty buses left here twice, which seemed quite strange to us. But after a while other buses came, among them some with the Artemis logo or the SLS printed on them. With those, we immediately took photos and joined the growing queue. Three quarters of an hour later, we left. The lights on the bus were dim, but they hurt my slightly tired eyes a little. Another three quarters of an hour passed before we finally arrived at our old familiar seats. I don't know why, but we were drawn back to the last grandstand, to the second-to-last rows of benches. It almost felt like home. At the same moment, we could again see a fire at the base of the tower. This time even bigger than before. In contrast, people were unconcerned and rather delighted to see this spectacle once again.

The team arriving at our spot on the tribune. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

21.42 the first bad news came through the loudspeakers: There is another leak of liquid hydrogen. With that the evening was almost over for me. I thought that NASA had learned from an investigation at the VAB as well as the previous abort reasons and had prepared better. There were apparently bolts loose that needed to be fixed. On our display, we could follow the "Red Crew" that was sent out and assigned to do this. There is a problem that can only be solved with outside labor. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad news.

 Teamphoto in front of the Countdown board. (copyright: International Space Education Institute)

10:43 p.m. We were all shocked. In addition to a normal announcement, another person's cut-off statement was heard, "...probably have to roll back to the VAB...". I can clearly remember Cosma's head turning over to me and her calling out: What?! We waited tensely for an ensuing answer, which did not come. For the time being, an uncomfortable silence prevailed.

In order not to fall asleep on the benches, we followed Sakurako, Valeria and Valencia into the Saturn V Center. We looked at many things. From holograms, displays of old spacesuits and lunar samples to photos of us on a lunar rover. At midnight we received the news from Ralf that all leaks had been successfully sealed. We cheered about this and slowly made our way back to the grandstand. We could probably see a launch today after all.

 
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