6 High school girls from Girl Scouts of Northern California were chosen to attend the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. Each of these girls has a special interest in science and technology. Follow the girls as they spend 8 days exploring Florida's Space Coast.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

The Launch

Yesterday we went on a exciting tour of Kennedy Space Center. We had to be on the bus at 7:15, and then we were off to the space center. When we first got at there, we had a meeting where everybody on the tour introduced themselves, and we leaned a bit about the International Space Station. Then we got back on the bus, and an astronaut joined us. We next went to ISS training facility where they had mock up modules of the ones on the ISS that we could walk through. The next place we went was the VAB. It is the second largest building in the world in terms of volume. This building is where they put together the space shuttle. Then we went to the launch site to see the Endeavour. We were very close and had a great view of it. After that, we got to go to the Kennedy Visitor Center and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. After the long day, we got to go back to our hotel. Kjersti and I decided to go to bed, while everyone else stayed up. Eventually most people went to bed and got some sleep. At 1 AM we all were up and ready to go in our many layers and blankets. We got on the bus and went back to the space center. We got there at around 1:45 and reserved some seats on the bleachers. We waited around for launch time. It was very cold outside on the bleachers, and it was very crowded. The concern of weather started to arise. There were clouds drifting in above the space shuttle. The chance of good weather went down from 80% to 60% then to 30%, and then to code red for the weather or no go. Launch control kept debating on whether they should actually launch, until around 4:30 AM with 9 minutes to go they decided to scrub the launch for 24 hours. In other words, they postponed the launch until Monday morning. With a bit a disappointment, we went back to our hotel, and went straight back to sleep.

-Violet

1 comment:

  1. Well, Ladies, I am very impressed! It sounds like you are having an awesome trip and learning a ton! Are you going to get to see the launch tomorrow morning?

    Also, thought you might like to know that I am working with our communications team to get something up about your trip on the National GS blog, too.

    Enjoy the rest of your trip and have a safe trip back to Cali!

    Kate
    National STEM Program Manager
    GSUSA

    ReplyDelete