{"id":2134,"date":"2011-05-12T01:10:30","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T01:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/?p=2134"},"modified":"2011-05-12T01:51:11","modified_gmt":"2011-05-12T01:51:11","slug":"a-difficult-endeavour-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/photos\/a-difficult-endeavour-i","title":{"rendered":"A Difficult Endeavour I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beautiful weather never looked so bad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Space<\/a>

Endeavour bathed in xenon lights, the night before the first launch attempt.<\/p><\/div>\n

The skies are clear, the capricious winds are calm, ocean waves lap gently at the beach. \u00a0The madding crowds have departed, an estimated 750,000 had descended on Cocoa Beach and Titusville to see one last launch. \u00a0Gone are the lightning storms<\/a> and wildfires of the last few days, remnants of the extreme weather that ravaged swaths of the United States. \u00a0Flying conditions are perfect, but space shuttle Endeavour, awaiting her 25th and final launch as STS-134, sits grounded at Launch Complex 39A. \u00a0Hydraulic heater lines have failed, pointing to possible larger issues, so launch has been scrubbed for over two weeks. \u00a0The graceful lines of her delta wings stare purposefully skyward, but pyrotechnic bolts leash her firmly to terra firma.<\/p>\n

All in a days work in the complex business of space travel, but utter hell to the throngs of media who have assembled to bear witness to the penultimate flight of the space shuttle program<\/a>. \u00a0Many have travelled far to report on a shuttle launch close up, but a week’s worth of delay (or two) wreaks havoc with airline schedules. \u00a0I drove over 2000 kilometres from Toronto to the Kennedy Space Centrer, only to find myself faced with the dilemma that so many now face: \u00a0pack up and go home, or wait it out?<\/p>\n

An incomparable\u00a0experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A space shuttle launch, of which now only two remain, is an incomparable experience. \u00a0The entirety of the US manned space program, the efforts of billions of dollars and thousands of people, focuses on one single moment. \u00a0Like the Olympics, people have worked and trained for years for their few seconds of glory. \u00a0In the case of the space shuttle ascent to orbit takes about eight minutes, but to the unaided eye it’s all over in about sixty seconds. \u00a0From the VIP viewing sites the ground shakes, the air roars<\/a>, and on columns of fire as bright as the sun the shuttle rises into the air<\/a>, accelerating at a rate that would make any Ferrari blush. \u00a0At launch a shuttle consumes over 20,000 lbs of fuel every second<\/em>, in a finely tuned and orchestrated ballet of engineering that has no equal. \u00a0It’s truly awe inspiring, and even the best photography or video doesn’t do it justice.<\/p>\n

\"LeVar<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Wildfire<\/a><\/p>\n

\"STS-134<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Endeavour<\/a><\/p>\n

From left to right: \u00a0LeVar Burton, Geordi La Forge of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, works the cameras at the base of the launch pad, wildfires burn near the press site at Kennedy Space Centre, a carefully placed remote camera stares up at the launch pad before its protective enclosure is put in place, and Endeavour’s flag flies proudly above the launch pad.<\/em><\/p>\n

So here I am waiting it out, a photographer trying to document the final launches of a program that helped shape my childhood. \u00a0Didn’t everybody have copies of Space Technology <\/em>and The Space Shuttle Operators Manual<\/a><\/em> on their bookshelves next to Where The Wild Things Are<\/em> and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory?<\/em><\/p>\n

US President Barack Obama was here, so too was Robot Chicken creator Seth Green. \u00a0About as unlikely a contrast as you’re likely to encounter, but there you have it. \u00a0People have lived for three decades with the space shuttle program, arguably so successful that it became routine. \u00a0But now it’s over<\/em>, and there’s nothing to replace it. \u00a0So people are coming out in droves once again to view the spectacle of humans riding fire.<\/p>\n

For us long-distance photographers, the pain of the delay is doubled. \u00a0Months of thinking and planning camera angles and framing, thousands of miles of driving, 20-hour days of schlepping camera gear through swamps and security checks. \u00a0Carefully crafted rigs keep cameras dry in inclement weather, special batteries keep intervalometers running, everybody has a homegrown solution to the problem of leaving a camera unattended for days around a launch. \u00a0But all is for naught when a launch is scrubbed.<\/p>\n

Slumming it in Cocoa Beach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Launch scrubs generally require one thing: \u00a0time, and lots of it. \u00a0Before any work can be done on an orbiter at the pad, the vehicle has to be ‘safed’, and the massive External Tank (ET) has to be drained of all volatile gases and purged with inert nitrogen. \u00a0In Endeavour’s case, Aft Load Control Assembly 2 (ALCA-2) was deemed to be the cause of the problem. \u00a0Like a glorified fuse box, an element that feeds power to heaters for hydraulic system fuel lines had burnt out. \u00a0ALCA-2 had to be removed, the cause of the short circuit tracked down, a replacement box put back in, and all<\/em> of the systems downstream of that box had to be retested.<\/p>\n

So, with remote cameras pulled from the field and the next launch attempt still days away, there’s not much to do except explore. \u00a0Kennedy Space Center<\/a> is surrounded by parks and wildlife refuges, a seemingly inexhaustible supply of places to visit. \u00a0The\u00a0Merritt Island<\/a> and Archie Carr<\/a> National Wildlife Refuges are big draws for tourists and photographers alike:<\/p>\n

\"American<\/a>\"Brown<\/a>\"Softshell<\/a>
\n Above, left to right: an American white ibis wades in the waters of Merritt Island, a brown anole and a softshell turtle on the Maritime Hammock trail of the Archie Carr refuge.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Below, left to right: \u00a0a 2-metre long rat snake basks in the sun on Merritt Island, a dragonfly and submerged American alligator in the Archie Carr refuge.<\/em>
\n\"Rat<\/a>\"Dragonfly,<\/a>\"Submerged<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, the area’s primary industries are military and space-related. The \u00a0Kennedy Space Center headlines the bill of course, but Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base are massive, and military overflights are common. \u00a0A wonderful place to view this strange confluence of military, space, and nature is Jetty Park<\/a>. \u00a0Dolphins, sea turtles, and pelicans mix it up with beachgoers, nuclear submarines, and rocket launches. \u00a0Located at the north end of the city of Cape Canaveral, just south of the space centre, it’s one of the closest places that the public can view launches from. \u00a0There’s a lot more than just wildlife in the Cocoa Beach area:<\/p>\n

\"Space<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nuclear<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Atlas<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Launch<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Above, left to right: \u00a0underneath space shuttle Discovery in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), a nuclear attack submarine heads to sea and an Atlas V launch as seen from Jetty Park, and a tour of the Kennedy Space Centre reveals a launch countdown sign with the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in the background.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

For now, NASA has rescheduled Endeavour’s final launch for May 16th. \u00a0The crew (commanded by Mark Kelly, husband of wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords) arrive back at the Cape in their T-38s on May 12th, and soon the launch countdown will begin anew. \u00a0Remote cameras will once again be security checked and painstakingly set up around the launch pad, and the ET will be fueled for launch. \u00a0Long-range forecasts show lines of thunderstorms descending on the Cape, but launch is still over five days away. \u00a0It would be easy to throw in the towel, to succumb to the idea that launch within a reasonable timeframe is an impossibility and pack up and head home. \u00a0After all, the previous launch — space shuttle Discovery, STS-133 — was delayed by over three months<\/em> because of various leaks and major problems with the ET. \u00a0But if there was one thing that characterized NASA’s early space programs, it was hope: \u00a0charting courses into the unknown held no guarantees. \u00a0Yet, somehow, it always worked out. \u00a0If Endeavour can channel just a little bit of that early bravado, she just might be ‘go’ for her final launch on the 16th.<\/p>\n

Godspeed, Endeavour.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

All photographs by Sean Tamblyn<\/a>. Sources: NASA<\/a>, Wikipedia<\/a>, Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program<\/a>, Spaceflight Now<\/a>, NASASpaceFlight.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beautiful weather never looked so bad. The skies are clear, the capricious winds are calm, ocean waves lap gently at the beach. \u00a0The madding crowds have departed, an estimated 750,000 had descended on Cocoa Beach and Titusville to see one last launch. \u00a0Gone are the lightning storms and wildfires of the last few days, remnants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[111,253],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/7879-Endeavour-Xenon_web.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p12lm4-yq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2214,"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions\/2214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seantamblyn.com\/lagoonreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}