Posts: 42986
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-13-2005 07:08 PM               

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As we won't have any launch pics to share with you tonight I thought I'd post a few shots I took from around the Kennedy Space Center press site...

Former NASA Astronaut Tom Jones arrives at the press site at the beginning of the day to provide commentary for Fox News.

Matt Laurer, sitting on the roof of the NBC News Building, hosts The Today Show from KSC.

Anchor and space beat reporter Miles O'Brien films a segment for CNN.

Posts: 42986
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-13-2005 07:15 PM               

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After the scrub was announced, a group of Congressmen joined NASA Administrator Mike Griffin for an impromptu press conference. Notable in this photograph: John Glenn, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Kay Hutchinson, Sen. Bill Nelson, Rep. Dave Weldon, and Rep. Tom Delay.

Also present but not appearing with the others in the auditorium was Sen. and 2004 Presidential Candidate John Kerry.

Posts: 781
From: California
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 07-13-2005 08:39 PM               

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Great pictures Robert ...

I wonder what Kerry has to say, or how can he improve, our Space Program ...

Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 07-13-2005 09:25 PM               

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Awesome photo essay. I thank you Robert.

Garry

Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002

Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 07-13-2005 10:41 PM               

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You have a fun job, Robert!
Thanks

Tahir

Posts: 861
From: Virginia
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 07-14-2005 05:53 AM               

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It's great to see how far the press site has come since the days of Alan Shepard's first launch when Walter Cronkite had to sit in the back of a station wagon to report.

Robert, you ought to give us a shot of you sitting in the back of your PT Cruiser! One day cSpace might have a spread like NBC's...

Noah

Posts: 42986
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-14-2005 07:56 AM               

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My Cruiser is back in Houston. I have a rental car here, but until today couldn't freely drive it on site. Getting to the press site required being bussed in for security reasons.

My "space" at the site is a 3x3 workstation inside a grey trailer called the Joint Industries Press Center or JIPC (pronounced "gypsy"). I share it with about 50 other reporters, though it wasn't until just before launch time yesterday that most were seated all at one time.

For a good (and humorous) description of the press site layout and the media hierarchy, check out Alan Boyle's MSNBC Cosmic Log entry for the day before the launch: Guide to the shuttlesphere

Every job has its ups and downs. While I won't go so far to say this one hasn't been a great experience, there are certainly some drawbacks. I caught a cold almost immediately upon arriving last Saturday; I've been bitten by more mosquitos than I have had my entire life; until last night, I hadn't slept more than six hours for the four days combined (I pulled an unavoidable all-niter from Tuesday to Wednesday); and on Tuesday night I broke a toe. Was it worth it? Yes, though I'm fairly certain I would be less aware of my sinuses, itches and pain had we witnessed a launch yesterday.

Posts: 503
From: Highland Heights, KY
Registered: Feb 2003

posted 07-14-2005 01:00 PM               

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thanks for the photo report Robert! Nice to get a behind the scenes look. Didnt know you were also a fellow PT Cruiser enthusiast. Hope your ailments get better.

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Evan

Posts: 268
From: Portsmouth, England
Registered: Sep 2004

posted 07-14-2005 03:51 PM            

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Thanks for the great pics Robert. These are the sort of shots that we NEVER get to see back in the U.K.

If my memory serves me correctly (and it may not!) there was a launch delay on Apollo 17, also caused by a problem with some sort of fuel level sensor readout. I think that was sorted out very simply by overriding the computer. Those were the days!! Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Posts: 147
From: MD
Registered: Feb 2003

posted 07-14-2005 04:34 PM            

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Oldie, you prompted me to dig out an audio tape I made while watching Apollo 17 from the banks of the Indian River in Titusville. You're close....it was a situation where the terminal sequencer didn't recognized that the S-IVB stage had been pressurized, so they overrode it on the next try a few hours later. Wow...listening to that old tape...the announcer on someone's nearby radio absolutely going nuts at the sight. It was beautiful.

Bill

Posts: 861
From: Virginia
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 07-14-2005 05:16 PM               

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A broken toe in a crowded room full of reporters... is that anything like a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs?

Noah

Posts: 1405
From: Huntington Beach
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 07-14-2005 06:16 PM               

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I read an article by Larry Margasak in the Washington Post today. Taxpayers spent $73,000 flying 44 members of Congress down to view the scrubbed launch yesterday.

I thought I saw one of my senators in the background of Robert's picture up above. I hope we can count on some money for NASA out of this little one day round trip.
I am sure they didn't just go down for the fun of it!

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Kind Regards

Douglas Henry

Enjoy yourself and have fun.... it is only a hobby!
http://home.earthlink.net/~aztecdoug/

Posts: 2896
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 07-14-2005 06:30 PM               

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Oldie-

Your post brought back memories. When the delay in the countdown happened during Apollo 17 I was such an excited 16 yr old that I blurted out loud, "But they have to go tonight, we're going home tomorrow!"

Luckily they did.

My Dad enjoyed retelling that story for years.

Tim

Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 07-15-2005 11:22 AM               

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Curiousity. . . what camera are you using Rob? Just awesome results.

Garry

Posts: 42986
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999