Author
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Topic: How would you spend the night before launch?
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ASCAN1984 Member Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 01-15-2015 04:03 PM
Hypothetically, if you were going to launch the next day into space how do you imagine you would choose to spend the night before your liftoff?
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Greggy_D Member Posts: 977 From: Michigan Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 01-15-2015 04:03 PM
Not sleeping. |
p51 Member Posts: 1642 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 01-15-2015 04:10 PM
Yeah, what Greg said.In the Army, I never slept well the night before going to the field or hopping on a plane going on a deployment (though that's because the manifest call for any military flight was always about midnight or 0100, regardless when the plane was actually going to leave the ground). Usually, I'd just stay up all night going through my gear to make sure I had everything, or going back through my tactical stuff to make sure it didn't make a lot of noise. Me standing in my living room, wearing sweats and jumping up and down in my full 'battle rattle' to make sure I wouldn't make a lot of noise on the run, would have been an odd sight had anyone been there to see it. That, and I'd be going through equipment and people rosters to be sure I knew who and what was going with me and if I'd forgotten anything. Most of those times, I'd be in command so the buck always stopped with me if anything went wrong... Going to space? Heck, the person who was supposed to wake the crew probably would have gotten THEIR wake-up knock on the door from me, while asking, "Come on, I'm ready to go, why aren't you?" I'm sure my night before a launch would have been spent going through mission briefs, cue cards and flow charts, as well as going through any sequences of switches I'd need for whatever the first part of the mission was for me. |
Greggy_D Member Posts: 977 From: Michigan Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 01-15-2015 06:23 PM
If you peruse the JSC Oral Histories, you'll see a decent number of astronauts took a sleeping pill the night before their launch.Even though I am anti-pharmaceutical, part of me can't blame them. Heck... as a 14-year-old I couldn't sleep the night before the first day of Space Camp back in 1984. |
MCroft04 Member Posts: 1634 From: Smithfield, Me, USA Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 01-15-2015 09:32 PM
I'd spend that night being very PROUD! After all, it could be the last night to feel anything |
Ronpur Member Posts: 1211 From: Brandon, Fl Registered: May 2012
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posted 01-16-2015 04:03 PM
I can barely sleep now when there is a launch the next day! I can't imagine what I would be like if I was going! |
Wehaveliftoff Member Posts: 2343 From: Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 01-16-2015 08:27 PM
I would very much sleep with someone and have a rough night at that, don't know about protocols or whatever, but have the finer things in LIFE is how I'd "spend the night" if I could really actually choose. |
Astro Rich Member Posts: 133 From: Huntsville, Alabama Registered: Feb 2014
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posted 01-16-2015 09:14 PM
I would spend the evening with my wife at the beach house. We would take a walk on the beach, and look at my ride lit up in the distance. I would then return to the crew quarters, pack my things, and get some sleep. The day I have dreamed about my entire life is 18 hours away. |
Blackarrow Member Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 01-17-2015 09:08 AM
Surely the best thing to be thinking as you drift off to sleep is "I hope it goes as well as my previous dozen launches"? |
Tesla619 Member Posts: 39 From: San Marcos, CA Registered: May 2014
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posted 01-25-2015 12:48 AM
In a documentary with Neil Armstrong, he had stated no one got sleep the night before launch. But I would sleep, prior to that fly my RC airplanes and eat pizza. |
moorouge Member Posts: 2454 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 01-25-2015 01:20 PM
Probably on my knees quoting that illustrious astronaut Jose Jiminez and saying, "Ooooh! I hope not." |