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When I heard the two sets of twin sonic booms (four in all) as the rockets touched down on their respective pads, I couldn't help but scream, "Holy shit!" They'd done it. But it was the sheer audacity of the twin booster landing that that transformed my joy into wonder. The launch of the Falcon Heavy was spectacular. A few minutes later, we spotted them: two flanking boosters in a perfectly synchronized descent. It was time to search the skies for the first stages returning to land.
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After it disappeared, we knew it wasn't over. We were united in our exhilaration.Īs we watched the Falcon Heavy ascend into the sky, we whispered under our breath for it to keep moving upward ("please don't explode"). I may have been standing in the middle of strangers, but I felt no embarrassment. As the rocket ascended, the emotion (and the years I'd been waiting for this launch to happen) hit me, and I started sobbing. It wasn't just a noise I could hear I felt the rumbling deep in my chest. It's hard to describe the color of the flames shooting out from the bottom of the rocket It looked like the brightest molten lava.Ī few seconds later, the sound hit those of us at the press site. It felt like the rocket was in slow motion, while simultaneously moving blazingly fast. A few seconds later, it started to move upward. Smoke billowed out from the bottom of the rocket as it began to lift off. Thirty seconds before launch, I called out the time to reporters who weren't listening in on the feed from Launch Control surprise rippled through the ranks that it was so close. As that clock ticked downward though, it became real.
#Flacon heavy launch update
Update your settings here, then reload the page to see it.Įveryone was excited, but still a little in disbelief. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Like the millennial reporters that we are, we turned to Twitter to express our frustration. Every time the launch clock reset, the entire room would groan in unison. Everyone was on edge, staring at the countdown clock in the press room, helpless to do anything. To make matters worse, the winds kept up and the time kept getting pushed back further. We were desperate, and the uncertainty was grueling. We expected launch delays (it was a test, after all), but that didn't stop the despair from setting in. They quickly delayed the scheduled launch time from 1:30 to 2 PM ET, with a launch window that extended to 4 PM ET. Elon Musk had specifically mentioned the wind concern the day before, so we all knew SpaceX was going to be conservative with launch conditions. However, the assembled journalists were soon greeted with unwelcome news: the high-level winds were out of bounds for the launch. I was optimistic when I arrived at the press site and settled down to work. The morning of the launch was a bright sunny day, and the always-crucial weather forecast looked favorable. You can disable notifications at any time in your settings menu. Was it worth it? Absolutely, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I have literally scheduled my life around this rocket launch. (I, thankfully, have very understanding friends.) I refused to make Thanksgiving or Christmas travel plans in 2017 because of the Falcon Heavy. I've spent the last year making tentative plans and warning my friends that I might have to cancel at the last minute if the rocket launch date was scheduled. It turns out, though, that the development of the rocket was much more difficult than anticipated, to the point where Elon Musk admitted to the press that the project was almost canceled three separate times.Īnd yet, I knew that if and when it did take off, I needed to be there to witness it.
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After all, the Falcon Heavy was supposed to take flight in the spring of 2016. It had gotten to the point where I didn't think the rocket launch would ever happen. I've followed the development of the Falcon Heavy since it was announced in 2011, and I was on the ground at Cape Canaveral to see the launch in person, about three miles away at NASA's press site. The buzz over SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket launch might have seemed to erupt out of nowhere, but for space enthusiasts, it was a long time coming.