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"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -Morrow
"Take care of the minutes, and the hours and years will take care of themselves." -Anonymous
"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile." -F.P. Jones

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2006-07-04
go for launch!!!

02:41

Here I am, a last-minute replacement to work Orbit 1 ISO only through Flight Day 2 (day after launch) when the mission team takes over. So, if we launch today, I'm done. If we continue to slip, I work all the way through Friday.

Yesterday at work was like a ghost day. People were in the office at odd hours, still trying to maintain their sleep-shifted schedule. Everywhere, the whiteboard signs outside offices listed the locations of its occupants as "MCC for ULF1.1", "Working the mission" or simply "STS-121". The parking lot was strangely half-empty; far less than a typical workday, but more than a weekend or holiday.

It's been a while since we've slipped like this (okay, so it's been a while since we had a shuttle mission). Last year, STS-114/LF1 delayed from May to July, but once the astronauts were buckled in, they went. STS-113/11A, STS-112/9A - both lifted off ontime in the fall of 2002. Even ill-fated STS-107 launched on schedule.

We're all in a holding pattern, a maddening will-we-or-won't-we purgatory that only a day-by-day slip can cause. A week, a month - those we know how to handle. But having to prepare every day for a possible launch, that's frustrating. Limited to a maximum of fourteen consecutive workdays, and the mission spanning twelve, the question every day is, should I take today off? Some people have vacation plans at the end of July; launch could slip to right over that, forcing them to not go, and then we don't launch. Then there are the alternative timelines that we have to deal with, especially in the station world; activities in preparation for docking, which can only be done once STS-121 has lifted off.

The second Mission Management Team (MMT) meeting yesterday ended with a GO for launch today. I hope we do (and not just because it means I don't have to do Orbit 1 Thursday and Friday, but that is a bonus). It will be the first time that we launch on July 4th. What a birthday present for America!

(Oh, and by the way, happy belated Canada Day to my friends to the North.)

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