Tuesday was launch day. In the morning Mom and Rosalyn went to meet their bus and I loaded up with the rest of the families. We again went to the launch control center to wait. The weather was absolutely beautiful today. There was no chance that there was going to be a weather hold. And, the sensor problem which caused the launch delay before was not repeating itself. Somehow you could just tell that we were going to be able to get the Shuttle off the ground today.

Just before the liftoff time, we went up onto the roof of the launch control center. There is no good way to adequately describe a launch. Even if you see footage of it on television, it does not come close to how a live launch truly is. There is such power and magnificence. I stood on the roof and listened to the countdown activities. A few seconds before T-0 the main engines are started. When this happens, there is a flood of steam that comes off the launch pad. The steam comes from the engines as well as the water that is flooded on to the pad in order to keep it cooled. This water also is used to dampen the sound waves so the launch pad does not shake apart. Finally the solid rocket motors are lit and the Shuttle roars into the sky. It takes awhile for the sound to fully reach across the three miles where we are. When it finally gets to you, the sound is so rumbling and loud you can feel the vibrations in your body. I could also feel the roof of the building vibrating. We could see the Shuttle for several minutes after the launch; then it finally got too small to see. It is just so amazing.

When we could no longer see the Shuttle we went back inside. It turns out that Laura Bush had attended the launch and she wanted to meet the crew's families. We waited for her in a conference room. It was not too long before she came in accompanied by the expected entourage. She stood for pictures with each of the families and chit-chatted with us for awhile. It was pretty neat. She is very personable. Along with Ms. Bush was Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, his wife and his daughter. He was really funny - very chatty. He stayed talking with us after everyone else had left. When he realized that everyone in the entourage was gone, he made a comment about how he better hurry off. He joked that had he been there, he knew his brother would leave him behind. . .

After about an hour or so, half of the families, including myself, got on one of the NASA planes and headed back to Houston. The rest of the families will be returning tomorrow. It was strange being back at home so quickly after the launch, but it was just as well as I had an evaluation on Wednesday to prepare for.

Wednesday morning I did some desk work and then finished studying for my evaluated class in the afternoon. The single systems trainer class was on malfunctions in the Shuttle computers during the on-orbit phase of flight. Thankfully, it was not too taxing of a class. The lesson ended up being more designed to familiarize one with the complicated procedures dealing with computer failures rather than rapid-fire testing of recognitions of failure signatures. Whew!

Thursday turned out to be a full day. I first had a class on some of the programs that are on the Shuttle laptops. You will recall that unlike the Station laptops, the Shuttle laptops do not do any controlling of the Shuttle systems. However, they can still be connected to the telemetry system on the Shuttle. This allows various programs to utilize real-time data. There are programs that do everything from providing information to assist in a rendezvous to programs that will help you sort out a contingency landing site should you have to leave orbit in short order and cannot talk to the ground.

Following the Shuttle class I had a class on the electrical system of the Station. This one was an introduction to the commanding and telemetry of said system. I was to go flying after this class, but I cancelled. My sinuses were acting up and I did not see any reason to make myself miserable (or make things worse). Finally, I had a late night class on malfunctions in the hardware that makes up the local area network on the Station, i.e., malfunction in the laptops, routers, file servers, and printers. It was a hands-on class in the full up Station simulator. Even though the class was very late in the day (it was over about 8:00 p.m.), it was quite enjoyable. It was fun to try and psych out what was wrong with the equipment and what needed to be done to fix it.

On Friday morning I had a four hour simulation in the full up motion simulator. The class was the second of two familiarization classes on Shuttle aborts. We worked the procedures for all the remaining abort scenarios that we did not work in the first familiarization class two weeks ago. In the afternoon I jumped into a review class in one of the single system trainers for the main propulsion system. I was not scheduled for this lesson, but I was able to sit in on it anyway. The purpose of this refresher was to go over the highlights of the main engine system as well as to work through some of the malfunction procedures. We have qualification exams starting in about two weeks (yikes!) and the main propulsion system will be the first one that I am tested on.

At the very end of the day I was supposed to have my mastery evaluation on the Station's communication systems. However, the training folks were not able to support the class, so it was cancelled. I will probably end up having the evaluation next week. With Andy in orbit, I plan to spend the weekend studying. I am going to try and get ahead since I have the Shuttle qualifications coming up. I think that they are going to be pretty challenging.

You may be wondering how the Shuttle flight is going. I have to admit, it is not easy to keep up with what is going on. The crew day basically starts about the time I need to be going to bed. Since I have my regular class schedule, I cannot stay up late to watch NASA TV. So, I miss most of the activities as they occur. But, I am able to watch the NASA flight day highlights and the press briefings in the early evening before I leave work. From what I can tell, things are going quite well, in spite of what the press is reporting. The crew is getting all their tasks done and the ground is evaluating the launch video and pictures according to the preflight plans.