Glory Launch Delay

Sometimes, things just don’t go as planned. Such has been the case with NASA’s Glory mission throughout its long development cycle. Throughout the 7 years that I have worked on the project, the setbacks have been formidable but somehow the team of dedicated people have overcome the odds. The mission was finally scheduled to launch on February 23, 2010 at 2:09am PST and hoards of Glory faithful made the trek across the country by car and plane with their friends, families, and even their dogs (yup, that was my River dog!). We piled onto 6 tour buses in the town of Buellton, CA at 12:30am and slowly made our way over to the golf course viewing area on Vandenberg AFB by 1:48am. The California air was chilly, but the sky was exceptionally clear and the air was calm- perfect conditions for a night launch. The excitement was palpable as the final minutes faded away prior to the big launch. Folks stirred nervously, snapped off photos of friends and colleagues, and kept an eye and ear on the NASA launch tv’s that were distributed about the area. With only 7 minutes left before the critical, 48-second-long launch window at 2:09am, the NASA launch reporter delivered the disappointing news- there was an issue with the launch abort system and the launch had been scrubbed until the next reasonable opportunity. Collective disappointment is a powerful force. But so is sleepiness. The hundreds of NASA pilgrims made their way back to the chartered buses with heads held low. Another day they said. Perhaps as early as the following night. But as the next day’s news was relayed among the parties, it became clear that the launch would not be occurring for another week due to the technical issues and a poor weather forecast. More disappointment. But that’s not the same thing as failure. We all scattered from Buellton- some to flights out of Santa Barbara, some to Disneyland, and myself to new vacation adventures. But regardless of the letdown, we all knew that patience and Glory go hand-in-hand and that success can’t always be rushed.

Besides, even though things don’t go as planned, they can still provide a context for something else worthwhile. In this case, I had a wonderful reason to pack up my 4Runner with River dog, camping gear, my bike, and my kayak and head for the California Central Coast for some February R&R! More on that in another post…