LaunchRats After Wayward, and Inspiration4 viewing advice.
I think this is my first actual posting to the site, because the only other thing on here that’s mine, was sent as a Google Doc (to bennu and back, happy 5th anniversary OSIRIS-REx).
I’m trying to pick up all the pieces that Wayward left behind. I’ve been cleaning and rearranging the house, went through and donated a lot of their stuff, and I’ve tried here and there to poke at this site, without knowing much at all about how websites work.
A few weeks ago I updated the sidebar, which I have no clue how I did. But I’m writing this post to say first and foremost that I finally figured out how to update the contact form. Up until this point, all submissions on the Contact Us page were being sent directly to Wayward’s inbox, which meant I had to boot up their old computer to check for them.
I’m happy to report those now point towards the Team email which means they should be accessible to me, and any future folk who join me here. In the meantime, I’m sorry that I missed a handful of inquiries, though it seemed like a lot of the form submissions were just spam.
So, let’s talk Inspiration4.
I won’t mince words, Florida is a COVID cesspit right now, DO NOT TRAVEL HERE FROM OUT OF STATE. No launch is worth it, not even this one. Even if you’re traveling within the state, be careful. I don’t recall how much of a hotspot Brevard County is, but I’m sure it’s no different from the rest of Florida.
This launch has a Netflix deal. It should be no trouble watching it from home, with far better coverage than most launches get these days. It has John Kraus covering it for photography, it has the local space media being all but frozen out of coverage in favor of major media outlet exclusives like said Netflix deal.
For better or worse, you’ll probably have a better time watching from home. They’re saying this has a 24 hour window? The longest window I can remember was the Falcon Heavy Demo Flight in 2018, and that was only from something like 10am to 4pm. It used that entire window, launching at 3:45 PM that day. And let me tell you, it was a great day, but not a great time. By the end of it, my traveling companions were lobsters from not using sunscreen, and I still got burnt even though I was.
Your options are the $250 Feel the Heat package from the Kennedy Space Center, but I don’t know how that works with a 24 hour window, are they gonna keep people there for the whole attempt, or, what?
Given half of the launch window is during the night, Playalinda Beach is already likely to be off the table. But even so, we don’t know whether they’ll open it at all during the day, they have recently been closing it for launches from 39A.
So for the most part, the options are the same as always, in that they’re “pick a park along US1 and see if it’s open/full.”
If you do visit, please wear your mask and be courteous to those around you with social distancing. I don’t imagine we’ll be getting Falcon Heavy crowds, considering the Feel the Heat package doesn’t even appear to be sold out with less than a week to launch.
Take care,
Lupi.