News & Updates

Artemis I, Take Two

posted on 31st August, 2022 11:14 am by

Lessons from the first flight attempt.

This post is going to serve as addendum to the original post, so make sure you’ve read that.

As I’m writing this, it’s now Wednesday. Artemis I’s first launch attempt on the 29th has come and gone with a handful of teething issues culminating in a scrub being called, and last night NASA announced the date and time for the second attempt: Saturday, September 3rd, with a window spanning from 2:17 PM to 4:17 PM local time.

As NASA spent Monday gathering data on the vehicle, so too did we. Sunday afternoon I went on a bike ride from my home all the way down to where FL-50 meets US1, exploring the extent to which people had already descended upon Titusville for the launch, and documenting it in a twitter thread. In the wake of the scrub, I once again took to twitter to poll our followers on what the experience was like, when their spot filled up, and how bad exit traffic was.

Together, this data started to point out some trends, and confirmed some patterns I’d observed at launches that were far less heavily attended. I’ll get into that here shortly, but first, just a rapid-fire update on some viewing options.

Staying Home is Still a Solid Option

My home internet went out on Friday afternoon and wasn’t restored until Tuesday, but when I got it back I started watching some of the replay coverage from Everyday Astronaut and NASASpaceflight, and they all knocked it out of the park. I’m sure NASA’s in-house coverage was great too, but I haven’t looked at it in any depth.

The livestreams have access to SO MANY camera views, cameras placed all across the pads, looking at the engines, mounted on the lightning towers, there are so many things you can’t see through a pair of binoculars from 10 miles away.

Having seen how well some of the coverage was handled, I’m all the more confident in recommending, especially in the face of this continued pandemic, that you stay in. This of course doesn’t really mean much to folk who are already here in their hotels, their rentals, campers, et cetera, but if you weren’t already here and were thinking of coming down for the second attempt, just know it’s going to be even crazier, and you might just enjoy the home coverage more than the hassle.

Lightning Round of Launch Viewing Updates

The Kennedy Space Center Visitors’ Complex has confirmed that any viewing tickets purchased for the attempt on the 29th are still valid for Saturday, as was outlined in their scrub policy at the time of purchase. If you’re planning on going back to KSC, your ticket will still be valid. They have also made additional Main Center Viewing tickets available in a limited capacity.

Star*Fleet Tours has opened up tickets again, which are selling as fast as you might expect. Already they’ve started to fill the second of three potential large boats.

Brevard County’s myriad parks will be available as always. The parks department presently does not plan to leave the parks open overnight on Friday for Saturday’s attempt, as Saturday’s attempt is well into the afternoon.

The Canaveral Port Authority has released their revised plan for Port Canaveral and Jetty Park. Jetty Park will open at 7:00 AM as normal, and close when it reaches capacity. Port Canaveral remains unchanged, there will be no launch parking available, with all parking reserved for cruises, Cove patrons (Star*Fleet tours included), and private events.

A lot of the same advice applies from the previous article. Playalinda will be closed, as will the Observation Deck downtown atop Beachwave. Port Canaveral will be restricting parking, as will the Titusville Mall, as both are being used as staging grounds to bus VIPs from NASA and contractors onto base.

Lessons Learned

Artemis I was a surprise for me in many ways. I hadn’t been in town for a major launch since moving here, DM-2 was a month before I moved in, and before that I was only a tourist for Falcon Heavy, when Wayward had just started this site. Even knowing roughly how many people were expected to be in town, and having fielded more viewing inquiries in the past month than the rest of 2022, I was far too generous in some of my estimates.

I knew Kirk Point was going to fill up early, I wasn’t expecting “more than 12 hours before launch” early. I wasn’t expecting some of the odd things I saw that evening at all. But they all make some sorta sense, so let’s go through it.

As far as Titusville goes, most of the early arrivals were concentrated around the intersection of FL-50 and US1. This makes a decent bit of sense, 50 is one of the main roads between Orlando and Titusville, Colonial Drive/Cheney Hwy/etc, and it spits you out right at the river. It also crosses I-95, allowing for easy access from the north and south alike. From there, it looks like traffic and camping out was biased northwards, with parks like Kennedy Point just south of 50 taking until after midnight to fill up.

The other hot spot was Space View Park, whose parking was full by 10pm, as was all the street parking near to it on Broad, Orange, Washington, and Hopkins. That makes sense, Space View is fairly well known as a spot to go.

The most substantial observation from Sunday and from Twitter is how quickly things fell off with distance and convenience.
The south end of Rotary Riverfront park with the unobstructed view filled up well within daylight on Sunday, but it took until well into the night for the north end by McDonalds to fill up. A condo tower blocked easy viewing, and folk passed over it or paid 40 dollars to park somewhere closer rather than park for free and walk a few hundred feet south.
Space View and the surrounding street parking were full by 11, but Sand Point and Marina Park were empty until well into the early hours of the morning.
The takeaway here I guess, don’t be afraid to park somewhere slightly worse and walk, the convenient parking fills fast, and in some cases the paid parking filled before the free spots if the free spots meant someone needed to walk.

Another matter of note was the extent to which businesses were offering paid overnight parking. I don’t know if we’ll see that again today, because those businesses will be open for normal hours on those days given it’s an afternoon launch.
However, I also saw a lot of folk who own vacant land along the river or near to parks selling parking, like the riverfront land between 50 and Kirk Point, and the big empty lot running along Broad Street downtown. That’ll probably be out in force again, but only time will tell.

The Calm Before the Storm

Overall, Artemis I, Attempt I, seemed to be more mellow than a lot of local folks (and businesses) were expecting. It had its crazy spots, like where 50 met US1, but asking around on Twitter and at businesses like the Cocoa Beach Pier and some places in Downtown Titusville, everyone said it wasn’t as bad as they thought it’d be.
They attributed that to a couple things: I was 8:30 AM on a Monday morning, and for a lot of the country school was already back in session. That made it less convenient for a lot of people to drop everything and come down.

That won’t be the case this weekend. Not only will Attempt II be on a Saturday afternoon, it’s a Saturday afternoon on Labor Day Weekend. And the final attempt of the launch period will be on Monday, still part of that holiday weekend.
That’s going to enable a great many people to make the trip who wouldn’t otherwise, whether they daytrip down or get a hotel somewhere nearby like Daytona. I think they already had the race last weekend, so that leaves a whole lot of hotel space free up there.
On top of that, Cocoa Beach has a surf competition on labor day weekend every year. I don’t know how many people that brings into town, but between that and late-season beach trips it’ll be crazy.

What Should You Do?

Get here early. Twice as early as you were planning on, if not more. In every email inquiry I’ve answered so far, I’ve said to arrive no later than sunrise. None of the parks will likely be open before sunrise, at least those which can be gated off. If they aren’t gated off, their bathrooms and such certainly won’t be open.

Take heed of the traffic flow I mentioned. Sail right on past 50, don’t be afraid to head north towards Titusville or south towards the 528. There are parks to either side that took well into the night to fill, because most people tried to jam in at 50 and US1.

If you’re able to walk a distance, find a place where you can park and walk. The parking spots taken first were the ones that were most convenient to a viewing spot, and places where you couldn’t see the rocket like Rotary Riverfront North took ages to fill where just a few blocks down people were charging 40 bucks a car.

Expect pandemonium whether it launches or scrubs. Traffic after Monday’s attempt was mild, it won’t be on Saturday. Stay where you are for a while, crank the AC and relax. Don’t try to leave in a hurry, you’ll just frustrate yourself in traffic.

One Final Note

I wanted to extend my thanks to everyone that sent tips, pledged to the Patreon, or bought photos after my request in the first Artemis I article. Y’all made it so I didn’t have to struggle for rent this month, and I even had enough left over to handle a few emergencies, like when I was out on Sunday afternoon for my survey ride and needed something to eat. I would’ve tried to make it home on an empty stomach but I didn’t have to, thanks to y’all.

Thanks for all the support, kind words, and for helping me stick around help you with your launch viewing journeys.

Safe travels,
Lupi.

EDIT HISTORY:
1/sept: conclusion paragraph, notes on it being labor day weekend now.
1/sept (again): general updates on the parks, port canaveral, and star*fleet