I always intend to make guideposts more frequently, but outside of posts for specific, notable launches, it seems to be quarterly at best. 2022 was quite the whirlwind year, with Artemis I taking the stage on Pad 39B several times throughout the year for fit checks, wet dress, and launch attempts aplenty before its final, glorious, night-into-day launch.
There were of course, other notable missions, like Astra’s ill-fated pair of launches from Cape Canaveral, the return of Falcon Heavy with USSF-67, the long-awaited second test flight of Boeing’s Starliner crew vehicle, and a geopolitical upheaval that stands to give us more launches this year than even last year’s record-setting count of 57.
We’ll be averaging one launch a week from here on out if those numbers hold up, and that means at least one chance per week for folks to travel here to the Space Coast and see one for themselves! That’s not even considering the debut launch of Vulcan, the potential first flight of Dreamchaser, the long-awaited Psyche mission, and several more Falcon Heavies, all of which will no doubt draw folks to the river’s edge like nothing else!
Crew-6
I’ve been getting emails since the beginning of January asking about the Crew-6 flight, given how late in the night it’s slated to depart. In the past week, it has been delayed from its original launch date to February 27th at 1:45 AM local time. Night launches can be a bit obnoxious to watch, but they provide some unparalleled views of their own.
- Being a crewed launch, the KSC Visitors Complex will be offering paid viewing via their Feel The Heat package ($250/person), and as of this writing (Feb 23rd) those are still available. Feel The Heat is a great option if you’re up for it, it includes a 2-day ticket to the visitors center, a meal and souvenir, and you get to watch the launch from pretty much the closest place anyone in the public is allowed to be, at ~3 miles away from LC-39a.
- Barring that, the multiple public parks along US1 and the river in Brevard County are always kept open overnight for launch nights, and they continue to be a free and reliable place to enjoy a launch from. They’re further out, sure, but you’re still more than close enough for the sights and sound, as long as weather allows. Whether you choose to watch downtown from Space View, or point south like Manzo, Rotary Riverfront, or Kennedy Point, you’ll have a good time.
Wherever you’re watching from, it wouldn’t hurt to bring some water, maybe a folding chair, and some bug spray. If you’re watching from the mainland parks, pack some snacks. Most places in Titusville close around 9pm, so if you want a bite to eat that’s nicer than what you’d get from one of our few 24-hour convenience stores, you might wanna bring it with you. And if you choose to watch from Space View or other points downtown, when public parking fills up, the local food pantry generally offers paid parking from the Wells Fargo next door.
Arrive early (2-3 hours is usually plenty), get cozy, and generally enjoy the night!
Site Updates
Ever since I inherited it after Wayward’s passing, the goal has been to clean it up, make it a more useful guide, and get it to a position where I can approach local businesses and negotiate with them about placing ads on the site. Places I already know, and would recommend to folk anyhow. Restaurants in Port Canaveral, certain museums here on the mainland, etc. The goal would be to run some banner/sidebar ads, not necessarily sponsored content.
- A major part of that goal is redoing the map. Right now, as it’s implemented on google maps, we’re dependent on Google. And we’re dependent on a map built on a dead person’s google account, at that. I’ve had some help developing a new beta map using html, css, and some assets Wayward left behind, but it needs a bit of polishing, and I’d like to adjust it to use something like an xml file to put locations in, instead of having them hardcoded in the html.
- Additionally, like. I don’t mean to speak ill of those in the great beyond, but this website is organized like Wayward’s brain was, and jury-rigged to look like it was made in 2003. But with none of the parts that made a 2003 website good. It’s hard to navigate, there’s information here but it’s all in a tangle of tags with no easy navigation. I tried to turn on the navigation bar but whatever Wayward did to the wordpress theme makes it completely fail to work. I’d love to start writing content for the site, in fact I’ve had a bunch of photos of the parks from 528 north saved for just a purpose. But I don’t want to pour effort into that when anything I do is going to be buried in this layout.
In other news, I’ve largely spooled down Twitter because I didn’t realize how nice it was not using it until I took a break when A Certain Rich Individual Well Known To The Spaceflight Community decided to buy it because a college student told him “no” once. Without tweetdeck, the site’s reticent to show me message requests as it is. There’ve been times I’ve loaded up the app and it hasn’t even shown them as an option in the messages menu. That being said, I continue to answer inquiries there as I see them (which, even with the option checked to get twitter to send me emails about stuff happening on the launchrats account, isn’t very likely), so I’d just as soon recommend emailing me directly or via the contact form on the site. I get back as quickly as I’m able, hell, I was answering an inquiry while I was in the emergency room last weekend.
Personal Updates
I’ve had a fair bit going on behind the scenes, between the unending, fruitless job hunt, background work on the site here that’s not gone anywhere much (as mentioned above), and, most recently, getting hit by a car.
There’s really nothing to report on the job front. When I went home to be with my dying mother last may/june, the gas station I was working for put me on family medical leave. The day i got back, I was getting groceries because I’d had to throw a lot of shit out. I stop in at the gas station to get a drink, talk to my coworker, and they eavesdropped on the CCTV to hear me saying “I need a bit more time to settle in, and I might look around a bit in the process” to use that as justification for firing me. I can’t say I miss that job, but I do kinda miss having income, and the past nine or ten months without a job have been an intense strain on my finances and on my will to do anything. It’s to the point where I want to throw up every time I look at another online job app.
It sure doesn’t help that I got hit by a car a few weekends ago while I was out riding my bike, breaking my left shoulder and leaving me unable to really leave the house, since my only method of transportation is said bicycle. Unless I walk half an hour each way to the nearest bus stops, I’m stuck at home until April, or whenever the orthopedic surgeon says my clavicle is healed enough to use the bike again.
That’s a large part of why I want to get those site updates moving along, but as someone who is extremely uneducated and unskilled when it comes to computer programming, it is outside my ability to do on my own. I’ve gotten the occasional bit of assistance from friends, but that’s been infrequent at best.
I have a gofundme going to support me while i recover, and especially to cover medical bills and bike repairs, but if I get enough I’m putting it towards wiping out all the credit card debt i’ve accrued paying for groceries over the last two years. I might also put it towards hiring someone who knows How Website so that the work I want on LaunchRats actually gets done For Hire, rather than “when friends have time,” but I’m not sure.
Barring that, support is always welcome via my photo store or via Patreon. Now more than ever, I’d really appreciate it. Tips sent my way during Artemis 1’s first launch attempt allowed me to pay my bills for a month, which was an absolute dream.
Safe travels, and happy launches,
Lupi.