Find the Freighter!

Ahhhhh...SPRING! You gotta love it..sunny days, warming weather....but those nice days bring about the melting of a few feet of ice on the Great Lakes. And that ice from Lakes Michigan, Superior and Huron, all flows toward the Lake Erie right past my town! The last few years have brought few problems, but this year was another story. Last Saturday a freighter got stuck in the ice just short of where Lake Huron meets the St. Clair River. I guess it took an icebreaker and a tug to free it. So...we have had a LOT of activity here on the river with several tugs and ice breakers (even the big dog...the Mackinaw) in the area breaking apart the ice so it can flow downstream as to not interfere with the shipping lanes. This morning I heard that the icebreakers were providing escorts for up bound freighters, I had to work at 2 and thought this might be worthwhile to see...but I would be cutting it close! So, I played find the freighter...but before 2pm! My first stop was in Marysville next to the water treatment facility...I went out on this dock..it seemed pretty sturdy.







Looking down I saw LOTS of fairly large chucks of ice...this one was the size of a desk. Then I thought...this is not too smart...docks get ripped away from land every year during the ice floe..and you are on the dock...I certainly didn't want to fall in (especially with my camera) and be all soaked to the bone then be late to work!Somehow I don't think my boss would have understood...I retreated back to dry land! Much safer anyway.

Sarnia and its "chemical valley" across the river, even from yesterday the ice seems to be moving and breaking apart better.

Looking downstream....no I still don't see the freighter or its ice escort. But I did see the Coast Guard helicopter!

I took these as I was driving (slowly of course) on the road that parallels the river...see how the ice accumulates at the base of the docks..perhaps they may be lucky and next week the docks will still be there. Many a time have docks been hauled downstream along with the ice, that's sort of a strange sight seeing a bunch of wood entangled with an ice floe! I remember back in the early 80's there was a year that it was exceptionally bad.....my mom took be "ice watching", at that time I couldn't have been more bored! I am pretty sure I just napped! But....almost 30 years later here I am doing the same stupid stuff! Freaky! I guess that's the aging process for you! I am pretty sure though that

when my mom took photos she was smart enough to NOT take them from a moving vehicle, she had some sense!

No freighter here......hope that dock AND the boat stay put!

I stopped at the River Crab in St. Clair....but I did NOT get out and ACTUALLY LOOK because some other onlookers were shaking their heads and walking away...so I kept going down the road............WHEN all of a sudden I saw it through a break in the houses! YIKES! I parked my car...ran down a VERY steep driveway to a cottage....


to make it down to the river to see that the 690 foot Herbert C. Jackson had passed me. DARN! I guess I should have been patient and waited at the River Crab! POO! So, I found the freighter...the icebreaker had already turned around to assist another up bound ship....NOW I had to play the Race TO Work Game! I huffed and puffed as I attempted to run up the VERY steep driveway....by the time I got to my vehicle my lungs were seriously burning! I DID make it to work though (dry) with 5 minutes to spare! And a funny story to boot!

And this was a sunset at my house the following night! It was so pretty I just had to share it! I happened to get up and pass a window just in time to see the colors!

Find the Freighter, Part II

Today (March 28th) before work, I decided to go make a quick trip to the banks of the St. Clair River to the Bean Dock where I had information that the Coast Guard Ice Breaker, the Mackinaw, was docked overnight. Not knowing when she would set out for the journey back to Cheboygan I decided that it may be my only chance.

I was in luck! Still there....no one about, I guess they were either all sleeping in after more than a weeks worth of them battling the ice jam or they were off to church. I later found out that it left this afternoon...so I had been lucky to see her!







As you can see, the ice chunks are no longer causing major issues...the ferries are running regularly & the shipping season on the Great Lakes has begun. Across the river is Sarnia's "chemical valley".










That gangplank was sooooo inviting! I would have LOVED to get on that vessel! I probably would have died if I did & it left port!!! Yeeehhaah!
However, they were pretty smart....the area is VERY secured with really tall chain link fence & chains & locks securing the gate. I don't think it would be worth trespassing on federal property, I will just have to settle for taking a tour of the old Mackinaw that is now a museum up North.

Ice Jam 2010

I guess I was somewhat oblivious to the fact that we are having MAJOR ice problems on the St. Clair River. I guess I hadn't been near the water in a while and really didn't have a clue until there was an article in Sunday's paper about a freighter being stuck only a few miles north of the Blue Water Bridge & needed assistance from some ice breakers and tugs to move onward!









So, on Tuesday I decided to check it out! There were several ice breakers from the Coast Guard in the area, including the Mackinaw, but I didn't see any today. The most southern end of Lake Huron is just a mile or so north of the Blue Water Bridge shown here.












Across, the slushiness is one of the casino's across the border in Sarnia, Ontario. I guess I never realized it, but the ice floe actually makes a whooshing sound! The ice near shore by where I was happened to be stagnant, but 50+ feet out it was moving at a pretty good clip.








I'm glad I was on a concrete walkway, looks pretty cold to me!

Somewhere downriver, the cutters were working feverishly to bust up the floe as it headed toward them and the northbound freighters as the shipping season was just opened and everyone was antsy to get their filled freighters to port!

Launch of STS-130...Space Shuttle Endeavour..Take One

I was LUCKY to have found a spot! It was Saturday February 6th and I had just driven up to Titusville from Hollywood, Florida about 4pm. Since I had never been to see a shuttle launch I was not truly prepared for what to expect...I had been given some advice, its Saturday night, be there early. So..I was thinking launch was at 4:39am, scope out Titusville, head back to Best Western in Cocoa, sleep until midnight, get up, drive back to Titusville, see the launch, back to Cocoa to bed. I could not have been more wrong! At 12 hours before launch the town was PACKED! I mean, people in tents, on top of motor homes, bumper to bumper traffic! I freaked out! I had no plan B! I would HAVE to camp out! I raced back to Cocoa, checked in, grabbed a pillow, went thru McDonald's drive thru and sped back to Titusville. (I already purchased my midnight snack-how true that would be, earlier that day). Luckily, I found the next to last spot in a grassy area just as I had wheeled back into town. I figured God left that one for me! I thanked Him! I also thanked him for finding me a spot only 1/4 mile from a 24 hour Walgreens...I have a good bladder..but come on...12 hours?! And for the bargain price of $20! So, I started to "unpack" my alarm clock, fleece pants & top (it was going down to the low 30's), tripod, snacks, etc. I placed my tripod in an ideal spot in front of my right bumper next to Richard, no not Richard my GPS....Richard from Orlando area is an engineer for a major aerospace company. He was a very interesting guy, I only wish that I would have gotten his name or email...Richard if you're out there reading my blog...send me a comment with your email! Besides being interesting...he helped me to learn how to use manual settings on my camera to improve my photo's! This proved to be immensely helpful! Here looking across the Indian River we have the Vehicle Assembly Building to the right, a future launch structure in the middle, and if you enlarge the photo by double-clicking on it, launch pad 39A and Endeavour on the left!





The sunset was quite nice as many pelicans flew by, and the sky was perfectly clear, no "issues" at all! We were sittin' pretty....well for 10 more hours anyway. We passed the long hours of the evening chatting about different adventures that we had throughout our lives, outer space, UFO's, God, whatever came to mind. I think these were some of the most personal and deep conversations that I had ever had with anyone let alone a total stranger! Like I said, 12 hours, make the best of it. Richard was a brainiac! Quite possibly one of the most intelligent people I had ever met, by 2am literally my head started to hurt from all the deep thoughts! Anyway, he even makes his own telescopes using used military grade optics that are auctioned off! He even had an adapter so that he could screw his camera onto the telescope for a super zoom lens! He let me peer through the telescope throughout the night to look at the shuttle, Mars, Jupiter (I saw 3 of its moons), Saturn (yes I even saw the rings!), and the Orion Nebula! It was beyond cool! Now, whenever I look into the night sky, I am able to locate the constellation of Orion and I remember.....He even had a scope that was night-vision! I wish I had such toys! I was scanning the area around...looking for alligator eyes...thank God, I didn't see any! About midnight we walked to Walgreens to use the facilities...never have I been so happy to be in a store of the competition! It was midnight....snack time! I was also quite happy that I had thought to pack my fleece!
Sometime in the middle of the night, xenon's bathed Endeavour in bright light. I am thinking that might have been about the time that the 6 astronauts may have started loading into the shuttle.

About 2am, we mutually decided to return to our respective vehicles to get a little shut-eye. My shut-eye was not very rest full...A few minutes into my shallow slumber I was awakened my gram, gramps and a teenager, they stayed at waters edge on the outskirts of my left bumper, that was ok with me. To soon later, a family of four from Apopka crowded in between my rental car & Richard' s SUV. I would have been fine with this except the 2 teenage girls kept laughing and giggling in the 38 degree weather, and every time they giggled they would bump my little car and I would awaken. Once would have been fine, but every 2-3 minutes (remember my alarm clock was on my dash) of being awakened wore on my nerves. When 6 folks tried to come up on the other side, that was IT! I flung opened my doors and told them to MOVE OUT they were in my way! By this time it was 3:45 am and after 25-2 minute naps I was VERY cranky and figured I might as well get out in the cold and suffer there since I was not getting any sleep. The "Apopka's" had tried to be polite, asking where I was from, had I done this before, my name, stuff like that. Ordinarily I would have gladly enjoyed the conversation, but after 2 days of sleep deprivation and going on 22 hours of wake fullness, I was NOT in the mood...and unfortunately it showed. The next day I really felt bad about how rude and inhospitable I was to the Apopka's...Apopka's if you're out there...I am so sorry! I'm really not a mean crabby wench, and I hope you don't think all of us Michigander's are that cranky.

When I thought it couldn't get any worse, about 4:15am I turn to look to my left and some broad is SITTING on the HOOD OF MY RENTAL CAR! I exploded! She was rather unconcerned. I exploded again after she kept inching closer..and began kicking the legs of my tripod! THAT DID IT! After threatening her with my mag lite (which was now in my hand waving at her), she moved arms length away, and did not sit on my car either. Can you even imagine the kahones! I was NOT having a pleasant time! In fact, I was almost relieved when at 4:30am the launch was scrubbed due to the thick cloud cover that had rolled in only a few hours earlier. I envisioned my photo's being of the backs of people's heads! I mean come on..pay your dues. I would not have expected to get such a prime spot by arriving 1/2 hour before a launch when the others had been there for more than 12 hours. I envied those sitting atop their motor homes! Great view, no pushing, no unwanted guests, unobstructed shots!





As I left, at 5am, I noticed launch pad 39A aglow, astronauts probably disembarking. Perhaps tomorrow I will see what I have been waiting for....3rd time's a charm right? (counting last year's failed February attempt). I felt as if I had paid my dues over the last 12 hours and had earned the chance to see a liftoff, and the holy grail of lift off's at that....a night launch..... I would have to wait 23 hours to find out....until then, I had to concentrate on staying awake for another 2 hours to fight traffic to get to the hotel. yawn...

T-5.4.3.2.1...and Liftoff of the Space Shuttle Endeavour!

Monday, February 8, 2010....about 4am...this is not me taking a photo with my lens cap on, but rather looking out onto launch pad 39A awaiting the launch of STS-130...Endeavour to the International Space Station! HOW EXCITING! As Mission Control was getting "go" s from all of the stations, I gave myself a "go" after one last cleaning of my lens. I was here and it was GOING TO HAPPEN!!!! YAYYYYYYY! I couldn't hardly contain my enthusiasm, but that was the general consensus of the few dozen folks on the 2nd floor patio of Casa Coquina (my "home" for the next few days). I had thought earlier about returning to my spot from last night....but...all the hassle...the 38 degree night...the possibility of my rental car being sat upon...the pushy people....no bed...sigh...I felt that I could put up with having some power lines in my photo's to avoid all of the other hassles that came with getting a great photo.

At 4:14 am I was the first to spot with my binoculars

and shout out to the crowd..its lit (at least that's what I think I said...it was probably very high pitched and unintelligible but they got the point!).
I apologize for the lit bush in the foreground.. but at least the lights on the Mexican restaurant were OFF! Here directly in the middle you can see a lit up area...that's the lighting of the main engines just before the solid rocket boosters lifted Endeavour off the launch pad! I could have zoomed in...but never seeing a launch I was not sure exactly how fast the shuttle would race towards the sky, and what a shame it would be to cut it off! Besides, my main "goal" was the experience, not a photo essay. Remember you can double click the photo to see it better!


Here you can see the definite glow!

A millisecond later..it was as if the sun was coming up over the horizon!

I was a little surprised at the initial slowness, I expected it to be gone in a blink, not several seconds.

What an INCREDIBLE experience!

Endeavour Heading to Orbit

Here we see Endeavour shining bright like the morning Sun as it races thru the sky for its rendezvous with the International Space Station. The payload for STS-130 is Node 3 (or Tranquility) which will house equipment for life support and climate control and the cupola, which will give ISS inhabitants a panoramic view of Earth and docking spacecraft. This is the 24th trip into space for the newest member of the STS fleet, and will return in 13 days.






Right now, we are at about T + 45 seconds into launch, (no more than T+55seconds) and this is where I heard the first rumblings of the sound wave. I had expected a violent shaking and a very loud high pitched noise. But instead, it started as a very low, deep, rumble similar to rolling thunder in the distance. Over the next few seconds, it crescendoed into a very near and louder rumble that just kept going. Imagine a thunderstorm (but no lightening) very close, but the thunder lasts about 10-15 seconds, maybe even a bit longer.....that would describe it. I talked to a few people who were lucky enough to view it from the NASA Causeway and they described pops and whistles too. I did not hear any of that. But, they were 5 miles away from the launchpad, and in my spot in Titusville I was 12 miles away. Could make a significant difference.




It was a perfectly clear night with only a few scattered clouds, but I thought the clouds made it a little more interesting!

By now it was 4:15am and all 3 main engines were back up to full power and the shuttle burned noticeably brighter and ascend faster. It is said that at this time the solid rocket boosters are burning 11,000 pounds of propellant EVERY SECOND! and the main engines are requiring 1/2 TON of fuel from the main tank EVERY SECOND! AMAZING! It blows my mind to think that a little over 100 years ago, the Wright Brothers were experimenting with rudimentary flight at KittyHawk! And here this rocket was sending 6 astronauts into outer space to a man-made satellite on a construction job!

As Endeavour raced to the heavens I felt so lucky and privileged to live here and see so many awesome events such as this I remembered to thank God for being so gracious to allow me to see a launch before the program ends this year. As well as all of the other wonderful things He has put me in the right time at the right place to witness.

So now, the daylight associated with launch was over, and darkness returned except for the bright glow emanating from beneath Endeavour.

Solid Rocket Booster Seperation of STS-130

***Please double click on the images to enlarge them, its VERY hard to see if you don't!***


So, Monday February 8th, 2010 at about 4:16am (2 minutes after liftoff) I was able to see the solid rocket boosters jettison from the space shuttle & external fuel tank! The large white moonish object is actually the flame coming from under the main fuel tank & space shuttle main engines and the small object to the bottom right are the solid rocket boosters (SRB's)!



You could sort of see it with your naked eyes, but binoculars worked best! They were like 2 lit cigars floating to Earth, but as they dimmed the nearly 150 foot tall body of the SRB was not visible, but you could still see the heat being dissipated! Looked like 2 spooky glowing devil eyes is the best way I can describe it!According to NASA info, they were jettisoned at T+2 minutes from launch and were 156,158 feet above Earth travelling at mach 4!










Also, I did find a video on you tube taken from Titusville of the launch, its got awesome sound quality of the sound wave, I only wish that I would have thought to set up my spare camera also and put it on video mode.....but, at 4 am who is really all that coherent with their thoughts!
For the video I found go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0XLxUa_Vsw
its titled Endeavor Launch Feb. 8,2010 by a kdunnaway.

Here's a view of launch pad 39A 12 miles across the Indian River before I headed back in to my nice warm bed!

Atlas V Rocket Launch Viewing Experience

So, one might be a little puzzled about the title of this post. I had awaken early on Wednesday February 10th, well, actually I overslept but awoke at 6:20am, I had only hoped I would still be 1st in line at Kennedy Space Center at 7am at opening. Today was the day the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was to be launched at KSC on an Atlas V rocket. I could hardly believe my luck! 1 vacation, 2 launches of something into outer space...how cool was that! I had to get there early because (you know me) had to get the BEST spot! So, after 2 hours of waiting outside on a 40 degree windy morning I boarded the first bus. It may sound chilly, but I had on my fleece and was quite comfortable. A worker urged me to wait inside where it was warmer, that lasted maybe 5 minutes before I overheated and about threw up! Colder = better. Anyway, the rocket (pictured here at right-photo courtesy of some display at KSC) was to carry the Solar Dynamics Observatory into space. I was lucky enough to hear a lecture on its functionality by a grad student from Montana State University who worked on it the previous day. This satellite is about the size of a small school bus and is outfitted with 3 instruments that will measure minute fluctuations in the sun's UV output, map the magnetic fields on the surface and look below the outer opaque layer on gas, and also 4 telescopes that will photograph the surface and atmosphere in 10 different wavelenghts. It will be operational for 5 years and the hope is to understand sun cycles more and how it effects our planet. Exciting stuff. For more info go to http://www.sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/



So, to make a long story short....we arrive at the Saturn Center and my new friend Mr. Sacramento (that's where he was from...we never really exchanged names) ran toward the fencing to get in a great area. Met a few other fine folks there as we were assembling tripods and trying to figure out which launch facility actually had the rocket on it. After perfecting everything and having about an hour to kill before the 1 hour launch window opened, we all began chatting about the other nights launch. Out of nowhere an older KSC employee with a NASA badge approached us and told the 4 of us that we were in the WRONG area and we MUST follow him IMMEDIATELY! We tried to argue but he was getting VERY agitated and kept flashing his NASA badge. What choice did we have, so packed up and quickly followed him......right into the VIP viewing section! Yes, past the guards and all! It was only about 2-3 minutes before some very important security man asked us WHY we were in this SECURED area for VIP's when we CLEARLY were not scientists or other dignitaries! Mr. Knowitall then got reamed out big time! He said something about quitting. As we ran out of the area (to get our spots back) the guard at the checkpoint was now getting an ear full about letting us in! Unfortunately people were already in our spot, but we begged and they moved over...we didn't have as much room, but we all made it work.

Everyone, re calibrated their camera just in time as the window opened at 10:26....now we just had to wait. It was certainly not optimal launch conditions, very gusty day, the threshold was 20 mph winds. We could only wait and hope....Mr. Sacramento brought up an interesting thought...he said that the Atlas rockets were originally designed to launch ICBM's in a nuclear war. His theory was if there was ever a need to launch an ICBM, the military wouldn't think about delaying it because it was a windy day! But...I suppose when you have a multi million or billion dollar research project on board that changes things. The winds began to die down and shortly after 11am countdown clocks began and the rocket would go at the very last minute of the launch window 11:26. Well, at T-4 minutes a 25+mph gust was recorded and they shut it down. Too bad, I think it would have been interesting to see! It did launch the following morning but I did not have enough time in my schedule to stay another day. I did find a video on you tube from this area and is interesting to see if you are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N6zs4s_f68. I'm sure I will be in Florida again sometime in my life an be able to see a rocket launch, at least I finally saw the space shuttle!

Space Stuff

So, Tuesday afternoon was quite rainy and overcast..so I opted for some mainly indoor activities. I enjoyed Kennedy Space Center last year, so I decided to have another look-see.
Since I had already seen a lot of the big stuff, I opted to look over things I hadn't seen last time in the exhibits.

I got to touch an ACTUAL moon rock! It was VERY smooth...probably from the oil on the fingers of the 10 million people who touched it before me. I doubt it was smooth when it was collected off of the moon.

Here are the left and right sides of the massive crawler-transporter used to haul the mobile launch platform, on which the space shuttle and other rockets are assembled, to the launch pad. Hopefully these 2 photo's will remain side by side on the blog. It's just HUGE! I wish someone would have been standing next to it for perspective. Here's the scoop....its 20-26 feet high (depends on if some parts are extended or retracted) and 131 feet long and 131 feet wide. It can hold a 90x90 foot square launch pad....that is the equivalent of the area inside the base lines on a major league baseball field! Hey.....we could launch the Tigers (but we'll substitute the Lions) into space! Empty, it weighs in at 5.5 MILLION pounds! I wouldn't want to get under that bad boy...but it would be highly unlikely as its top speed is 2mph, but when loaded...it only does a max of 1 mph! The tank holds 5,00 gallons of diesel fuel and it burns 1 gallon every 42 feet for an average of 125 gallons/MILE! Oh my. It moves similar to a snowmobile using 8 tracked tread belts, with each belt having 57 shoes, and each shoe is 7 & 1/2 feet ling, 1 &1/2 feet wide and weighs 2100 pounds. Now that's for EACH one! So if I laid on the ground...the shoe would still be bigger than my outline! Stay out of the way! It takes the cargo to the launch facility on a "special" road of special gravel to maintain grip, stability and speed. For some unknown reason, people like us never get to see it in motion, the do it under the cover of darkness, leaving the VAB about midnight and finishing up my early morning before KSC opens to the public. Bummer.

Here's the full crawler-transporter near the gantry. The VAB is in the background and the light colored path is the crawlers "road". Apparently it is fairly rare to actually get this close of a look at it from what I was told.

Here's a closeup of the Vehicle Assembly Building with one of its doors opened, they were preparing the next shuttle, Discovery, for its journey to the International Space Station.

Launch facility 39A is now empty after Endeavour's successful launch and waits the delivery of Discovery.

Here through the rainy sky, is Launch Complex 41. The shorter object in the center of the 4 taller towers is an Atlas 5 rocket, which has the Solar Dynamics Observatory as its payload, it is scheduled to launch tomorrow, Wednesday February 10th.