From Dr McCoy to the Real McCoy. Another Space Shuttle mission has just launched from Cape Canaveral. They’re off to the Hubble Telescope.
Atlantis on the pad, ready for STS-125
Two astronauts have the twittering bug. Mission Specialist Mike Massimino is on Atlantis, while Mark Polansky is the commander of STS-127. Earlier this year, their colleague Sandra Magnus posted a blog from space.
Thus, right before dawn there is total black and as you look out the window it is as if neither the Earth nor the heavens are there. You just exist, floating in an endless sea of black with one bright light, the sun, illuminating the way. Nothing beyond the light exists. It only lasts a moment, though, as the sun rises higher over the nearing horizon. The Earth starts to pick up some of the rays at last and reappears out of the darkness awash in a faint gray color. Drawing closer you can notice that any high clouds in the atmosphere glow orange or red as they too find the morning sun. It is possible to see the terminator as you cross it. The grey of dawn gives way to the bright blues and whites of day that are so distinctive of our water planet. Looking back in the direction from whence you came, the darkness of night is still noticeable. Only looking forward does the day shine clearly. Soon the night is gone as the Space Station continues on its never-ending trek across the planet. The heavens are now just a dark velvety curtain against the brilliant colors of Earth. No stars are visible. They are there, though, waiting for the night which will come in another 45 minutes or so, to show themselves again.
Lovely.
Anyway, Godspeed Atlantis.
Update
Goddamit! Yet again, I was let down by the online streaming video, crashing as loads of people logged on at the last moment. It happened with STS-116, and it happened with the PopeCam.
