Month: October 2007

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Pam Melroy found the right words…

I though this excellent quote was left, as I didn’t see it on NASA Space Shuttle homepage. This morning I saw I had kept a browser open. So here the quote is:

“There’s something special about showing up in Florida,” said Commander Pam Melroy. “There’s a time when you need to talk, and the Flight Readiness Review was a time to talk. Then there’s a time when you need to go do it. And I’m happy to say we’re really here, and ready to go do it.”

In my opinion, these words actually tell everything that is needed to be known ;)

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countdown started

As scheduled, the countdown for STS-120 started today at 2pm EDT in Kennedy Space Center. All systems are still go and it looks like we have an on-time launch — weather permitting.

I visited Seaworld Orlando today and have booked a trip to Discovery Cove tomorrow. So I am currently not following STS-120 in depth. That’ll change Monday, when I drive over to Kennedy Space Center.

Today, we had big clouds over Orlando. I hope the weather in Kennedy Space Center will be better on launch day. Else we probably have a scrub. Anyhow, let’s see how it evolves…

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arrived well…

Just a quick note: we arrived well yesterday and are currently staying in the Orlando Residence Inn. We just got up (struggeling with the jet lag) and will have breakfast. More news probably this evening.

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Two hours into flight …

If I had boarded a space shuttle, I would already been in orbit for quite a while. But, nah, I am sitting in a good ole Boing 767 on my way to Florida. And I try to be a little less bored by hammering my poor pda keyboard (no, the laptop is with my son for movie viewing).

The plane doesn't offer Internet service, so this post will probably take a while to actually show up on the blog. I need a wlan hotspot (free, of course) to send the post mail. Good that I have my own hotspot with me. If I write more posts, they may show up mixed up and not in order of creation – so don't wonder too much.

The really cool thing is that I got a different plane very quickly – we started just one hour delayed. Nd what is even cooler is that the pilot will fly faster (probably to save theschedule) and we so we actually should arrive at the originally scheduled time.

In essence, I have just exchanged one hour of flight time for one hour of being able to roam at he airport – not a bad thing ;)

If all issues during my trip can be as simply fixed as this plane problem, I'll probably have a great time.

Well, enough for now… another 7+ hours of flight time ahead of me …

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Not only shuttles have technical problems…

I am right now sitting at Frankfurt airport and, guess what: the gangway was just rolled back from the plane. We were told that an engine problem was discovered during system checks… Lol – isn't that a good start for a shuttle launch viewing trip? ;) The delay, we were promised, will only be short (but do I trust that?). We'll see…

Now back to blogging silence.

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My personal “launch” day…

The plane I flew with to the USA in 2006Well, not a real launch… My plane will “launch” tomorrow (Friday) from Germany to Orlando, Florida. Not within a few minutes, but a more than 10 hour flight. But, hey, isn’t a shuttle launch worth that? ;)

This is probably my last post for the next day or so. When I arrive in Orlando, it will be late in the evening and I’ll head to the hotel to have a good night’s sleep. The next morning, me and my family will get a bit acquainted to Orlando’s attractions. I do not know how long it will take me to get my notebook and everything else back online … and how long it will take to get some time off for blogging from my family. So please bear with me if it will take a little while before there are new entries here in the blog. I promise I’ll keep you informed.

And please keep your fingers crossed for me that everything goes well on my trip ;)

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Launch Viewing from Kennedy Space Center’s Main Visitor Complex

Kennedy Space Center's main Visitor Complex is set for a launch dayI intended to write a longer post on viewing from Kennedy Space Center‘s main visitor complex (not the causeway. Unfortunately, it was an unexpectedly busy day, so I simply ran out of time. However, I’d still like to provide some information for my fellow launch viewers.

In short: viewing from Kennedy Space Centers’s main visitor complex is not as bad as you may think. Granted, the view is obstructed, and you won’t see the (exciting) first seconds of the launch. However, there are lots of activities scheduled at the center on launch days. There are kid’s activities, special astronaut encounters and much more (at least this is promised by KSC, but I am confident they live up to the promise). Compare that to waiting hours on a parking lot – especially when traveling with your family. So viewing from KSC’s main complex is probably worth considering – especially if you have other opportunities to view launches (e.g. if you live relatively close to Titusville). For the greatest view, you should try to obtain launch transportation tickets at a later launch. If you just have one time and did not get launch transportation tickets, you may consider purchasing those NASA causeway tickets via official tour operators.

To get you an impression of what a launch looks like form the main complex, you may want to have a look at this youtube video:

And this Google video may be even better:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2505328158758910223&q=shuttle&pr=goog-sl&hl=en

Finally, I have a few select impressions from KSC’s launch day setup from one of my failed attempts ;)

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Discovery Processing still on track

NASA’s launch preparations are still on track. There are no negative news and the astronauts will fly into Kennedy Space Center tomorrow (on Friday). From the public weather services, it also looks like Titusville and Cocoa Beach weather is improving starting this weekend, so chances for a great launch are good. There is currently no contingency (buffer time) left, but the great NASA workforce is keeping on track with the launch schedule. The countdown start for Discovery’s STS-120 mission is scheduled for Saturday, 20th October. If all goes well, it culminates in a launch on Tuesday, 23rd October.

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Getting off for launch viewing

A note to all fellow rsyslog users and contributors. I got a chance to view space shuttle Discovery’s STS-120 launch next week. I will fly over to Florida tomorrow. I will be available via email, but my response time will be sluggish. My buddy Michael will handle things related to rsyslog in the mean time. Most importantly, he’ll release 1.19.10 tomorrow while I am on the plane. Please keep thoughts and contributions flowing, they are very welcome.

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recent changes

A couple of changes the last days. They are all now in cvs. Tomorrow we will release 1.19.10.

2007-10-15
– bumped version number
– changed ommsyql to allow for “:ommysql:” module specific action call method
instead of “>”. This shall facilitate the creation of other plugins.
– added notes about new action module designator to module documentation
– updated user doc to new module action calling convention
2007-10-16
– updated rsyslogd doc set man page; now in html format
2007-10-17
– undid creation of a separate thread for the main loop — this did not
turn out to be needed or useful, so reduce complexity once again.
– added doc fixes provided by Michael Biebl – thanks