Meet an Astronaut during Rocket Launch!

If you can dream it you can do it

Since I was a little kid, I was dreaming of the things that can fly, specifically to the outer space. And impatiently waiting to see the astronaut’s walk towards the rocket to be launched in the depths of space.

Never would I imagined that once, I would not only see the rocket launch but also give a handshake to an influencial NASA astronaut of our time.

Not many knows, but when i was in the middle school, i wanted to be an astronaut. Been always amazed by the infinite magical extent of space. I have always believed in love and magic and wondered if other lives exist.
Anytime the new space mission is up, my eyes are wide and all my attention is on.

nORMAN THAGARD- aTLANTIS

A little about the great achievements of such a prominent figure as Norman.

To start, he was the bravest American to ride Russian vehicle “Mir” …with Russians for the first time, making him ‘American Cosmonaut’.

His school classmates have laughed when he sais that he wanted to be a medical doctor, a fighter pilot, an engineer, and an astronaut. He became all four. That’s what the hard work does to people ;)

One day he received a life-changing call from NASA: “Mr. Thagard, we are calling to see if you were still interested in a position of Astronaut“; after a quick "Yes”, he thought: “Was there a crazy person who declined such offer? Is this why they are asking if I am still interested?“.

He, then, was aborad the last shuttle flown from the American Soil - Atlantis. The shuttle was the first interplanetary probe, and have mapped more than 98% of Venus Surface.

Yet, another prominent mission aboard Challenger shuttle made the news. Sally K. Ride was the first US woman in space. To which, Dr. Thagard exclaimed :”It is incredible acheivement, but i think everyone forgot that there were another 4 people aboard”.

…. but besides all of that, I consider his best endevour was love.

nORMAN THAGARD- Love

When it was my turn to ask a question, I was looking for a motivational encourgaement so I asked:

What was the leson that you’ve learned after your first space’s mission?

He started talking about the sense of the great accomplishment he felt which proved his classmantes that he did everything he wanted.

Then he paused.

After a short pause, he added:

”However, if I would ever face a tradeoff between being an astronaut or being married to my wife, I would always choose my wife”…”One day, my wife told me that NASA opened the applications for the position of astronauts"… “I need to send my application soon!“-he exclaimed; to which she replied: ”I already did!”

To note, his speech began with a projected picture of him and him adding: ”Without her, I wouldn’t make it”.

the most important launch of the decade

Why was important?
The last shuttle that sent astronauts to space departed in 2011 from the American soil. The technology was rendered to be too expensive and if Americans wanted to continue explore the space they had to launch from Kazakhstan.

This Boeing capsule, that I watched, was the final test for the future crewed missions if succesful.
Unfortunately just 30 minutes later, the capsule failed to transfer to the right orbit on time, due to the computer glitch in timer (approx 8 hours).
After the event, Boeing CEO got fired and the chairman resigned. Their shares fell by 2% in one day - although workers speculated that if the capsule was crewed then the error would be easily fixed by astronauts.

To Boeing’s dismay, SpaceX won the race by sending American astronauts on May 30th. Interestingly, long before any laucnhes, NASA has awarded Boeing double the funding to run crewed missions to ISS, by reasoning that Boieing has historic reputation over SpaceX. Irony had its glory.

The rocket into the orbit

Did you know?

Remember when we were told in the science class that the speed of a sound is slower than the speed of the light? If the professors would wanted to prove it, the rocket launch will be the best example.

With its magnificence, the big sphere of the light came up like a bright shining star (or an explosion? no one knew at that point), then 4 seconds later you glimpse the path of light traversing up the sky in the straight line.

About 10 seconds later, you hear a loud sound as if you are standing near the ignited engine of the plane. 10 seconds! What a delay!

You may also notice from the picture (above) that the rocket didn’t follow the straight-line trajectory, it seems like as if it is falling back to Earth. Since the earth is round, about 8.5 minutes after the launch, the rocket has already entered the first orbit and started to circle around the Earth.

And even on its way there, the rocket tilts itslef to emerge with the gravitational layers (increasing vertical velocity (speed)) thus wasting less fuel and reaching the orbit faster.