John B. [ More Evidence of Time Space Continuum ]
John, Thanks for posting, since you have more than a passing interest
in Aerodynamic, I thought this piece on Non-Aerodynamics would interest you.
JW@KSC
For January 17, 1997
Delta explosion: Frozen moments in time
By Mark DeCotis
FLORIDA TODAY
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - "It blew up, it blew up, it blew up! I'm outta here!"
I don't have a fancy story to tell about being an eyewitness to this morning's explosion of an Air Force Delta 2 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Station.
It's a story of survival.
When a rocket blows up 1,500 feet from the ground just more than a mile away from where you are standing, time truly slows. Eleven members of the working press and a small number of Air Force and McDonnell Douglas public affairs folks were gathered at Press Site 1 for Friday's launch of the Delta and the new generation of the Air Force's Global Positioning Satellite. The turnout for launches of expendable rockets - with the occassional exception of a high-profile mission to Mars - are normally small.
It was a raw, cold day. A stiff wind blew from the northwest and clouds shielded the sun at times, chilling us to the bone.
The time dragged as the launch team dealt with winds aloft that were exceeding launch limits and brisk ground-level winds that were threatening to exceed limits.
The consensus: We would be back the press site tomorrow when it was supposed to be even colder. The winds that caused the Air Force to scrub Thursday's launch attempt would certainly not come within limits by liftoff. No way.
Meanwhile, we were given the standard warning from the Air Force that we get at all Cape launches.
They always tell us there is little danger from the rocket but should an accident occur, we are in the impact zone so we need to run across the street to the old Mercury mission control building or dive under ours cars.
The part that always sticks in my mind: "Don't try to gather your equipment."
"Yeah right," I always think.
"I've got $3,500 worth of equipment with me and I'm just going to leave it. Sure."
At a recent night launch we were given the warning and a fellow reporter ran across the street to see if the door was open. It was locked.
We all had a good laugh but the Air Force took it seriously and said they would make sure the door was unlocked the next time.
No one appeared to take the warning too seriously Friday. We were too cold and we were as pessimistic as the conditions would allow. But, the countdown continued.
Suddenly, the winds were within limits and we all were warmed a little bit by the prospect of seeing a Delta launch.
They are truly a treat to witness as the main engines and solid rocket boosters ignite and the rocket speeds off the pad and climbs skyward. They are very bright and very loud and everyone lucky enough to be at the press site always leaves impressed.
The countdown clock neared one minute and the small crowd tensed. I dialed the Space Online office on the telephone to keep Online Services Coordinator Jim Banke - who was in the office to tend to other business for the day - up to date. The cold and the wind and the glare from the sun had made working on my laptop impossible today so we could be covering this launch for Space Online the old-fashioned way.
Other reporters grabbed telephones and three or four photographers moved to their cameras.
The countdown clock got inside 20 seconds, 15, 10, 5 and the Delta came to life on the pad.
Liftoff was spectacular as usual and the Delta climbed toward orbit. All seemed normal.
And then...
This is where the time slows.
I saw Challenger explode but from my backyard in Melbourne, some 40 miles away.
I saw another Delta explode five months after Challenger, but once again from an appreciable distance.
I saw the Ariane 5 rocket explode in June on television.
I never thought I would see a rocket explode from a mile away.
Yes, the thoughts always enter your mind, especially during the long drive to the air station. I thought about that on Friday morning as I packed my stuff but quickly pushed the thoughts from my mind.
"It can't happen," I told myself.
"That doesn't happen anymore. Rockets don't blow up anymore. That only happened in the old days."
How wrong I was.
As the T+10 second mark was sounded, the Delta continued to climb. Seconds later, a huge fireworks display filled the sky where the rocket was.
"I saw this happen before," my mind registered.
"This can't be happening," my mind registered.
"Get the hell out of here," my mind registered.
"It blew up, it blew up, it blew up! I'm outta here," I yelled in the phone to Jim.
The image of the exploding rocket was seared into my brain as I turned to run down the press mound and across the street to our sanctuary, totally forgetting the $3,500 worth of equipment nearby.
I never turned around to look back.
I can only remember hearing a very loud boom, very similar to what fireworks sound like on the 4th of July.
The run to the building seemed to take forever.
I kept thinking, "We are in the impact zone. We are in the impact zone." Translation: You are close enough that pieces of the exploding rocket can fall out of the sky and hit you and hurt you.
I ran as fast as my 46-year-old football-injured left ankle and my basketball-injured right knee and my heavy winter coat would allow and reached for the door, never for one moment thinking that it wouldn't be open. It was the first optimistic thought I had had since I had been at the press site. I resolve to have many more from now on.
My gloved right hand reached for the door knob and it was open and I plunged into the building like my life depended on it.
Only then did I realize I was the first one in the door. The others were right behind me and we went as far into that building as we could.
I can remember hearing the public affairs commentator but don't recall what she said.
I can remember another person speaking in a broken, weeping voice but don't recall what she said.
My mind still wasn't registering what was happening and part of the process of putting these words down into a story is to recall just what took place.
Slowly, we shook off our shock and set to work chronically the disaster.
That will continue for some time.
The feelings will remain for a life time. |
