Push,run, wait.
At this time today we should have made three runs to 100,000 feet and have recovered the vehicle and eating raviolis at Brunos. However 24 hours before liftoff got a call from London. Fifteen of the mission participants are stuck at the airport in London. They were close, yet five hours sitting in the airplane on the runway didn’t get them any closer to taking off let alone making it to Nevada.
They past day has been spent moving permits, canceling clearances and rescheduling rental equipment. The team is all trying to talk their employers into understanding and switching vacation days.
We have a little over a week to regroup. We’ll use the extra time to conduct additional tests, smooth out the checklists and get some training in. The team is bummed. They were wound up and ready to punch stuff into the sky. Oh well, it’s part of the game.