Canon PowerShot G9
ƒ/4
7.4 mm
1/320
80
Erik and were tooling around the base today, trying to find a good spot to watch the Atlas V launch, and getting twitter updates as we drove all over.
It was a military weather satellite launch to LEO (Low Earth Orbit), and the launch vehicle had 10K lbs of unused capacity. That’s a lot. After satellite deployment, they sent it to a heliocentric orbit for disposal. Hearing this from the Flight Director last night, I suggested that there was a sizable lost opportunity to send some cremated remains around the sun.
Afterward, we explored the sprawling Air Force Base with the brass and marveled at the Shuttle launch pad, not yet used. That one pad used enough cement to pave a two-lane highway from California to New York.
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