Nothing to do with yesterday's post showing different size iPhones. A big event is unfolding: SpaceX is planning to launch it's Big Falcon Rocket today. We've seen previous launches get delayed or postponed... this will be the first launch of this size rocket; even Elon Musk has said, "A 50-50 chance of success."
Test launches have been pretty dramatic here in the past. When I say "here," our house is about 5 miles from the SpaceX facility on Boca Chica Beach. When they do a test firing or launch, you hear and feel the rumble. And that has been with smaller and fewer rocket engines. Previous test launches have been with 3 rocket engines... this one will have 27 engines, and they are larger.
There is a "5 mile protection zone" around the facility, coming right up to our island. The launch is expected to bring thousands of people to the area. Some sources have predicted hundreds of thousands. If that comes to pass, it will make the bumper-to-bumper traffic of Spring Break seem trivial.
We'll see how this plays out.
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An hour after making the above post, the countdown is progressing...
We are listening to NASASpaceFlight live on YouTube. The launch is now tentatively scheduled for within the hour. You can see steam coming from around the fuel tanks and at the base of the rocket as the tanks are being pressurized and cooled.
There is a common area here in the village with a gazebo (about a half block from our house) - it has become a gathering place for people on the island to watch launches; people are already showing up in anticipation of the launch. We can't see the launch pad from our house because of the houses across the canal from us; once the rocket is up a couple hundred feet, we can see it over the roofs of those houses.
The Coast Guard has set up a "maritime viewing area" in the water adjacent to the southeast side of our island. They have been moving boats out of the waters in the Gulf of Mexico south of the jetties. All of the excursion boats and fishing charters have been advertising for viewing opportunities on their boats... and "no refunds" if the launch is postponed.
Checking out the live cam on the causeway shows that traffic is moving normally... well, when you can get the live feed - must be a lot of people checking that out.
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8 minutes before launch, it has been paused; a pressurization issue. The countdown continues, but it is now expected that the launch will not happen today. The live feed is saying it will be "called off at T minus 10 seconds" to allow testing off all the systems to up that point.
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One minute and 30 seconds left on the countdown... and the clock is holding at T minus 40 seconds and it is officially scrubbed for today.
Looks like it will be at least 48 hours to "recycle" everything necessary for a launch.
Weather is absolutely perfect for a launch: 71º, clear sky, very light wind. A lot of dejected looking people leaving that gazebo area.
A bit of trivia on Starbase Boca Chica (the launch facility here): they employ over 1,800 people, making them the largest employer in the area. I guess that isn't so trivial. Musk has plans for even more enterprises in Texas.
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We had an appointment on SPI this morning (doing some "discovery" with a title company to see what needs to be done with selling the house). The launch getting scrubbed worked in our favor...
That's two solid lanes of traffic coming off the island, and clear lanes for us heading onto the island. With our business done, a drop off at the thrift shop, and a car wash, we were ready to head back home. It looked like all the traffic had cleared the causeway. Looks can be deceiving - before we got to the high part of the causeway, it was bumper-to-bumper. Fortunately, on the Port Isabel side of the causeway, the local Police had set the stoplights to flashing yellow and kept the traffic moving. Slow, but moving. A lot of cars coming off the island. People travel from all over to see a launch; this may wind up being good for local businesses, since I assume some people will stick around for a couple days to see if the launch is rescheduled for Wednesday.
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