Author Topic: What do you, personally, feel leading up to/in the first moments of a launch?  (Read 1506 times)

Offline EnigmaSCADA

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I'm going to try to phrase this carefully because I certainly don't intend to come off the wrong way.

Every single launch I'm of course excited but I'm acutely aware of a nervousness that I could be about to witness a catastrophe, obviously a much more profound one if humans are riding.

I can trace this anxiety back to Challenger; every non-perfect contrail, shaking camera, or whatever it may be, makes my heart skip. I'm amazed at the impact that event & the widely shown images/video have had. Lasting all this time. I'm also struck by the difference in feeling I have toward air travel. I can easily fall asleep on the tarmac and wake up when everyone is unbuckling at the destination without giving it a thought. Yes, I know the flight rates are magnitudes different but I would have expected the amount of time that has passed to have easily made up for that by now.

In a way, I wish I didn't feel so much anxiety during a launch that I'm watching on a screen from the comfort of my home, even if there was a  proportional drop in excitement.

Do you have the same anxiety as me? Do these thoughts always enter your mind, like they do for me or is it as routine as watching planes take off from the airport to you? Finally, do you think the industry and the current state of HSF would be radically different had the Challenger and/or Columbia tragedies not happened and that this anxiety is very broadly felt and certainly is having a very long lasting impact on space policy?

 In a way, I can see it turning out to be similar (eg. Shuttle retired with long overdue replacement always a few years out) but also wonder if maybe we might have a far less risk averse culture (for better or worse) w/ regards to the government powers that be and maybe they'd be charging forward with all sorts of interesting programs which could also have resulted in a much more muted push in the private sector. I don't know, but curious what others feel & think.

Offline testguy

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I'm going to try to phrase this carefully because I certainly don't intend to come off the wrong way.

Every single launch I'm of course excited but I'm acutely aware of a nervousness that I could be about to witness a catastrophe, obviously a much more profound one if humans are riding.

I can trace this anxiety back to Challenger; every non-perfect contrail, shaking camera, or whatever it may be, makes my heart skip. I'm amazed at the impact that event & the widely shown images/video have had. Lasting all this time. I'm also struck by the difference in feeling I have toward air travel. I can easily fall asleep on the tarmac and wake up when everyone is unbuckling at the destination without giving it a thought. Yes, I know the flight rates are magnitudes different but I would have expected the amount of time that has passed to have easily made up for that by now.

In a way, I wish I didn't feel so much anxiety during a launch that I'm watching on a screen from the comfort of my home, even if there was a  proportional drop in excitement.

Do you have the same anxiety as me? Do these thoughts always enter your mind, like they do for me or is it as routine as watching planes take off from the airport to you? Finally, do you think the industry and the current state of HSF would be radically different had the Challenger and/or Columbia tragedies not happened and that this anxiety is very broadly felt and certainly is having a very long lasting impact on space policy?

 In a way, I can see it turning out to be similar (eg. Shuttle retired with long overdue replacement always a few years out) but also wonder if maybe we might have a far less risk averse culture (for better or worse) w/ regards to the government powers that be and maybe they'd be charging forward with all sorts of interesting programs which could also have resulted in a much more muted push in the private sector. I don't know, but curious what others feel & think.

I feel the same way.  Let me go a little further.  I spent 45 years in the industry mostly doing ground test of development propulsion devices.  You spend a great deal of effort preparing for a test that will either fail or be successful.  There is also usually significant financial impact to the program depending on the result.  What I experienced was significant emotional highs after a success and the opposite lows after a failure. Eventually I came to realize that extreme feelings were in fact addictive, all without drugs.  I never lost those feelings and enjoy watching launches for the same reason.

My advice is to enjoy what you are experiencing and hope it never diminishes.  It’s a great ride!





Online ZachS09

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I'll be honest with you all:

Every time I watch a launch in person or on a livestream, my heart rate increases as the count ticks towards zero and gradually slows after liftoff occurs.

Sometimes this may be because I'm excited about this particular mission, or I'm worried about an unexpected failure early in the ascent.
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline programmerdan

It's a nail-biter every time, no matter the track record of the vehicle. Each second of vehicle flight operation (and load/prep) carries so many failure modes that getting through them is a continuous endorphin rush (if watching livestream). Especially large transitions and callouts -- MaxQ, MECO, SECO, relights etc -- I usually find myself giving an involuntary cheer after each major milestone.

I haven't been able to physically go to a launch yet, I hope to some day and I imagine the above would be magnified tenfold.

The whole process is awe-inspiring regardless of the launch provider and I definitely have to work hard at being patient for each "the next" launch.

Offline Dbbauer

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Pre-Challenger, it was always pure adrenaline and positive, excited energy. Since that day, however, I have the same level of excitement, although it's a far more anxious and nervous energy. But I still watch every launch that I can! A few months ago I was streaming a Delta launch from Vandenberg and saw the flame growing up the side of the booster as it began it's climb. It completely freaked me out, as I was unaware that this was typical of a Delta launch.

Online Elvis in Space

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When I'm watching a broadcast I keep waiting to hear the "nominals" called out. If it's a milestone kind of flight I feel some emotion knowing that I'm witnessing a real step for all humanity. I'm pretty sure I've watched every U.S. manned launch since Apollo 7 and there's no way to keep from feeling tense until everything shuts down. One thing I have noticed is when I'm present for a launch in the company of others as opposed to watching it on a screen by myself it's like being at a football game. I don't feel tense or concerned. I want to cheer and holler and yell "Go!" I was present for STS-26 when Discovery returned to flight after the Challenger tragedy and far from concerned I was ecstatic with joy. I yelled, I cheered, I wept with about a million others all up and down the coast. That's quite a reaction from somebody who is typically very unemotional about things. Being present is different even if it's a GPS sat on a Delta II. I love that feeling.  8)
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Online Orbiter

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I'll be honest, only Shuttle really made my heart race, unless I was watching the launch in person (I have no doubt my heart rate for FH while I was watching from Playalinda Beach was very, very high).
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Offline testguy

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I'm going to try to phrase this carefully because I certainly don't intend to come off the wrong way.

Every single launch I'm of course excited but I'm acutely aware of a nervousness that I could be about to witness a catastrophe, obviously a much more profound one if humans are riding.

I can trace this anxiety back to Challenger; every non-perfect contrail, shaking camera, or whatever it may be, makes my heart skip. I'm amazed at the impact that event & the widely shown images/video have had. Lasting all this time. I'm also struck by the difference in feeling I have toward air travel. I can easily fall asleep on the tarmac and wake up when everyone is unbuckling at the destination without giving it a thought. Yes, I know the flight rates are magnitudes different but I would have expected the amount of time that has passed to have easily made up for that by now.

In a way, I wish I didn't feel so much anxiety during a launch that I'm watching on a screen from the comfort of my home, even if there was a  proportional drop in excitement.

Do you have the same anxiety as me? Do these thoughts always enter your mind, like they do for me or is it as routine as watching planes take off from the airport to you? Finally, do you think the industry and the current state of HSF would be radically different had the Challenger and/or Columbia tragedies not happened and that this anxiety is very broadly felt and certainly is having a very long lasting impact on space policy?

 In a way, I can see it turning out to be similar (eg. Shuttle retired with long overdue replacement always a few years out) but also wonder if maybe we might have a far less risk averse culture (for better or worse) w/ regards to the government powers that be and maybe they'd be charging forward with all sorts of interesting programs which could also have resulted in a much more muted push in the private sector. I don't know, but curious what others feel & think.

I feel the same way.  Let me go a little further.  I spent 45 years in the industry mostly doing ground test of development propulsion devices.  You spend a great deal of effort preparing for a test that will either fail or be successful.  There is also usually significant financial impact to the program depending on the result.  What I experienced was significant emotional highs after a success and the opposite lows after a failure. Eventually I came to realize that extreme feelings were in fact addictive, all without drugs.  I never lost those feelings and enjoy watching launches for the same reason.

My advice is to enjoy what you are experiencing and hope it never diminishes.  It’s a great ride!

BTW I remember listening to Shepard’s and Grissom’s subortital flights over the PA system in school.  It was a different time.  I stayed home from school to watch Glenn’s first orbital flight on TV from early in the morning until coverage ended that night.  I bought my first color television to watch Apollo 8.  Got engaged to be married the week before Apollo 11 and of course was glued to the TV for that.  I was one of the many visitors at the Cape getting sun burned for two of the Saturn 5 manned moon flights and watched Apollo 17 from my back yard in West Palm Beach.  The excitement started when I was very young and continues to this day.

Offline Nomadd

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 I might have showed up for my first launch a little too early. Probably should have at least waited till they built the launch facility. I've been waiting 1.3 million minutes so far.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.

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