On February 12, I was fortunate enough to be flown down to Orlando, Fla. as part of an Air Force ROTC incentive trip to promote the career fields under Space and Missiles. It was an amazing trip that allowed me to see things I had never seen before.
I arrived in Orlando at about 5 pm on Monday February 12. Captain Vazquez, our project officer, and three other Air Force ROTC cadets were waiting for me. We piled into a van and began the 40-minute car ride to Satellite Beach. We checked in to the Days Inn and went to dinner.
Tuesday morning we woke up and drove north to the Cape Canaveral welcoming center. The first stop was the Range Operations Control Center. They brought us around the mission control room and pointed out all the positions of the people that tell the commander whether they are go or no-go for launch. The room was similar to something out of Apollo 13 but the computers, of course, were a little more high-tech.
Then they took us into a numerical modeling control room. This room is adjacent to the weather room, and the person that works in this room takes all the information the weather station receives and puts it into a computer program that then analyzes whether the launch will be safe for the rocket and for people on the ground. For instance, if the winds were blowing in such a fashion that in the event of a mishap damage to the civilian population could result, the launch would be canceled.
Then we went to the weather room where they had a wide variety of computer screens to look at. Each computer told them something different about the weather, and the weather had to be just perfect for them to launch their rockets. Even if there is no lightning, but a chance of lightning, they will cancel the launch.
After going through the ROCC, I am amazed that any rockets ever launch. The number of people that have to "OK" the launch is exorbitant and it is all for the sake of public safety and protection of government property.
After this, we drove out to the Titan IV launch pad where we were issued two more temporary identification tags. We walked around the rocket and stood directly under one of the main boosters. The rocket is gigantic, with the exhaust cone being at least 10 feet in diameter. We took an elevator to the top of the rocket. The rocket was about 20 stories tall, and one could see all over the cape from up there.
After lunch we received a tour, by Bill Dickerson, that took us around to several historic parts of Cape Canaveral. We stood in the control rooms of the first U.S. satellite launch, and the first U.S. manned mission. They took us to the Apollo 1 launch pad and the launch pad of the first-ever U.S. rocket. The tour was extremely interesting and it was impressive to see how far we have come in such a short amount of time.
I then returned from beautiful Florida to the snowy cold of upstate New York on February 14. The trip was amazing and I feel so fortunate for being given this opportunity by Air Force ROTC.
