Screw it, I'm gonna go watch the SpaceShipOne launch

[Chairboy]

I thought I was fine with the thought of watching the Rutan Scaled Composites launch on CNN in the morning, but....

I gotta go see it.

Even though I'm fresh out of surgery, I'm hopping in the car with someone else and we're going to head up to Mojave.  Gotta be there, gotta be there....

Wonder if I'll see any of y'all there?  Look for the guy doubled over in pain with little blood spots on his shirt who's smiling between grimaces while pointing up at the sky.

[XtrmeJ]

Originally posted by Chairboy
I thought I was fine with the thought of watching the Rutan Scaled Composites launch on CNN in the morning, but....

I gotta go see it.

Even though I'm fresh out of surgery, I'm hopping in the car with someone else and we're going to head up to Mojave.  Gotta be there, gotta be there....

Wonder if I'll see any of y'all there?  Look for the guy doubled over in pain with little blood spots on his shirt who's smiling between grimaces while pointing up at the sky.

Ohhhhhh. I feel for ya bud, GL with that and all  

[Chairboy]

I'll be wearing a Symantec Red Cross jacket and a black hat that says 'The Onion' on it, in case anyone wants to say hi.

[CyranoAH]

Go Rutan!!

[rpm]

I wish I was able to be there. This is a moment in history like the old Mercury days of NASA.
Rutan has Huevos Grande!

[Gunslinger]

He He He....its right down the road for me!

[Chairboy]

For the record, it was absolutely awesome.

I didn't break open any wounds, as far as I know.  

We left LA around 12:30/1:00 and got to Mojave around 2:45.  The cars were lined up on the highway for about a mile, but we were within the first couple hundred cars.  

We parked right next to the souvenir tent, but since the wind was gusting between 50 and 70 knots according to one announcer, we ended up sleeping in the car until 5:45, then grabbed some coffee and wandered over to the area overlooking the hangars.

It was pretty perfect timing, the announcer started talking about within a half hour, we saw the chase planes taking off.  

The White Knight/SpaceShipOne combo was impressive to see take off, and it took about an hour to get to altitude.  It had a Starship as a chase plane for most of the flight and a fighter as high alt chase plane.  

We kept losing sight of it, it only intermittently had contrails.

It didn't help that they launched within a few arc-seconds of the sun, it was hard to see, but when the rocket fired...  there was no mistaking it!  It was great, very full of adrenaline and cheering!  There were tens of thousands of people there, easy, and it was great to watch.

We even had some tension when radio from the cockpit reported a loud bang and problems setting trim, and some more later when a chase plane reported buckling in the propulsion pod, but other then that it was perfect.

We got some great close up shots, I'll have 'em on my website soon.

[GRUNHERZ]

I was there too this morning.

Got to Mojave around midnight and was among the first few cars parked at the field. Finally fell asleep at 3:30AM after the worst dust storms were over and I could open up the windows and sunroof so the car cooled down. When I woke up at 5:30 there were a billion cars everywhere. I went to the flightline with everyone else.

The flight was awesome! But I did not like how the launch happened right in the sun..  

I also had a chance to visit Ronald Reagan's memorial site and museum this  weekend.  I  got back home to the SF bay area just now, what a couple of days!