And I was there.
I had left my job as editor of Model Retailer Magazine and was starting to work at the AMA, but I planned it with a two-week gap so I could drive from Virginia to Florida. I had wangled press credentials while I still had access to Model Retailer stationery. So I jumped in my AMC Pacer (yes, yes, I know...I must have gotten the good one they made that week) and drove 16 hours. Arrived at 5am the night of April 9, snuggled into the press parking lot, checked in, hit the men's room, and sacked out in the car for five hours with the radio on a local all-news station.
On the 10th, the day originally scheduled for the launch, I cruised the newsroom and the press gallery, and was amazed to find that several people had read my "Basics of Model Rocketry," which was published by Kalmbach a month before. One nice fellow even had his copy in his briefcase, and asked me to autograph it. Definitely one of my better days.
I wound up hanging with two editors from a British magazine who had perched themselves on the lip of a large dumpster at the edge of the press enclosure, a better vantage point than anything in the gallery. We diddled with our cameras as the count proceeded, then held, then proceeded again. Finally the count got down to 5 minutes and the computers were not synching up. After a period of suspense, Shuttle Launch Control came on the loudspeaker and announced the scrub, saying that they would try again in two days. One of the Brits turned to me with a pained expression and said, "Haven't they got anything else around that they can launch today?"
The Brits had to fly home that night, and I was faced with spending two days living in the Pacer. Fortunately, one of the folks offered me space on the couch in his rented condo in exchange for some flying lessons on the electric RC plane I had brought along. You never know when a model will come in handy. Two days later, Columbia thundered upstairs on the two largest model rocket motors ever built.
I know the Shuttle program is winding up, and I don't think that's a bad thing; it's time to build something better. But we should still be aware of what a tremendous achievement Shuttle has been. A reusable spaceship, built and flown while Congress was picking the budget to death, the single most complicated piece of engineering ever undertaken. We've flown 113 times and had three failures, two of which cost the vehicle and crew. Do the math. Losing those brave astronauts is hard, but the people of the Shuttle program have nothing to be ashamed of, and much to be proud of. Hell, I'm proud of it, and all I did was talk about it!
Doug Pratt dad-at-pratthobbies-dot-com