My launch experience was out of this world! On Wednesday we all met up at the Space bar for dinner. At dinner we ate some amazing food, took team pictures, and got interviewed. Dinner was awesome and it reminded me how close we were to seeing a rocket launch, which still blows my mind to this day. Michelle and her team always took extra steps to make things fun and special including inviting an astronaut, Wendy Lawrence, to the dinner. My team and I were all so excited and it was fun getting back together again after a little while.
The following morning my mom and I headed over to the Kennedy Space Center to meet up with the other teams and Michelle. After getting our official badges to go watch the launch we hopped on the NASA buses and headed over to the NASA viewing platform next to the rocket assembly building. We got to watch a short briefing before the launch talking about the experiments on board. After the briefing we got to meet the space tango team that built our experiment which was really cool! We all gathered as a team to take a picture and then we all stood together for the launch.
One of my favorite parts of the launch was the countdown. Hearing everyone counting down the seconds before our rocket launch was so special. Knowing that our experiment along with countless others was going through our planet's atmosphere in a matter of minutes was a once in a lifetime experience. The feeling I got when the engines fired up was incredible. After we saw the rocket go up and out of sight we also got to see the reusable part of the rocket come back to earth which was also really cool. Feeling the sonic boom was my favorite part.
After the launch we headed back to the hotel where the space bar was to have cupcakes and celebrate.
I am so proud of my team and the other teams for being persistent and patient because it's not easy but knowing that we made it through makes me so happy and proud of our achievement. Looking back on my experience it was really eye opening realizing how much science and engineering goes into a launch.
I’m so grateful to everyone who made this possible, especially Michelle. I cannot thank you enough! Finally I want to thank my team, Space Shell 6, for sticking together through problems, making memories with me, encouraging each other, and celebrating all the joyful moments with me through this journey. Thank you so much for everything. Love Evelyn
Written by Evelyn Weber
