Thank you guys for helping each other while I am away. It feels amazing to know there are other people here paying enough attention to now be able to help others while I am away
Good news, though. I've made a lot of good contacts on this trip. Real contacts, not just some dudes with blogs
To reward you guys for being awesome...here's a picture of the VAB. It's currently super off-limits to the public, for a few years now, but I spent a few hours in there today and will be able to post some pictures soon of the inside for you guys. For now, here's a sneak peek while I try getting all the pictures together and filter out the blurry ones, etc., including many pictures from the 16th floor catwalk (talk about vertigo)
Keep in mind...The building's U.S. flag is 209 feet long by 110 feet wide. Each star is more than six feet in diameter and each stripe is nine feet wide. I tried to get some palm trees and cars in the picture for scale, but they look like tiny little specs. I have a TONNNN of pictures of the inside I will be sharing tomorrow night on Twitter, as well as photos and videos of the launch. We will be in the VIP section, which is roughly 2.5 miles away from the actual launchpad, so this will be as close as anyone (including mainstream media) is able to get before they destroy my cameras with their zooming abilities
I also have about 8 hours worth of video from today's facility tours and press conferences that I will also be sharing for anyone interested in what the actual mission entails. All the press conferences were streamed live today on NASA.gov (much better quality than mine, better angles, etc) but I'm not sure if they have them archived yet
For full size (it's a large picture), check it out here:
https://i.imgur.com/jMYDq3O.jpgI won't be back until very late Thursday, just checking in while I go through some pictures. It's about 2 AM here now, and I have to be back at NASA by 8 AM to do more media events and view the rocket on the launchpad prior to launch (I will try to live tweet them if the internet is decent out there) at 4:33:15 PM ET
If tomorrow's launch is delayed, it will be postponed until Tuesday afternoon
That huge structure is the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) where the rockets are pieced together and prepared to be moved to pads for launch. They have flags on the walls that show the size difference in the different types of rockets. I'll post some awesome pictures of the (very restricted) inside tomorrow
None of my pictures do it justice to how big it really is. It takes over 3 minutes to walk from one end to the other in a straight line, and that's the smallest part. The volumetrics of this building are fucking unbelievable