A lot as been going on this past week in space, as well as in the regular world. Rather than cover the launch week with an informational update, I thought it might be fun to take a look back at the fun moments from the event. Here are my top six favorite moments.
Launch Delay
While the delay of the launch on Wednesday was a big disappointment for many, I saw this as a good thing. It meant that NASA and SpaceX were taking the launch and safety of the astronauts extremely seriously. Also, it gave us a few more days to enjoy the launch hype.
Social Distancing
Throughout Wednesday and Saturday’s coverage we saw the astronauts, the families, and the NASA/SpaceX staff practicing social distancing. I noticed everyone in mission control wearing masks, NASA admins Jim Bridenstine and Jim Morhard taking selfies with Doug and Bob from behind ropes, and Bob and Doug’s kids giving air hugs (so cute!)
SpaceX Ninjas
If you watched the launch you might have noticed the SpaceX ninjas who helped Doug and Bob into Crew Dragon and made sure everything was ready for launch. I loved that they were in all-black clean-suits. Usually these are white, but I loved that SpaceX went with black. It really put the new space suits on display as the only white clothing. Everyone else just seemed to fade into the back and gave Doug and Bob time to shine as they made their way into Crew Dragon. Also, loved their giant numbers on the back of their suits so we could keep track of who was doing what.
Demo-2 Dinosaur
I loved this launch’s zero-g indicator! shortly after launch the dino plush was available for purchase up on the SpaceX site, but they sold out before I could get one.
The Launch
Obviously this had to be in my top six favorite moments. I don’t know about you, but I was super nervous about this launch. As a test launch, anything could’ve gone wrong, and thankfully nothing did. I am so happy that everything went as planned!
Crew Dragon Renamed ‘Endeavor’
Once they were in space, we got to see Doug and Bob going through system checks and activities. One of those activities was renaming the Crew Dragon spacecraft. They chose the name Endeavor. They named it after the Space Shuttle Endeavor partly because this was a huge next step and endeavor for space travel and partly because both of their first space flights were aboard the Endeavor shuttle.
Docking With the ISS
I know this technically happened -after- the launch, but I found the NASA TV coverage absolutely riveting. There was a lot less fanfare with the coverage and it was a bit more technical. Some footage didn’t even have narrators explaining what was going on and all we heard was mission control communicating with Endeavor. At one point we listened in as mission control lost communication with the astronauts and we just sat and listened as they kept saying “Do you copy” over and over for about three minutes. I. Love. It.
Did you watch the launch? If so, what were your favorite moments? Let me know by leaving a comment down below, commenting on SkyFeed’s latest Instagram post, or by @ing me on Twitter!
All images from NASA TV
