Post #19420

If everything checks out and as the countdown reaches “T -0” huge explosive lightning-like detonations occur simultaneously at the four large bolts holding the solid rocket boosters in place. Most people never actually notice this minute detail while watching a space launch. Compared to the speed of light, the explosions are very slow and take several microseconds to fully clear the bolts from continuing to hold the rocket down. Timing is excruciatingly critical now because in nearly the same instant but in actuality a fraction of a moment later the ignition sparks arrive at the solid rocket boosters nozzles; when that happens…!!!?!!!…….nothing, BUT NOTHING!!!, can stop what happens next! Unlike the liquid hydrogen fuel which can be cut off or throttled down ... once the solid rocket fuel begins to burn in the SRB’s, there is no off switch; It’s a type of controlled explosion. Each booster pushes 3.3 million pounds of thrust out of its nozzle; if anything with the bolts were to hang up, it would tear the entire vehicle and crew to shreds and most likely blow apart in what would be the equivalent of a small nuclear blast. All the explosive energy of the solid rocket's fuel is directed in one direction while pushing the ship forward in the opposite direction. No matter what else happens over the next two minutes the solid rocket fuel is going to burn until exhausted and gone; everyone involved must just hold on as the show accelerates to over 6,000 miles per hour at over 30 miles high above the earth and 25 miles downrange where the solid rocket booster bodies each detach and eventually parachute back to the sea where they were collected, rebuilt and used again. As a spectator, the crowd falls away from your thoughts as the light show begins. Light travels at 186,282 miles per second; that’s the equivalent of circling the earth about seven and half times in one second. In the press and VIP areas located approximately 3.5 miles from the launch site you hear and feel nothing unusual yet you SEE the vehicle completely lift off the ground and start to climb away well before the first sounds and vibrations begin to arrive about 15 seconds after main engine ignition. The vast majority of in person spectators are arrayed alone along the highways located five to seven miles away and for them the launch is instantly visible but the sounds arrive 30 seconds to a full minute after liftoff. The sensual and physical perceptions a person experiences are very interesting (to me at least) because there is a build up, You first see the intervening waters and even the atmosphere itself rippling as the sound, heat and shock waves begin to emanate away from the launch area. Birds take to flight far and near but in your personal space nothing apart from the visuals has changed If you’ve experienced such a launch previously, you clench a bit because you now what’s coming next; if not, or in either case, you’ll never forget it…the vibrations are amplified by the bleachers and assembled knee-knocking of the humanity around you; if your so privileged. After the first soft shock you are front and center for the main event… the solid rocket boosters crack the air like a whip and with a roar stop all transient conversations. Nobody looks away as the initial blasts settle into a rolling and thunderous percussion of sounds crackling and holding your gaze. Within half a minute you can no longer can see the vehicle itself but only the vaporous trail and intensely burning light of the main engines and solid rocket boosters augmented by the diminishing but still furious sounds of our heaven sent missionaries of technology…the aspirations, dreams and energy of millions of God’s Children reduced down to a handful of souls aboard the ‘now spacecraft’ and hundreds of others scattered about at ground control and various other support locations. TINA PETERS As many of you may have noticed, for the last 2 months I have not spoken or written concerning Tina Peters status except in the briefest terms and in the context of continuing to pray.