SpaceX, or at least the fan base, is celebrating their 200th successful Falcon 9 launch. Thursday morning at 2:58AM, their Falcon 9 rocket was successfully launched for the 200th time.
Falcon 9 has only suffered two mission-related failures in flight: one partial failure in 2012 and a catastrophic failure in 2015. Falcon 9’s 2015 failure entirely destroyed the rocket and its cargo-carrying Dragon spacecraft before they reached orbit. Its 2012 failure only doomed a secondary Orbcomm satellite payload, while the primary mission – a Cargo Dragon supply delivery for NASA – was technically successful.
Thursday morning's launch Starlink Group 5-3, SpaceX Photo.
Over the last week or so, those of you who follow Tam (View From the Porch) will have noticed she referred to having Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and was watching the change in sunset times. She finally found a day to celebrate, saying, “Sunrise before eight AM and sunset after six PM is a huge mood lifter for me.” When the latest sunrises of the year slip to seconds then a full minute earlier, one can be confident in the knowledge that the days will continue to get longer and sunnier until July.
While I know that SAD is real and I sympathize with those who have it, I've noticed that, if anything, I have the opposite reaction. When I realize the days are getting longer and there's no going back to shorter and cooler days, I get saddened while people with SAD feel better. It's like how I have the opposite of Attention Deficit Disorder: Attention Surplus Syndrome or ASS.
I especially get that "downer" reaction when I realize there are no cold temperatures in the forecast and we're running out of chances for cold weather. Like this 10-day forecast just taken from Weather Underground.
The lowest temperature between today and practically mid-February is 51F a week
from Sunday morning. That's not even cold for here. That's just barely below average. That means it's practically time to start spring planting, weeding and all that PITA stuff.
Gawrsh, SiG, my heart bleeds Purple Panther Piss for your temps, here in the Great White Northwest (Inland version) we MIGHT get to 45 tomorrow. I have my wife's Chrysler 4.7L to clean and put back together, and I don't like working in a COLD garage (but I'm very glad I have one) because I'm using various and sundry harsh chemicals to clean the pistons and 230K miles of road crud and grease and oil off of everything. This means I have to do it with the garage doors OPEN or the fumes affect me badly due to my asthma at my age (70).
ReplyDeleteConsider yourself real lucky, lad.
I can't say I wasn't expecting this reaction, but it's all part of the big picture. North and south are kind of opposites of each other. In the spring when you're getting ready to spend more time outdoors, we're getting read to spend more time indoors. Vice versa in the fall. We put up with the summer to get the winter, you put up with winter to get the summers.
DeleteWhile cold weather undoubtedly kills lots of people, "the Glowing Orb of Pain," as Beans called it, kills people, too. Our heat index requires adapting to, just like your wind chill factor. People come here or Texas or someplace like us in the summer and get hospitalized by heat strokes.
My wife and I can't handle too much of the Glowing Orb of Pain and it's twin horsemen of the apocalypse, Heat and Humidity. We are nightdwellers and enjoy both the cooler weather and less light of winter.
ReplyDeleteI know, move north, but we also hate snow and frozen stuff, so, well, we dwell in AC comfort.
As to SpaceX, they've pretty much made launches normal now. Can't wait to see the 33 engine burn and subsequent launch that will eventually come.
FWIW, which ain't much, Cameron County has every day this coming week as "possible road closure." I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen that and there were no closures.
DeleteSiG, watch for the NOTAMs and NOTMARs, when they start issuing them (along with evacuation notices for Boca Chica Village) the game's afoot!
DeleteYeah, but we've had those, too. Like the Monday, Jan.23 when they did the "full flight-like WDR." That had NOTAMs, MIB and overpressure notice for the Village.
DeleteI'm with you.
ReplyDeleteI once spent two weeks at Ft Lewis, near Seattle. I was warned that the weather there (I was coming from LA) was suicide-inducing. All gray and wet all the time. Well, the wet made the trees turn an incredible rich/dark green that made my eyes ache as I couldn't stop staring, and the gray skies and rain were like a constant amphetamine dose. And, as this was in the early 90's, I spent every free moment reading (probably Tom Clancy) in a downtown coffee shop drinking excellent coffee and smoking a cigar.
Come to think of it, every day since has been mediocre.
I can’t say I have a preference, but several years of rotating shifts made me grateful for shorter daylight hours, mostly when I had to sleep during the day (always a tough job for me).
ReplyDelete