Good Sunday to you all.
I know it has been well over a month since my last post and I got all the messages and, yes, I'm fine. My team and I have been working nearly 'round the clock on some major initiatives like: Sending a payload into space, a new major internet IPO, a new television program and more. To put it succinctly, we've burned the candle at both ends and the middle. Whew! What a ride. It has also been some of the greatest days of my life. I wake up early, go to bed late and love every minute of my life.
Well, the past few days we have been at Spaceport America deep inside the New Mexico desert preparing for our sub-orbital launch. We spoke with the mission commander, toured mission control, and got up close and personal with the space vehicle and the launch pad.
Here are some stats on the vehicle itself. It is 20+ feet long, 10 inches in diameter and can carry a payload of 110 pounds into space and back to earth. The rocket motor is designed and built in Canada and uses the same solid fuel that the NASA Space Shuttle does.
Yesterday we were up at 3am to make our way to the launch site, Launching pad 1 at Spaceport America. It takes about 2 hours from Las Cruces to get there and about 30 miles is on unpaved "washboard" roads. Talk about the unintended back massage.
Yesterday the launch went flawlessly. Exactly at 0800 the countdown reached zero and the launch vehicle screamed from the launch pad and into the sky. We saw the rocket ignite and the vehicle launch, but there was not sound... Until about 15 seconds later when the sky was filled with the roar of the rocket motor and as the vehicle went up, up, up and out of site. All that was left was a miles long contrail. People were cheering and I literally got goose bumps and cried. These were tears of joy, that man has come so far and created so much that I was at a launch of a space vehicle that was carrying a payload for us. For the moment that payload is top secret, but I'll reveal that when I can.
David, my partner was there, too which is only right since it was his idea to create a program and payload for this mission. We both worked for months on all the paperwork, the creation of the payload, shipping all of that to the space services company and planning the trip to the Spaceport.
That's David in the photo looking at the vehicle mounted on the "rail." The rail is like the vehicle's guidance system. It is hydraulically operated and on the day of launch the rail will go vertical and so will the vehicle. We had "crew only" access to the launch pad and the vehicle and when I have the okay to release those photos I will. When it comes to security and launch vehicles, everyone is very careful.
Back to the story... About an hour after launch, the launch director told us that the vehicle had failed to reach "space" which is a minimum of 62 miles (the mission was slated to reach 73 miles) above the Earth. While that was not great news, it almost didn't matter because our payload and the other payloads (University of NM, The Air Force and others) all came back to terra firma intact and safe.
We will be working with the space services and aerospace company to build another launch vehicle so we may launch our payload again. Plans are in the works with our space services company to do at least 2 more launches this year and even a deep space mission in 2012.
Well it seems as if I have gone on long enough now, so I'll sign off and tell you more about the IPO and our other programs in a future post.
Be well and I am yours in success,
Randall
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