Having a Blast Near Kennedy Space Center

Keith and I spent three nights (Dec. 16, 17, 18) in New Smyrna Beach City Marina.  On our first full day there we were lucky to get decent weather and put some additional sealer on the outside decks.  Keith was also able to reorganize the lazarette in anticipation of storing some supplies for the Bahamas.  On our second full day, Keith drove to Orlando to play golf at Bay Hill Golf Club with good friend Peter Ferrara.

Keith at Bay Hill

Starliner Rocket Launch

Thursday Dec. 19th we headed to Cocoa Beach, FL.  The marina we stayed in overnight is just across from Kennedy Space Center.  There was a rocket launch Friday morning at 6:36AM.  The Boeing CST-100 Starliner had a test flight using the ULA Atlas V rocket to launch it into orbit.  This is one of Boeing's spacecraft that is anticipated to be used to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).  Private companies are now partnering with NASA under the commercial crew program to bring manned space flights into the future.  Since the NASA Space Shuttle Program was ended in 2011, astronauts to the ISS have had to travel via Russian spacecraft.   The unmanned Starliner was launched into orbit with the intention to have it  rendezvous with the International Space Station and then return to earth.  If this test flight had gone well, a manned flight to the ISS was anticipated for the first half of 2020.  This would return American astronauts to space in our own spacecraft.  Unfortunately, the Starliner failed to reach its proper orbit and will not be able to dock with the ISS.  It now remains to be seen how long it may take to work out the glitches from this latest mission.  A manned flight may not take place for some time.  Despite the setback, it was a fascinating thing to see the rocket take off.  It took less than 2 minutes for it to reach over 17 miles above the earth and by 3 minutes it was traveling at 5 times the speed of sound.  The booster rockets burned propellant at a rate of about 2,800 lbs per second (and we think we burn diesel fuel fast when traveling at our cruise speed of 20 knots).

Rocket heading skyward

Even through it was still dark, the rising sun caught the smoke from the rocket exhaust several miles up into the morning sky

From Cocoa Beach we made our way to Stuart, FL where we stopped and had lunch and dinner with Keith's parents.  After Stuart it was on to West Palm Beach, FL.  Here we will stay for several days over Christmas.  We plan to visit with several friends as well as return via rental car to Stuart to see all of Keith's immediate family on Christmas Day.  Thursday December 26th we plan to provision for our pending trip to the Bahamas.  We also have friends Russ and Michelle Reynolds from Ocracoke, NC arriving to join us for our first week in the Bahamas.  It looks like there will be a weather window Sunday Dec. 29th for us to cross the Gulf Stream from Miami, FL to Bimini, Bahamas.  With all the visiting and getting last minute things ready for the Bahamas, this may be my last post from the good old USA for awhile.  I should have internet in the Bahamas, and once we get settled in I will  get to posting our adventures.  The posts have been a bit slow of late I know, but stay tuned as I think things are about to get exciting.