I was following the countdown during the day and 'stayed up' (launch was around 21:30GMT) for the whole thing. It wasn't too far behind the scheduled time either, I think only delayed by about 5 mins compared to the countdown timer. It must be a really impressive sight to see a rocket launch and I've just added it to my 'bucket list'. Maybe I can get a job as a book loader with Amazon?
Books in space
Of course even though launch went well doesn't mean it was out of the woods. Landsat 6 didn't make orbit, so I watched Sentinel 1b past the first three stages and the mission control team seemed happy so I left it at that (plus I was now just watching a computer simulation because no camera were on it). And although Landsat 7 did make it, the problems don't stop there. Sensors can develop problems (Landsat7 is optical - Sentinel 1a is RADAR) so lets hope it is all working fine in a few months time when calibration is complete.
So now the next big event is Sentinel 2a in 2015? Sentinel 1b won't be lauched until 2016. Considering how many funding applications and projects around the EU probably depend on the safe launch of these satellites we should probably have had a party afterwards! Shame the guys in the ISS couldn't see it - how cool would it have been if we could have followed it post launch on this!
ISS Cam
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