An ode to the Moon Goddess September 12, 2007
Posted by spacemom in : She Blinded me with Science , trackbackThe test was set, and commanding was approved
Waiting in space, the heaters shall disable
On earth, the DSN listens for the bird’s chirp.
But the Goddess stirs!
She demands the attentions of the antennae
She laughs at the Earthly weather!
A delay in her flight!
Now we wait in silence.
Will the Lunar Ruler grant us the time?
The time to check our lowly orb in the sky?
Or will she require us to wait
And bow to her needs?
SIGH…
Yes, we are conducting an operational test next week.
We need to check the spacecraft in a real-time communication,but the
schedule may change with the launch of a Japanese/NASA satellite. They
need to have the communications set for her burns to get into the
appropriate orbit around the moon.
And the schedule has already slipped a day due to weather.
May Selene** launch Friday, with no more issues!
This is my request today! Because I will have a hell of a great deal of paperwork to redo if this launch slips and changes the DSN schedule.
That is all!
**Astronomers, at least Americans, are very superstitious. Even though we know the name of the satellite, we use the former, on-the ground name, until it is in orbit. We did the same with our telescope, Spitzer did it, Hubble did it… It’s just how it works!
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