We Did It!

Patti,

Well, we did it!!! The weather cleared up, they saw the clouds, they picked up the count, and we launched. The T=0 time was 09:33:30.00 GMT. The vehical, recovery and telemetry system worked perfectly. The experiment had some problems at T+30 sec and was not able to make any measurments. We are waiting now for the helicopter to return with the payload so that we can inspect it for any damage and begin checks to determine the problem that occurred during flight. Depending on the problem, we may not launch the rocket a second time. All we can do is to try our best, somethings you can't forsee. It's pretty quiet here today, everyone is bumbed out. The last part of yesterdays letter was written by Bruce Scott, he is the payload manager. Kate was here for the launch, she thought it was exciting.

I let her stay at the room today, last night was a late one. She will be here tomorrow, she loves writting to and answering the kids questions. I believe today was there last day. I hope they enjoyed the exchanges as much as we did, perhaps we can meet them when we return. Bruce had a good idea, whenever and whereever we go to launch rockets, if the internet is availble, we can have exchanges with whatever class you are teaching at the time. I'm not sure how much longer we will be here, but I will keep you posted on our status.

Thanks,

Bill