Col. Haston brought us over to the VAB, circling it from
the back and bringing us within throwing distance of
the rooftop and the press site. I could see some of the
press corps flashing lights at us, their way of saying hello
- we were close enough that I could see the light from
the LCD screens on their cameras.
We positioned ourselves just north of the VAB and
hovered with a great view of Falcon 9 out the left side of
our Pave Hawk. We listened to the launch commentary
on our headsets and watched in awe as the Falcon 9
roared to life under cover of darkness. The power of
its nine Merlin engines turned night into day and the
entire landscape of Kennedy Space Center lit up. The
rocket and its Dragon spacecraft accelerated quickly
through the atmosphere, vanishing as it climbed above
the Pave Hawk’s rotors and out of view, at which point
Lt. Col. Haston tilted us up so I could get in a few more
shots. We then circled to try and position ourselves for
another view, but by that time the rocket was already
gone, still visible, but already on the edge of space en
route to the International Space Station.
Shortly before “lights out” as we took to the skies over Florida’s
Space Coast to clear the Eastern Range for the SpaceX COTS-2
launch.
Night vision displays green because
the human eye can distinguish more
shades of green than any other color.
With that, our mission was complete, and we
headed south back to Patrick. As we approached Port
Canaveral, the first stage of the Falcon 9 was already
re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, shining as bright as
a comet as it plunged back to Earth. Upon reaching
the Port, Lt. Col. Haston decided to show me a little
more of what the Pave Hawk could do, performing
some maneuvers that most would describe as a roller
coaster ride over Port Canaveral. I’m sure some of the
folks on the ground wondered why a Pave Hawk was
going crazy in the sky, but it sure was fun.
“Day launches are my preference as you encounter
wildlife from the aircraft. You can see various fish, turtles
and dolphins, and the occasional whale while flying
over the wide open ocean,” said Lt. Col. Haston. “But
supporting any landmark launch, like this one, is always
a great thing to be a part of.”
Landing at Patrick was the end of my day, or night,
depending on how you look at it. But for the crews I
flew with, it was just the beginning, as they were getting
ready to perform a search-and-rescue operation for a
ship 1,200 miles off the coast of Florida in the area of
Bermuda. Their motto, “These things we do, that others
may live” is a way of life for the men and women of the
920th Rescue Wing, and I am honored to have flown
with them, twice, to cover a launch which marked a
pivotal turning point for America’s space program.
For more information on the 920th Rescue Wing, visit
their website: www.920rqw.afrc.af.mil or follow them on
Facebook: www.facebook.com/920thRescueWing.
www.RocketSTEM.org
Ignition of the Falcon 9’s nine Merlin engines as seen from aboard
the Pave Hawk.
A 920th Rescue Wing Airmen, fully equipped with night-vision
goggles, spies the surroundings only seconds before takeoff.
45
45