National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Guess where I am! I’m out on the launch pad! We now have a complete M-V-6 rocket. The weather was really nice today, so the rocket team got the “GO” to move everything out to the pad and finish putting the rocket together. It’s really neat how everything gets put together in pieces and then assembled at the end. Sort of like Legos.

They protected me with a big cover and then moved me out to the launch tower. The team used this huge crane (called a Goliath Crane) to push me out there, then the tower had its own crane to lift me up.

I have some great photos of all of the stuff that happened today. The first two are from the move, and you can see how giant everything is! Then I have a photo of the view down from here… so glad I’m not scared of heights! But it’s a great view of the water and everything.

The sun came back out, which makes everyone happy. We need good weather to have a launch! They’re finishing up with the encapsulation and I’m inside the nose cone, safe and sound. I’ll spend another night or two here, and then they’ll move me out to the launch pad. It’s so close, I can feel it!

They’re still doing all of these tests to make sure I’m working right. Everything’s getting closer to the big day, so the tests become more important. Here’s a photo of the nose fairing (the part I’m riding in) just after they removed all of the metal slings that had been holding it. There are still some holes for access to various things… like my liquid Helium tank, which will have to be topped off before launch. They’ll cover the holes after that.

The rocket team will be doing most of the work tomorrow, getting me ready for the big move out to the pad on Monday. Everyone hope for good weather!

It’s official! Everything has been checked and we’re cleared for a launch on July 6!

A couple days ago they attached me to the 3rd stage rocket motor. And today, after waiting through a 3-hour thunderstorm, we got “encapsulated” into the nose-cone of the rocket. It’s exciting, but Wow, I realized it’s the last time I’ll actually “see” my friends. Everyone has worked so hard to get me here. My NASA friends have always been making sure that I’m operating properly, and my Japanese friends have always made sure I’m comfortable on the spacecraft. It’s been great fun, and I’ve learned so much.

Even though I won’t see them, I know they’ll still be out there. There’s always one more check they want to make!

Check out the cool photo taken just before they closed up the nose cone!