National Aeronautics and Space Administration

There I am, on my way! The launch photos are awesome. But you know what’s even cooler? You can watch the launch in a QuickTime video (about 1.8MB)! The video is really cool — you get to see what it looks like from the ground, the sky, and even a special view from the rocket. Yeah, they mounted a camera up here with me! I call it the “XRS-eye view.”

I can’t believe how fast everything happens during launch. When the countdown got to zero, the first stage of the rocket ignited and I was up, up, and away! That only lasted 75 seconds, until the second stage ignited and the first stage separated (you can see that in the video). A few minutes after that, the nose fairing opened up and I came out! I was on the ground and four minutes later I’m out in space, headed into orbit. Incredible.

So everything is going great up here! So good, that some things have happened ahead of schedule! Right after launch I run on battery power, and they’re not supposed to deploy the solar panels for a couple days. But that happened during our second orbit.

A few hours after launch, I learned the new name for our mission. No longer are we Astro-E2 – now we are Suzaku! It’s named after an Asian god which has the form a bird. It is the guardian of the South and a symbol of renewal. It is also red, which is a color for celebration!

And boy has there been a lot of celebration! The team members at the launch were so excited to see me launch and make my first orbit… I hear that there was a lot of cheering and a big press conference. And back at Goddard, over 100 of my friends got together to watch the launch live (though a special webcast) and celebrate over there. Two parties, just for me! You can see a picture below of part of the team in Japan after launch — look at those grins!

It’ll be quiet for the next few days. Mostly the spacecraft people will work to perfect the orbit. And in about a week they’ll extend the “optical bench”. This will put the mirrors at the right distance from me so the x-rays will be focused perfectly. I won’t take my first observation for about another three weeks. Until then, I guess I’ll enjoy the view!

Up, up, and away! I got off the ground at 12:30 PM JST… and I’m on my way into orbit. I’m too excited to be scared. This is unbelievably cool.

The weather at the end of the week was really ugly, and everyone was worried that there would be more delays. But it didn’t look too bad, so they went ahead and gave the “GO” for launch. They finished pumping the helium dewar in the evening and then sealed off the valves. I’m cold!

The first team members came and woke me up around 1 o’clock this morning (no sleeping in on launch day) so they could check on the dewar one more time and do one last test. Then they sealed up the access holes and turned on the air conditioner to keep me cool up here on the tower. And that’s when things got really exciting!

The whole launch sequence is really complicated and hard to remember, but there are some cool parts. They started working with all of the computer systems that make the launch work properly (for me and the rocket). Then the rocket team rotated the launcher into position and tilted the rocket to aim me for the proper flight into orbit. And then I just got to wait while they warmed up the gyros, prepped the rocket, and got things into place for launch! I was so nervous… it felt like I was sitting there forever, just waiting. It didn’t help that they kept checking the weather all day and making decisions about whether I’d actually get launched. Talk about anxiety!

But the weather looked good, and suddenly it was pretty much time to go. The signal system for launch is neat — they put out a yellow flag here this morning, and then changed it to a red flag 30 minutes before the launch and played a really loud alert siren at the same time. These signals are all to warn ships and aircraft that we’re about to launch, and the Japanese police and coast guard also help out with keeping the area clear. Then 3 minutes before launch, they sent up some special fireworks to make sure everyone knew that it was time to get out of the way! I didn’t even notice. They started the rocket timer at 50 seconds… ready… set… liftoff!

I’m glad they made me go through all of those vibration tests and spin tests and everything, because I don’t think I ever realized how it would actually be going up on that rocket. So noisy and bumpy! But I’m sealed in here, snug and safe and sound, headed off onto an adventure I’ve only dreamed about.

It’ll still be a few weeks before I start observing… they’ve got some tests (they don’t even end with launch) and things to set up. And Astro-E2 will get a new name — it’s Japanese tradition to rename the satellite after launch, and the new name is a secret until then. But I’ve heard that they’ve already come up with candidate names, so it’s only a matter of time before I know what it is!

See you in orbit!

The bad weather continues, and is predicted to go on for a few more days. So the next launch attempt will be on Sundy July 10 (11:30 PM EDT on July 9). You can view the launch on the web by going to http://en.jaxa.tv/. The page is in English, but the commentary during the launch probably won’t be. But, hey, “san … ni … ichi … uchiage” should be obvious!

Sunday is far enough away that the Goddard team will come and top off my helium tank in the next day or two. Gotta launch with as much liquid helium as possible, so I can last as long as possible once in space. There aren’t any gas stations I can stop at once I’m up there!