National Aeronautics and Space Administration

They woke me up before 2 o’clock this morning to start the launch rehearsal. I thought I’d be sleepy, but I was wide awake as soon as everything got started. I don’t think anyone could sleep through a rocket launch, even just a rehearsal. There’s so much going on, from the rocket to the launch area to the control room. The real thing will be just about the same… just much noisier and more nervous!

The team moved through everything as if it were the real launch. They did a couple of tests and disconnected things. I got rolled back out of the launch tower and then they went through the launch sequence. Everything went smoothly, and I was mock “launched” by early afternoon. Then we all went to get some sleep, because it had been a very long morning. But now they have practiced the launch and everyone is feeling good about the real deal!

Another rest day… the rocket team is working today, but I don’t have any tests or practices. I think all of my friends are glad about this, because we’re going to have to get up before dawn tomorrow to start our launch rehearsal! I don’t think they’re all morning people, especially when they’re still dealing with jet lag and long hours of pre-launch work. So I figure it’s worth it if I get to sleep in today, right?

The town of Uchinoura brought us a gift today. It’s a tradition – they brought a gift of many origami paper cranes to Inoue-sensei, who is the project manager for the whole mission. You can see the townspeople with the gift below. I also got another group photo to share. Here I am with several members of the team, from Japan and the US. It’s really fun to be here with such a big team.

The time has come to practice everything… rolling the rocket out, turning things off and on, and getting everything ready for launch. Today, the excitement was the practice rollout of the rocket. That was pretty cool! Since it’s been hot here, they’ve got an air conditioner to keep me cold out on the launch pad. So they rolled me out, checked communications between me and the antennae around the launch pad, tested the air conditioner, and practiced removing it like they will before the launch. Then they turned everything off and started taking pictures. I’m a star!

Tomorrow, the rocket team will be testing the ignition system. That’s gonna be loud! They’ll be doing the launch rehearsal over the weekend, too. It used to be test after test, and now it’s practice after practice!

Everyone is still hoping for our good weather to last… if you wanna see what it’s like here, you can check the weather forecast here. But it’s really hard to predict the weather! We’re all waiting to see how things look for all of the rehearsals and the big day.

Oh yeah, and my photos! I’ve got one of the rollout. There I am up top! Then I got a group shot with some of my Goddard buddies – Kevin, Juli, Rich, and Gary. Where do I get one of those cool hard hats?