Lately, the weather hasn’t been so great, but we’ve been asked to show for launch attempts anyway. Sometimes the weather has been so bad we haven’t even rolled out! The rationale behind showing anyway is that we really don’t want to risk missing a launch opportunity. I think today is the fourth actual attempt, depending on how we count them.
We’re hopeful for this one, mostly because the weather guy predicted very good weather for today, but also partly because of the penguin we saw at LDB yesterday. Why is the penguin relevant? The day before ANITA launched, there was a penguin wandering around LDB. So, if there was a penguin here yesterday, maybe that means we’ll launch today!
Anyway, we left McMurdo at 3 AM and are aiming for an 11 AM launch. Updates will come…
5 AM: We’ve rolled out and are hanging from the Boss.
6:00 AM: Winds aren’t looking so great right now. We’re on a weather hold for a bit.
9:30 AM: Still waiting for the weather to improve…
11:30 AM: And it’s been scrubbed. The winds are just too high. We’re trying again tonight.