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Coundown to ASTRO-E Launch: Kevin's Journal (1)
This is too easy. Something has to go wrong. Wait, I know; it
already happened -- the vending machine is busted, so there's no Coke
or Royal Milk Tea.
The food last night at the Kodama Inn was better than at the Kawasaki,
and 500 Yen cheaper too. Fujimoto-san is traveling to Tokyo
with me tomorrow. Saves a cab fare, and I don't have to find my own way.
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Rich and I arrived at the launch site about 1:30 PM, after two days of
travel. First you fly to Narita airport in Tokyo, but no flights arrive
in time to make a connection to Kagoshima. So you spend the night in Tokyo
and fly to Kagoshima in the morning (from the other Tokyo airport). Then
there's a 1.5 hour bus ride to Kanoya, followed by an hour and a half cab ride
along a tortuous coastal road. Finally you arrive in Uchinoura, a small
fishing village of about 6000 people that absorbs an influx of
several hundred rocket people twice a year.
Tonight we had some excellent seafood and karaoke. Fujimoto-san
sang eagerly, after we dragged him by his feet to the front of the room.
Today we visited
the vertical assembly building. The first two stages of the rocket are
already there. We'll be working on the 8th floor, where we'll have access
to the spacecraft through a small hole in the nose fairing.
Detailed functional test of
all systems. Everything is go.