Que the "Imperial March"
Yes, continuing with the Star Wars theme down here, I have a post of both entertainment and bad news. This could open a whole can of worms on the "bad news vs. good news 1st" debate, which I don't want to get into. Good news & photos first.
The SBI team took a tour of the old "Pig Barn" was it is known, the old balloon integration facility at Willy Field. At this point it stands about 15-20 feet below the surface of the ice, with only the entrance plowed out to enable access. The use of this biulding has stopped since the new payload bays were brought down last year. It was called the "Pig Barn" because it had a large pink inflatable pig on top of the roof. However, this was either taken down, lost, or blew away, because its not there anymore! (too bad too).
Here we are:
During the last few days the bay doors have been opened a lot to allow the projects to go outside. When you open a door that is 3 storys high by 24 feet wide, it gets cold relaly fast, meaning we were bundled up as much as possible inside, but the Big Red parka is just too bulky to work in. Matt decided that his McMurdo hoodie, beard, and sunglasses ensemble makes him resemble a dark Jedi, complete with icicle light saber:
"Join me, and I will show you the true nature of the SBI project . . ."
Now the bad news. ANITA is 1st to launch, and has scrubbed (failed) the last 4 days in a row because of weather or technical issues. This would be ok, but they have been moving the preperation time an hour earlier each day, until it reached 4:30 and we decided we like sleep too much to try to watch someone elses balloon launch. The bad weather has rolled in now, so it looks like there is not much hope of me leaving before Christmas. Feel free to send me presents via e-mail. :(
Ending on a positive note, Matt makes some mean Italian Wedding Soup:
Think sunshine for us!
The SBI team took a tour of the old "Pig Barn" was it is known, the old balloon integration facility at Willy Field. At this point it stands about 15-20 feet below the surface of the ice, with only the entrance plowed out to enable access. The use of this biulding has stopped since the new payload bays were brought down last year. It was called the "Pig Barn" because it had a large pink inflatable pig on top of the roof. However, this was either taken down, lost, or blew away, because its not there anymore! (too bad too).
Here we are:
During the last few days the bay doors have been opened a lot to allow the projects to go outside. When you open a door that is 3 storys high by 24 feet wide, it gets cold relaly fast, meaning we were bundled up as much as possible inside, but the Big Red parka is just too bulky to work in. Matt decided that his McMurdo hoodie, beard, and sunglasses ensemble makes him resemble a dark Jedi, complete with icicle light saber:
"Join me, and I will show you the true nature of the SBI project . . ."Now the bad news. ANITA is 1st to launch, and has scrubbed (failed) the last 4 days in a row because of weather or technical issues. This would be ok, but they have been moving the preperation time an hour earlier each day, until it reached 4:30 and we decided we like sleep too much to try to watch someone elses balloon launch. The bad weather has rolled in now, so it looks like there is not much hope of me leaving before Christmas. Feel free to send me presents via e-mail. :(
Ending on a positive note, Matt makes some mean Italian Wedding Soup:
Think sunshine for us!
posted by Nathan at
1:04 PM
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