There was a scheduled launch from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island to take place on November 11 at about 7:30AM. I had the 10th off from work, thus making this a long weekend. I decided to make it a road trip. My wife booked a room for us and I took a leisurely drive, stopping at Blackwater NWR on the way. Almost everything interesting at Blackwater was too far away to bother photographing. Even the huge swans were just white dots in the distance. I didn't linger because I needed to get to Chincoteague.
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| Ruddy Duck at Blackwater NWR |
Well, the launch was a bust. With only a minute to go, an aircraft strayed into the no fly zone. I read later that the aircraft was at 500 feet and 6 miles off shore. What? Is that a drug smuggler? When I was learning to fly my instructor drilled it into me, altitude gives you options; stay close to shore so you can glide to land if the engine fails. This pilot was clearly on a different script.
I was all set up on the causeway between Chincoteague and Assateague islands, camera on manual exposure mode, exposure set to be somewhat dark to compensate for the expected bright fire of the rocket, and enduring the cold wind. They aborted the launch, and launched the next day after I returned home. Oh well, I took this trip knowing that these things happen.
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| Before the Launch that Didn't Happen |
Later I drove to Assateague island and looked for birds. It was so uncomfortably cold and windy that I just wasn't having any fun and left after photographing a great egret and some gulls.
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| Gull on Assateague Island |
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| Gulls |
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| Gull |
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| Ah, You're Interrupting my Nap |
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| Great Egret |
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