"OK Tony, this thing is loaded. If you slip, we take out everything within a two-mile radius." Helium Man Charlie K5ENG Knows the power of sparkler powder...
"You realize of course that that soldering iron could blow the whole thing." Charlie and Payload Master Tony N5RPQ get the electric match wired in for the backup wing-glider cut-down system.
Scott WA5LHM came in from Georgetown, Texas, just to help out with the Final Final Integration Meeting. Actually he was hoping that this would really be the Payload Decoration Party. We fooled him! Photo Master Pete KD5ELH helps out with Scott's efforts to carefully position the main payload out in the backyard at The BLT Secret Lab in Sugar Land.
Payload Master Mike WA5TWT is not happy. It has been a long night. A last-minute test at midnight showed that the 1255 MHz ATV transmitter was causing unacceptable interference on the GPS frequencies. Mike has ripped out the original HATS (Houston Amateur Television Society) ATV transmitter. It has been relegated to the "excess" pile. Mike has requisitioned Andy's HATS transmitter...
Here we go! We're WAY beyond "the eleventh hour". The sun is coming up (or is the horizon moving down?), and this is NOT the original Main-payload ATV transmitter. It IS Andy's HATS rig! It is not just any HATS transmitter. It's prototype #2 built by Jeff Johnson. Can it even survive the rigors of temperature and vacuum at the edge of space? We will soon see...
We're done. We're cooked. It's all or nothing. It's raining. There's lightning all around.
George called at 5:50 AM... He said something about postponing the flight... Not Likely!!
Launch is scheduled for 10 AM on August 21, 2004 from the Wharton Regional Airport. Be There!!!