Launch Into Darkness

After taking two astronauts up to the space station and returning them to the Earth, the Crew Dragon capsule has gone on to launch four people at once (including a Japanese astronaut, which reminds me of the Space Brothers anime bringing in real-life astronauts as historical figures for all that I can’t remember the names to know if Soichi Noguchi was among them). The launch window wasn’t “past my bedtime,” but it was definitely dark in Florida for all that the rocket was well-lit on the launch pad (with both the “historical and current” and “old new” NASA logos now painted on its second stage where the cameras can notice them). After a first delay due to weather I had wondered what would happen, but things worked better on the second try even if it was a bit of a surprise for the pad lights to be switched off between ignition and liftoff. In the darkness all the streaming video picked up were the exhaust flames, which left me uncertain about whether they were licking out further at the base of the rocket; the second-stage rocket nozzle also seemed to glow more than it does in daylight.

The capsule got into orbit, though (even as I wondered how much privacy it offers anyone on its day-long trip to the space station). It’s an ambiguous thing even so for this to have “the last bit of obvious competence in the United States” thoughts, but after all the lumps NASA has taken in my lifetime it’s still somewhat all right to find it there (regardless of how much attention or suspicion is directed at SpaceX).