Fired Up

     Image Credit: NASA
FLAME ON:  Math, music and more were on our agenda today, but one 'don't miss' item was watching a rocket firing test this afternoon. 

Specifically, at 1:30 our time, we tuned into NASA TV to watch 'pre-game' coverage. Coming up was a 535-second test of its Space Launch System (SLS) RS-25 rocket engine, live from NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

The test was to collect engine performance data as part of the process for getting the engines ready for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), which will (hopefully/ohpleaseohpleaseohplease) finally get our space agency back in the business of launching astronauts from American soil.

The engine is actually the same one that was used on the good ol' space shuttle for decades. NASA is updating it with an all-new engine controller and other electronic upgrades, all of which have tot pass rigorous temperature and pressure conditions they will experience during a SLS mission. When they're used for an actual test flight a couple of years from now, four of these engines will be strapped together. 

Per NASA, today "more than 1,200 people, including elected officials and community leaders, media and social media representatives, and NASA and contractor employees and family members viewed the test. Guests saw Stennis facilities and test stands, the Aerojet Rocketdyne engine assembly facility, and the Pegasus barge that will transport the SLS core stage from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Stennis for testing then to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch."

I would think most of the 1,200 people found all this fascinating. However, as we were watching the test, I couldn't help but notice one woman in the foreground. ... 

          Image Credit: NASA

I captured this screen shot when the test just started, but within one minute, they showed the crowd again, and I pointed at the screen and said to the kids,"Oh my god, she's texting!" 

The test was so loud, so dynamic, so awesome, but there was this woman, turned to her right, texting away. Incredible. 

And so, for the next five minutes, we watched for her (we named her Myrtle) in the crowd to see what she was doing. She was doing basically anything but watching the rocket engine fire, so we discussed things she was, perhaps saying or thinking. They included ...

"This is taking FOREVER! Don’t ever make me do this again, Phil!" (Myrtle's husband)

"Seriously, I need to post on Facebook about how boring this is. #notimpressed ."

"Can we just go to Olive Garden now?!

And Myrtle kept looking to the right, for some reason. We wondered if, perhaps a squirrel had wandered into the test viewing area.  ...

Anyway, even though Myrtle wasn't impressed, we thought it was pretty darn cool!

You can watch the whole 45-minute program we watched here: https://youtu.be/fKCI7K2-NEE

Or, you can just fast forward to the 31-minute mark and watch the rocket engine come to life (and watch for Myrtle's indifference).

For more information about NASA’s Space Launch System, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/rocket.html