Sometimes you need to rest and let the rockets fly as they may #JCSAT14 #SpaceX #Falcon9

Even though it would have taken a simple alarm and sitting up in bed to look at the window, we missed this launch as we were all sick and needed our rest. I actually thought that we would be woken up by the rumble, but not this time. With a long launch window as well, it could have turned into a very long night. Just to gauge how sick we were, I stayed home from hockey the previous Friday night and I rarely miss hockey! I did head dow to Port Canaveral to snap a few photos of the first stage after it returned from landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. It was an impressive site to see the scale of the first stage compared to the tiny workers at it's business end preparing the hardware to get loaded on a flatbed truck a few days later. Another notable milestone is that this may have been the 50th launch since Jen and I moved to Florida in Sept 2012. I will need to check the stats and figure out when the 50th launch we "not miss" will occur. As I write this month-late blog entry, another first stage has arrived at the Port! The pace of space is picking up, and the place for space is the Space Coast!

Twitter original text: She's still got legs. SpaceX Falcon 9 1st stage at Port Canaveral from #JCSAT14 launch. #CapeLife #Falcon9 #SpaceX

I finally used my giant lens from my Dad to get several zoom shots of the rocket. From my tweet: The relative scale of rockets is sometimes lost with photos online. Check out my extreme zoom of #JCSAT14 #Falcon9

One little green carabiner holds the entire vertical load of the rocket against the Cape winds. Yes there are guide wires and the rocket is welded down, but that is still an impressive green machine!

The official stats:

May 6	Falcon 9   •  JCSAT 14
Launch time: 0521 GMT (1:21 a.m. EDT) Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the JCSAT 14 communications satellite for Tokyo-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. JCSAT 14 will support data networks, television broadcasters and mobile communications users in Japan, East Asia, Russia, Oceania, Hawaii and other Pacific islands. Delayed from late 2015, April 28, May 3, May 4 and May 5. Read our full story. [May 6]

Space!

Ryan