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| The media pack coraled behind crowd control barried outside the Operations and Checkout Building. |
At 1 am, April 5, an eager pack of reporters and photographers gathered in the car park, where four buses sat with their engines idling. I joined a queue of aspirants for a place on the first bus, but lost it when I went off to talk to some American and Dutch reporters. I wondered why some folks carried step ladders.
A NASA security van arrived, disgorging a dog and its handler. We were asked to step away from our equipment while the dog sniffed its way along the line. It was searching for any explosives that might be hidden in our cameras and bags.
Suddenly the word was given, and there was a mad dash to get aboard the buses. Seats at the front of the bus were prized over those at the rear, as that meant you would be first off the bus and better able to secure a spot affording a clear view of the astronauts as they walked out of their building to the astrovan.
After a drive of several kilometres we pulled up alongside a long three storied building in the KSC industrial area. This was the Operations and Checkout Building. Not looking very impressive even in daylight, the building looked even less so in the dark. Yet this was the building that houses the astronauts when they are at KSC, and where they have the famous last breakfast and get into their orange launch and entry space suits.
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Text, images and audio Copyright to Andrew Rennnie, 2010