Antares Launch Success And 49,000 Pictures Later

You never know if a launch will happen, anything can cause a scrub or an abort. The first day of the scheduled Antares Cygnus 13, there was an abort for a ground sensor. We waited around for the word to check the remote camera gear at the pad. Eventually we opted for the next morning to check the gear at the launch pad.

NASA allows us to set up remote cameras near the launch pad. Cody Croswell had one Go Pro Hero 5 and one still camera (Cannon) we set up at the launch pad area. After the first abort we learned the batteries were not adequate, good thing we had another shot to reset the gear. Cody … “I have an idea for a more stable platform for the Go Pro Hero 8 and I am going to get another one.” We managed to get the rocket lifting up on the pad with the Go Pro, then the battery died.

The next morning I meet Cody at the visitors center to reset our gear. He has a five gallon bucket with fifty pounds of sand for a stable camera mount or platform. We load up in the van to head out the pad. “This thing feels like the weight of a dead body.” Everyone is laughing, and curious what is in the bucket. “Fifty pounds of sand to make a more stable platform.” The other photographers are intrigued. Everyone has their own “devices” they have created to make protective containers to safeguard their gear from the elements. Plastic storage containers, tool boxes and even mailboxes work well mounted on heavy tripods and staked to the ground. Some use heaters and dehumidifiers to protect the cameras, batteries, and electronics.

We had to come up with something, it was going to rain,and get very cold. Camera bags work well for rain, but there are other factors, cold being the most important for battery life. The bucket of sand is a stable platform to mount the Go Pros. With the air tight lid it is a nice dry container, that will also hold heat a little. Bigger battery packs for the Go Pro Hero 8 and 5, with hand warmers for a heat source and we were in business. Drill a few holes for the USB cords and seal with silicone sealant. Boom, launch bucket is a go! Now to see how she holds up. It kind of looks like R2D2, and is nicknamed such.

We set “R2D2”, seal the USB’s into the Go Pros with tape and silicone. It is raining. The Cannon still camera is on a tripod tied to “R2” wrapped in a plastic camera bag. The angles of the shots for all three cameras are set and ready to go. Now all we can do is hope the batteries last long enough, and the sound triggers work for the still camera.
Oh, I almost forgot, the first sound trigger had a bad pin so Cody fixed that on the fly and it seems to be working. The sound of the launch will set off the camera for burst pictures. The Go Pro Hero 8 and 5 are set for hyper-lapse, taking pictures every three seconds. They have one hundred and twenty-eight gig chips. The first battery fail only took 1.8 gigs of pictures, so we should have enough storage for the full twenty-eight hours until launch with fresh cards.

The next day we head out to the media viewing area and as everyone is setting up their cameras. NASA is having a conversation over the loudspeakers about the weather looking better tomorrow. We all look at each other, wait for it we say, they are going to scrub. Not two minutes later launch is scrubbed for better weather for the next day. We are told we can head to the pad in an hour to check remote gear, they haven’t fueled the rocket, we don’t have to wait for the crews to take the fuel out. The gear is good to go, but we don’t know how long the batteries will work. We do know they will not last forty-eight hours. However we only have one fully charged battery pack for a Go Pro.
Fortunately one Go Pro took video by mistake and didn’t use up any power. We switch the other battery pack out which is half used up. It might last, but why take the chance. Batteries in the sound trigger are changed as well. NASA doesn’t take chances, so we take a page from their book, we aren’t going to take a chance either.

Now we are on our third remote set up day. We have had a few mistakes, but a chance to remedy them each time. You don’t get these chances. Usually you find out the hard way after the launch what you did wrong and missed. Then you have to wait until the next launch to not make that mistake again. We are lucky to be able to keep resetting remote cameras. The rain has stopped we clean the cameras’ lenses. Not knowing we bumped the Cannon camera’s position. We head back to the Visitor’s center to head home and come back the next day for the launch.

Now at this point the remote cameras crew has gotten smaller, as well as the media crew. Not everyone can keep coming back for these launches. Many flew out here and had to head home. Others have “day” job commitments. I decide to pretty much blow off what I can and keep coming back, Cody does as well. As long as we can get what we need done we can keep going. We are all getting to know each other rather well and having a lot of fun. What else is there to do when you are waiting for a rocket to blast off, but get to know the crew. There is a lot of discussion about photography, everyone is learning from one another. It is launch attempt three for Cody’s first launch.

We are at the media field. The NASA crew sounds confident on the loudspeakers. Then again they always sound confident, monotone is their forte. They have to sound that way it is part of the job. At this point we are used to aborts, but no one wants to hear that word. A sound comes over the speakers, then a voice sounding garbled and someone laughs. “We have a hot mic, we have a hot mic.” We haven’t ever heard that before, apparently someone was sitting on a mic button. We all sigh with relief, we were waiting for abort to be said next. The countdown begins, we are two minutes out, the excitement is brewing along with relief. We are going to finally light a candle. They launch is scheduled for 3:21 PM, or three, two, one in the afternoon. They have to launch it is perfect. The countdown moves to the last ten seconds. The voice over the loudspeakers count down, and BOOM … NASA lights the candle. There are cheers of relief all around. Verizon wireless comes over the loudspeakers cancelling the connection. We joke that NASA hasn’t paid their cell bill.
We load up onto the media bus and can’t wait to get the remote cameras. Now we wonder what did we capture.

Fast forward to many hours later, we check the chips and realize there are over 49,000 still images on all of the cameras combined. The time lapses of two days recorded a lot of images, and only four images of the launch itself. Not to mention we have four days of shots and videos from the tours and the media area. The bumped Cannon camera gets a really interesting shot.

I love going to NASA, and despite having to go many times this week, I loved every second of it. Next up we might be able to surf fish that beach near the launch pad with some of the NASA staff. In the mean time the next Antares and Cygnus launch should be around August. We are getting R2D2 ready for his next adventure. This time we are going to try and get full video. Oh did you know we could put a Go Pro on the Cygnus and have it recovered for the low price of $500,000? Stay tuned, we have an idea.