Yesterday I attended the Ares I Test Fire to start what I hope will become an Away Team. This time I saw no other Seventh Fleet members there, though there were a lot of people there that's not to say there wasn't anyone else there, just that I didn't see them. ATK gave away some SWAG (Stuff We All Get; Freebies): Ball Caps, Sun Visors, Mint Chocolate candy bars, free bottled water in coolers. Unfortunately I missed the guys giving away the ball caps and sun visors, however will look for that the next time I go. When I arrived there was over 45 minutes left on the clock and it was counting down. They stopped at 35 minutes for a check, then 9 minutes for the final check where they sang the national anthem. Afterward they played the tune at the end of "Star Trek: First Contact" over and over during the count down. If you listen closely to the second clip on the video I posted to YouTube, then you can hear it a bit. That clip starts at 30 seconds remaining and ends after they halted it with 20 seconds remaining on the clock. Even after they 'committed' the rocket to fire at 70 seconds. The rocket motor's 'thrust-control vector' -- the mechanism that moves the nozzle on the rocket motor -- suffered an hydraulic fuel-valve failure, and the test firing was canceled. The test will be rescheduled for no earlier than Tuesday.
Keywords: ATK, Thiokol, NASA, Ares I, Test Fire
