Back in May of this year we enjoyed beautiful weather while visiting the “Emerald Isle.” A couple of hours drive generally west of Dublin, Ireland is the town of Birr, and Birr Castle Demesne.
The Leviathan of Parsonstown.
We took a guided tour inside the castle itself which is only offered during certain months of the year. The castle is not just an unoccupied museum piece but is the home of Brendan Parsons the 7th Earl of Rosse and his wife. The Parsons family have lived at Birr Castle since 1620. They celebrated their 400th anniversary last year.
We were able to walk and explore the extensive surrounding grounds or demesne (domain) which included award winning gardens, historic science center, I-LOFAR radio telescope, lake, river, waterfall, huge treehouse playground and the main attraction I was there to see, the The Great Telescope.
Two trips to central Florida and the Kennedy Space Center in late August and early September with launch tickets in hand have unfortunately resulted in two scrubbed launch attempts of NASA’s first spaceflight of the Artemis Program.
Known as Artemis I, technically a flight test of the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that NASA will use to get back to the Moon. This mission, if all goes as planned, should last 25.5 days and will take the unmanned Orion spacecraft to the Moon for a series of orbits and then back to Earth. Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars.
Artemis I on Launch Pad 39B on Sept. 3, 2022.
Artemis I on Launch Pad 39B on Sept. 3, 2022. This image was taken from the Apollo Saturn V Center using a 400mm lens. Artemis is about 3.5 miles away. The rocket was eventually moved back to the VAB to ride out Hurricane Ian.
Artemis I on Launch Pad 39B on Sept. 3, 2022. This image was taken from the Apollo Saturn V Center.
The VAB's giant doors seen from across the Indian River in Tutusville.
The VAB's giant louvered doors seen from across the Indian River at Kennedy Point Park in Titusville, FL.
Artemis I Across the Indian River
Artemis I as seen on Launch Complex 39B across the Indian River at Kennedy Point Park in Titusville, FL.
Artemis I and Boat
A boat passes between Artemis I and the camera as viewed from Kennedy Point Park in Titusville, FL.
So why were the launch attempts scrubbed? An issue with one of the RS-25 engines not reaching adequate temperature halted one. The RS-25 rocket engines are the same powerplants once used by the Space Shuttle. They are the three big engines found on the back of the orbiter. There are four that are used on the SLS. Leaks during the fueling process caused the other attempts to be scrubbed. Then Hurricane Ian popped up on the radar and it was decided to call in the massive crawler to move the rocket stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to ride out the storm. As of this writing that is where Artemis I sits today.
However, things are starting to spin back up after Ian demolished much of the west coast of Florida and NASA announced today that the next attempt to launch Artemis I will come very early on Monday, Nov. 14 during a 69 minute launch window which opens at 12:07 a.m. EST. NASA has said that they plan to transport the rocket back to Launch Complex 39B as early as Friday, Nov. 4.
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