My NASA InSight Launch Experience

Written by: Neil Durham

May 3, 2018

  Some of you are wondering how I got the chance to be apart of the NASA Social Team. My name is Neil Durham, a professional Fine Art Photographer, and I follow NASA on social media and keep up with their updates and posts. I follow the NASA media feed just about every day. I noticed one of their posts said that they were looking for applicants for their Social Media Team. Without hesitation I applied and sent in my application. Three weeks later to my amazing surprise, I receive an official NASA acceptance letter! What a way to start my day! One of the coolest notifications I’ve ever woken up to!

What follows are all the photos from my experience and adventure with NASA Social Team.

  My journey started off May 3rd in Lompoc, CA. I drove down from Portland, OR. My goal was to get to Lompoc, CA where the first interplanetary launch was set to go down at Vandenberg Air Force Base on May 5, 2018.

Arrival

  When I arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) to no surprise I was stopped at the gate. After I was asked to show my ID I told them I was part of the NASA Social Team. I followed the guard, who showed me where to park my car. I was excited to finally be so close to NASA and my childhood dream. People by the dozens, were already checking in and introducing themselves. At check in I got my cool NASA name badge and paper to give me access into the Air Force Base. They told us NOT to lose that paper! Or they will not let us onto base.  

NASA InSight Briefing Room

  The first place I was allowed to visit was the InSight briefing room. We loaded onto huge coach buses and as we got off the buses we approached our first destination:the NASA InSight Briefing room. Nobody knew what was inside the walls, but as we entered the briefing room the entire landscape was packed with people, all the NASA history set before me. I was so stoked to be here. Once inside the space I was in the room where the InSight Launch Briefing was being broadcast live. We arrived on site an hour before press was allowed entry. During this time we had the chance to talk to NASA scientists and engineers who are currently working on projects at the base.

NASA InSight Lander

  In the room was a life-sized detailed replica model of the InSight lander along with MarCO, which will help transmit data from InSight to Earth. Even though they were replicas it was an amazing sight and impressive, it took my breath away to see.

Mars Cube One (MarCO)

MarCO will provide NASA the ability to quickly transmit information about InSight to and from Mars. Built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. CubeSats are miniaturized satellites used for space research.

Materials used for InSight

These were some of the materials they had arranged on the table with one of the scientists there to explain what each part did. The silver cube is actually insulation for InSight.

HoloLens Demo:

  While we were waiting for the briefing they told us they had the Microsoft HoloLens on demo. I’ve known about the HoloLens for some time now but never had the chance to see one in person. I have known about this for some time now so I couldn’t wait to try it out for myself. When I put on the HoloLens I could see in my point of view a window. When you looked anywhere outside of that window you could see the real world as it is. The effect of these two together make it seem like you in a virtual reality world. NASA put together this Mars themed demo where they took pictures from the surface of mars and stitched together these photos to create a panoramic VR world of Mars. This blew my mind! As I put on the HoloLens it was if I were actually walking on Mars! I did a little snooping around and if you walked far back enough you could actually see a VR version of the Curiosity rover.

Going LIVE (NASA TV)

  After taking so many pictures of the InSight lander & talking with a few scientists. It was time to go LIVE. The photos below were taken during the LIVE broadcast. You can watch the LIVE broadcast by Clicking Here!

  Dr. James Green the director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA holds a chip that has 2.4 million names on it that will be flying with InSight to Mars. He talks about Mars quakes caused by meteorites, as well as avalanches picked up by Mars reconnaissance Orbiter's. InSight will give us information about the size of Mars’s core, which we will later compare it to our own planet. Doing so will help us understand more about the origin of our solar system. Then we can further understand why things are the way they are today. The heat probe from InSight will go down about 16 feet and measure the temperature difference, which will tell us more about how Mars is evolving. Additionally he says “Mars has a 170 degree Fahrenheit change in one day”.

  Next on stage was Tom Hoffmen (Left) Tom is the InSight Project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and has been working on the InSight project for seven years; he has been there since the beginning of the project. Bruce Banerdt (Right) was the next on stage, he is the InSight Principal Investigator for NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He explains that, “.... the size of Mars Core and the density will tell us how much iron has sunk into the center of the planet and what other elements were brought with it”. He said, “it’s not just pure Iron or it would be frozen solid today”. “The seismometer that will measure the seismic waves from Mars quakes generated from the other side of the planet traveling through back up to the surface under InSight”.

Philippe Lognonne is the SEIS investigation lead at Institut de Physiqu du Globe de Paris. He explains the use of the seismometer and how it plays its role in the research of Mars.

  Tim Dunn (Left) is the Launch Director at NASA Launch Services Program Tim Dunn say that “They did a flight readiness review on Monday, then a mission dress rehearsal on Tuesday and lastly the launch readiness review”. Then he says “We are Go for Launch”, and the crowd starts applauding. “Before the launch they move the mobile service tower that surrounds the Atlas V that will happen at about midnight”. “Then they will need to put all the cryogenic repellent and liquid oxygen and hydrogen”. “That will happen about two hours before launch”. “Then if everything goes as planned the rocket should take off at 4:05 am”.

  Scott Messer (Right) is the Program Manager at NASA Missions and United Launch Alliance. Scott tells us “United Launch Alliance has launched five times this year.” “We are expecting this launch to be the one hundred and twenty eighth consecutive successful launch from the ULA. He says “Half of our launch Atlas vehicles have launched with this configuration”. Also mentions that the spacecraft was originally sized for a Delta 2 rocket, they proposed the Atlas V idea to NASA which later helped with the decision making. “100 percent of our missions have been successful in the past 10 years”.

Colonel Michael S. Hough is Commander, 30th Space Wing and Western Range, Vandenberg AFB, California. The wing's forces conduct spacelift and range operations, and support operational and developmental missile system testing for the Department of Defense from the West Coast of the United States.

May 4, 2018 (Day 2)

NASA Mission Director’s Center

  The second day started off similar to yesterday. Getting on the bus, our first stop the NASA Mission Director’s Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base. That was where we met John Demko who is NASA’s Resident Office Manager. Mr. Demko explained what goes down in the Mission Director’s Center. He explains that the day before launch, workers start filling up this room at 11pm to get ready for the countdown. He also explains that when he went to engineering school they mentioned “If you do a good job, no one should ever want to know your name”.

Western Range Operations Control Center (WROCC)

  After we had toured the Mission Director’s Center our next stop was the Western Range Operations Control Center. As we pulled into the WROCC a man gets on the bus and tells us NOT to bring any electronics inside the building. He also mentioned that we have to leave our Apple Watches on the bus too. At this point I knew whatever they were going to show us was kept in secrecy. Walking in I noticed that the auditorium was filling with people from our team and the Air Force. We were greeted by a lady from the Air Force who showed us a powerpoint as well as explained some of the top secret projects that are currently in the works. Thoroughly going through the launch plan diagnostics, she pointed out at one point that if the rocket strays too far from the launch path that they would need to destroy it.

  When the powerpoint was over then they split us into groups of 10. Then we continued the tour to a control center at the base. This was more unique than other control centers in the way that they were set up to simultaneously launch two rockets. That’s when he explained that they usually only have half of the room filled with technicians. The next room was the Air Traffic Control center. I have never seen anything remotely close to this in my life! As they showed me an aerial view of LA, the screen was covered with all sorts of numbers which identified all the aircraft and ships in the area. There was so much air traffic in LA it looked like a three year old scribbled all over the screen.

  Our next stop on base that we visited was one of my favorites; it houses the mission destruct button. I couldn’t hesitate and asked if I could test it. That was when he let me and the rest of my group go through the steps needed for a test destruct. It was very simple in fact. A glass covered two buttons and once you lifted it you found two buttons side by side. One was yellow which read “Arm” as the other you can get the idea which button that was. It was red with a label “Destruct” above it. Getting to hit the destruct button myself was exhilarating and definitely one of the highlights from today.

Vandenberg Space and Missile Heritage Center

  The last destination before seeing the Launch Pad was the Vandenberg Space and Missile Heritage Center at space complex 10. Plus it is also Vandenberg's only National Historic Landmark. It was here that they showed us where they make the payload fairing. This is the outer shell that protects the InSight that goes on top of the Atlas V. When the technician was explaining he mentioned that these rockets were very similar to the ones used for ballistic missiles, but obviously without the explosives package. One of the technicians was working on the payload fairing and something dramatic happened. That instantly reminded him that it was still live.

Space Launch Complex 3 (SLC-3) Atlas V

  As we approached the launch pad complex three and unloaded the buses, I gazed my eyes upon one of the most remarkable and complex pieces of science I have ever seen! It was so fulfilling to be there in person. I was only a few hundred feet from what would become history. That felt as though I were on cloud nine for a few minutes. Knowing that even tomorrow InSight will be thousands and thousands of miles away was insane. The presence of the Atlas V was extraordinary.

Day 3 (T-Minus 10)

  There was a 20 percent visibility rate for the rocket launch. I spent a lot of time researching different places in the area where I might be able to witness the launch. They had told us if we stand above 600ft that our chances of seeing the launch were more than likely. What I had concluded from my research was that Mt. Figueroa would be a good location to view the launch. So I left my hotel around 2 am and drove about an hour and twenty minutes to Mt. Figueroa. In the meantime, I had planned to meet friends there from the NASA Social Team to view the launch. I was hyping up the launch so much that I did not sleep. So after driving on this extra windy and steep hill for 45 minutes I finally got to where I wanted to set up for the launch. A few moments later the friends from the NASA Social Team joined me. My buddy who helped me drive from Portland was there too trying not to fall asleep. I was still running off my adrenaline from the day before, not to mention a RedBull that kept me from falling asleep at the wheel. As the time got closer, we were all set up to view the launch by this point. My buddy who somehow got service when no one else in our group did, mentioned that the rocket is lifting off in 5 minutes.

  T-minus 10, 9, 8... and the rocket begins liftoff! I begin to see a glow in the far distance. It began to gradually get brighter as the Atlast V was getting further and further from the launch pad. At this point I was so star stuck from this rocket that I had stopped photographing so that I could just witness with my own two eyes and not through a lens for once. Being able to see the rocket was astonishing. At one point you could see a trail behind the rocket as it got closer to space. For me it almost looked like a backwards meteorite as the trail went upwards instead of down.

  Being able to capture that brief moment of history was exhilarating! I wanted to do something a little different from what other photographers had in mind. When you see light trails of the rocket in photos you know that it was a successful launch because you can follow the path the rocket once took. Capturing those brief few moments after liftoff is what I wanted to achieve. For me I find it more awe inspiring in those few second of not knowing whether it will be a successful launch of not. That was my reasoning behind my photo of the launch.

Special thanks to Stephanie Smith, Ryan Bell and Kaitlyn Soares including the rest of my NASA Social Team and all those who worked on the InSight Launch in it’s success that made this trip a memorable experience to never forget!