Hold my beer :-)

I hope to get some sleep, but it will be a short night. We’re on set prepping for webcast from Hawthorne in predawn hours. Remember, this is the first test flight of the all-up stack. Goal is to learn from it. As Teddy Roosevelt said – “Far better it is to dare mighty things…”

Happy First Contact Day! As Troi said to Data and Picard - would you three like to be alone? Hey, it's a Titan! And here I am w/ a Titan IV years ago. Now it's Falcons and Starships. Spending time now working on webcast rehearsals for first test flight of Starship.

@DerekdotSpace Good point - tweeted without thinking longer on it. I was viewing this as a new type of RUD for Falcon 🚀 Not looking at the many vehicles that have crashed upon the moon in the past.

Ever notice the similarities between Falcon 9 and Santa's sleigh? Both have 9 'engines' (counting Rudolph). Both carry crew and cargo, and both land and can be reflown! Like the story says "More rapid than eagles his coursers they came"... obvious Falcon reference. On Merlins!

Fun launch of DART last night. Missed an opportunity to give the webcast a title :-) Something like “Revenge of the Dinosaurs!” Watching the asteroid impact animation reminded me of D-Day’s classic line driving the Deathmobile from “Animal House” movie… Ramming speed!

A few of my favorite phrases from sci-fi suddenly have new meaning. Fighting through landing-"Never give up, never surrender!" "Oh! My God! It's real," when we've done it. And of course "These are the voyages of the Starship(s)..." Cue the music. Now to work on video and clouds.

Exciting day & not over! #10 came through - flew to 10km, did the Adama maneuver, got the data we needed, flipped and landed! Time for #11...Geronimo! And more to come - I'm working Falcon 9 launch tonight. But no webcast for me, I've done mine today (abort, recycle, launch).

Anyone else think of this as we launch Starships SN8, SN9, and next up is SN10? And yes, I know what 10 said at the end :-) (But he did anyway.) And SN11 is in the mid-bay in Texas getting prepped.

Jan 28th - a day of mixed emotions. We're getting ready for flight of Starship SN9 ( But it is also a Day of Remembrance of past pioneers who helped get us here (. Ad astra per aspera God speed the crews (past, present, future)

If you see one movie this Thanksgiving, make it..... Can't believe only 61,090 views since 2007. I watch every year and share it with friends (at least those who saw the movie "Apollo 13" and will get it). A classic!!

Let the webcast rehearsals begin! Actually, we've already started.

@SmileSimplify No, I won't be at the webcast desk for either F9 launch. I get to watch the telemetry without having to talk, and sneak a glance at video! But beginning the preparation for NASA Crew-1 flight in October.

I realized in the webcast this morning's Starlink flight means the last 2 launches from historic 39A were the Demo 2 booster (1st flight, left) and the Demo 1 booster (5th flight, right). In the 2+ months in-between, the Demo 2 booster has already flown again (ANASIS-II mission).

@SpaceAbhi Pensacola brings to mind the movie "Contact". And the tune "Small Moves" for the contact scene where the aliens mention "Pensacola". "We thought this might make things easier for you".

Two Falcon 9s vertical on 39A & 40 today! Wish there was a good aerial photo of them. Future - SpaceX launch vehicles with payloads on top of both in countdown at same time. For now, look back at Gemini 11 and Agena target vehicle... launched ~97 minutes apart in 1966.

After yesterday's launch and Wednesday's scrub, I've got enough clips of me doing the weather that my next career might be local weather announcer. I can hear it --"I'm John I., Principal Weather Engineer for station XYZ. I'll be bringing you weather updates throughout the day."

Broadcasting from webcast desk, that's where I will see the launch from. At T-2:53, all going well. #LaunchAmerica Now, about the weather, it's the one thing we can't do anything about.