A Rare Experience

We have experienced many unique sights in many locations throughout the world. Notably in Norway, Alaska, and the Swiss and French Alps. But nothing beats the isolated beauty of the Siberia Valley in New Zealand. We were flown in to this idyllic location by light plane, and after it departed, we were left as the sole occupants, to enjoy the perfect isolation that enveloped us. We were the only humans in that place on that perfect day, and the peace and quiet was only broken by the constant sound of the flowing clear blue river.
But time was too short, and we soon faced the 3 hour walk through the bush to our rendezvous point in the adjacent valley, where we were greeted by a couple of other humans for the jet boat trip back to civilisation.

Wait till tomorrow

It was a long wait yesterday, and after a couple of holds in the countdown, the launch was aborted with just 1 minute abd 55 seconds remaining.
It is now rescheduled for today and at the time of this blog, it means another wait for 13 and a half hours before hopefully it will blast off on its massive journey to the Sun, reaching speeds never before attained by a spacecraft. This is the ULA Delta-IV - the heaviest of the current range of active rockets. This 3 stage rocket produces the enormous thrust necessary to push the small payload towords Venus and then towards the Sun.