Civvie Science Flight 31

low clouds ruined flying conditions earlier today and now winds are picking up off the ocean but Jeb will remain ready to carry out his mission next day cycle if conditions improve

looks like it is more sim time with Val for Jeb today as the storm we mentioned yesterday rolled in several hours ago and doesn't show any sign of letting up

crashing in the simulator is not a failure, it's just another lesson learned - thankfully without any serious injury, loss of life or huge cost of damages. Simulators FTW!

🎵🎶 Rain rain, go away
Jeb really wants to fly today 🎶🎵

we are currently hoping conditions improve to allow for mission execution after 3rd sunrise

Tracking Station roof is looking pretty empty now as the dish once atop it has been removed for its ground placement later this month. Also weather fails to cooperate for Genesis mission

beautiful day for flying! Unfortunately, instead of reporting for briefing earlier Jeb reported to the Med Center with gut pains. Docs have given him meds for GI inflammation & the rest of the week off. Val left yesterday for familial duties. Civvie mission postponed to Monday

Commander Valentina is back on duty but Captain Jebediah is also feeling better & cleared for duty by the docs so he will be taking up a Civvie next sunrise - weather should continue to be favorable

Jeb is being briefed while Val checks over the Civvie outfitted for this mission with a new camera system from CactEye Optics that should offer better aerial imaging. Mun is 3/4 full, providing some background illumination

Val says all looks good, Jeb is getting ready to climb aboard for preflight to be ready to go as soon as the sun clears the horizon to offer up enough light to allow for flight operations

winds calm, clouds up near 5km, Jeb has taxi & takeoff clearance for Runway 27, will fly standard departure to 800m then come about for a pass to the east while heading south at 1km ASL

Flight Control has a live feed of the camera and guides Jeb onto target to capture what we want. Here is a look from 1km ASL at a distance of 3.9km without zoom. This camera has a 2x wider field of view than our current mounted cams

zoomed in on KSC from the same point a few seconds later, covering a field of just 5°. Jeb will continue to circle & climb while Flight Control performs more imaging tests

almost 9km away (over ground, not angular) at 3km ASL, full zoom on KSC still shows great detail. This is looking like a solid purchase once CactEye addresses some issues we have with camera control. Jeb is spiraling down to land on Runway 09

not a whole lot you could have missed this week but just in case you weren't paying attention get caught up with bit.ly/OpsSummary11-2…