LONDON, ONT. -- They were planning to have a launch party at Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory at Western University, but astronomy and physics students had to settle for a virtual meetup for Wednesday’s planned SpaceX launch, but then even that was cancelled.
The first private launch of a vehicle carrying astronauts was set for just after 4:30 p.m. EST at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. It’s scrubbing, due to weather conditions,was a disappointment.
Earlier in the day, Parshati Patel, a PhD astrophysicist in astronomy and planetary science at Western University, was among those hoping the rocket carrying SpaceX’s Crew Dragon would lift off.
“I am pretty excited and decked out in my NASA gear, I don’t have SpaceX gear, but I’ve got my NASA gear and my moon earrings,” she tells CTV News.
For “space geeks,” as she affectionally calls herself and other space fans, the planned launch was a big deal.
“Nine years ago I think a lot of people were disappointed when the space shuttle program was no longer existing and they were wondering what is going to happen, Are we ever going to launch back again?”
And while it not happen Wednesday, it will soon, and Patel waits she is excited about a new kind of space flight.
“It is something that is very different. First of all, it hasn’t happened for so long, and you know space unites countries around the world. So this is a moment where everyone in the space community around the world is getting together for this new kind of era”.
The era will begin with orbiting astronauts, before moving to space tourism and finally to everyday space travel, Patel believes.
At Western there are many faculty, staff and students with a keen interest in the SpaceX launch.
While Western Space is not part of the research or development of the SpaceX rockets or spacecraft, Patel says the university continues to provide leaders to both the Canadian and U.S. space programs.
“We train the next generation of engineers and scientists and those could actually go on to help people like SpaceX send people to space."
And with multiple near and deep space research and build projects underway at Western, it may only be a matter of time before the purple flag is part of human space flight.
