C&MS: Leonid MAC 1999 mission

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Leonid MAC 1999:
Day 5 (November 15):
Cambridge and Final Equipment Tests

My unexpected wake-up call were the RAF fighters taking off for a training exercise at 10 a.m.! Although I was woke up out of a sound sleep, it seemed like 10 of them, so it might be a normal thing here instead of a clock! (ha ha!)

I decided to do my laundry right away. Later Michael, Klaas, Dave, and I decided to go to Cambridge. As we waited for the bus, we were joined by Bob Meyer, who was the flight engineer on the FISTA. We all had a great time and really enjoyed walking among buildings that dated back 4 to 9 centuries.

We're off to Cambridge. The left-hand image is Michael, Dave, and Klaas as we walk to the bus stop just outside of RAF Mildenhall. The right-hand image is a view out the bus window. This is my first experience with the narrow roads of England, not to mention the cars driving on the opposite side of the road from the United States! These are video frame captures from a video by Gary W. Kronk.

Something I thought I would never see is this ancient Norman church build in 1130 AD located in Cambridge. It is called the Holy Sepulchre Church. These are video frame captures from a video by Gary W. Kronk.

Can you spot the tourists? Dave Holman, Bob Meyer, and Klaas Jobse enjoying the sights at Cambridge. Captured frames from video by Gary W. Kronk.

Three views of sights around Cambridge University. The photo on the far left is of one of the buildings of King's College, and was build in 1599. Photographs by Gary W. Kronk.

We came back after dark. My team and a few other scientists were going out to the ARIA to do some testing of the equipment. We had two objectives. First, we wanted to practice observing with the headsets. We took video tapes obtained during last year's Leonid MAC and fed them into our headsets. We each learned how to adjust the headset with brightness and contrast that was suitable for each of us. Our second objective was to come up with a plan for tabulating the data just in case Chris' computer failed. He was having some problems during our flight across the North Atlantic, so the problem might return. Ultimately, we decided we could work in teams of three, with two people observing and one recording the numbers. We would switch off every so often. We finished around 12:30 a.m.

Go to Day 6--November 16

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