NASA Photo of Rocket Launch Pad At Wallops Island VA
It’s still hard for me to believe that the Eastern Shore of Virginia has entered the Space Age in an important way at Wallops Island, located at the extreme northern portion of the Virginia Eastern Shore just a few miles from the Maryland state line, nearly an hour and a half from our stomping grounds in Cape Charles VA. Wallops Island has long been home to what I have generally thought of as a rather remote NASA outpost for launching weather satellites, etc., but no longer, its entered the big time. Now named the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport and an important part of a NASA program to commercialize space efforts, Wallops is about to begin a whole new life as the re-supply location for the USA team’s efforts on the International Space Station. For reasons which I don’t entirely understand – it is rocket science after all – the physical aspects of Wallops, latitude, longitude, something, make it one of the few places in the US perfect for launching satelites and launching rockets with payloads into orbit destined for the Space Station. So now a company by the name of Orbital Sciences Corporation has a contract with NASA to fly 8 resupply missions to the Space Station from little ole Wallops Island and is in the process of test flights of its Antares rocket and its companion Cygnus cargo spacecraft there. ( The Orbital Sciences story is pretty interesting in and of itself because it was the brainchild of the folks behind Pay Pal. Who could have guessed that all those little Pay Pal fees would be enough to launch a brand new space enterprise ? )
Leaving after Antares rocket launch at Wallops Island scrubbed 4/17/13
Which brings us to yesterday. My husband, who loves the concept of flying in outer space, thought it would be interesting for us to go watch the launch of the Antares rocket and educational for the young grandkids to see it too. Unfortunately, one was out of town, one was home with a fever, which left just one able to go with us. So off we went, Hubby, 11 year old grandson who is in the Rocket Club at school, and moi, a little bit on the late side, surprise, surprise, but we made good time, remembered to slow down at Temperanceville so as not to get caught in their 45 mph speed trap, ( still looking for temperance in Temperanceville, which by the way is only a short distance from Modest town) . We took a back road to a little neighborhood which we knew overlooked one of the small bays between the mainland and Wallops which we thought would offer a great view and not be too crowded, arriving a mere 10 minutes before launch time. No sooner had we pulled into the only parking spot left on the whole road and begun walking across the grass to where about 50 other folks had lined up folding chairs to watch the event, when somebody shouted out, Mission Scrubbed and everyone began to leave. We waited around a bit, from our vantage point we could see everything perfectly, the rocket standing tall on the launch pad and then puff, a huge cloud of smoke, apparently from oxygen being released because of mission cancellation, still exciting to witness even without the liftoff.
Chincoteague Ponies Have Distinctive Markings
With a couple of hours of daylight left, we decided to drive to the nearby Assateague Wildlife Refuge, home of the well-known Chincoteague wild ponies. The ponies, made famous by the book Misty of Chincoteague, are part of the annual Chincoteague Pony Swim conducted in July each year by the volunteers of the Chincoteague Fire Dept. who care for this little herd of distinctively marked wild horses, compact in size, who live in the marshes, eating primarily salt marsh grass and sweet hay that the firemen put out for them in the winter. After swimming across the channel from Assateague to Chincoteague during the Roundup each year, the young ponies are auctioned off, the proceeds supporting the costs of maintaining the herd . Pony Roundup Day is a huge tourist day, with literally hundreds of thousands of folks visiting Chincoteague for the Swim, which is the reason why I’ve never attended. I just can’t imagine swiveling my neck 180 degrees around for a glimpse of a horse with 200, 000 other folks crowded round trying to see the same thing. But during the rest of the year it is not unusual to spot a pony or two when driving through the Wildlife Refuge. Didn’t see any ponies yesterday but we did decide to stop along the oceanfront beach and watch the waves rolling in for a bit. But even more fun was watching a fellow who was getting into surf casting big time, three extra fishing poles stuck in the sand and making some hefty casts into the rolling surf with the fourth. Didn’t catch anything while we were there but he seemed to be having a mighty fine time anyway.
By consensus, Wright’s Seafood Restaurant just a few miles away was selected as our dinner destination. Wright’s is located right on Watt’s Bay and I do mean right on— the front pilings of its foundation are actually right in the water. So if you want to enjoy waterviews during dinner, Wrights is a great option if you’re near Assateague. In business since 1971, Wright’s is famous for it’s Flounder Imperial, a fillet of juicy flounder layered with crab imperial and gently browned under the broiler. The sun was low in the sky as we pulled into Wright’s , the views were lovely, the three of us had a great time discussing the rockets our grandson is helping build in his school’s Rocket Club and looking at some images from the the NASA app on the iPad while waiting for dinner to arrive. A fine time was had by all even though the mission was scrubbed — and we still have hopes of trying again when the launch is rescheduled. ( Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA )
Tags: Antares rocket launch, Assateague Wildlife Refuge, Chincoteague Pony Swim, Chincoteague VA, Eastern Shore of Virginia, life on Virginia's Eastern Shore, wallops island va