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Originally Posted by Nikola Bijeliti
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Sorry you couldn't see the launch through the fog very well, Nikola. Still must have been cool to watch. Mars InSight is the first planetary probe launch from VAFB. I think the Clementine lunar mission was launched from there in 1994. I wasn't sure how they could get a good Mars transfer burn launching from VAFB, being it's a high-inclination and polar orbit launch site, but obviously they worked it out.
I hope I can see humans go to Mars during my lifetime, whether it's Russians, Chinese or SpaceX. We'll see if today's ape-firmative action NASA will do it.
Here's a good video of the launch from JPL-NASA:
That scene from
The Right Stuff where Al Shepard pees in his suit is funny. The miniseries
From the Earth to the Moon did a good dramatization, too.
I think Bill Dana, aka Jose Jimenez, died recently.