ARTEMIS !

We are up at 4:00 am, expecting traffic on the roadway to the river, but find it an easy drive.  Having been up and down Route #1  the night before, and then already seeing few open spots, we aren't all hopeful ~ yet there, right where we would choose to be, is space!  Park, grab coffee, muffins, and out to "meet" our neighbors for the shared excitement ahead.  As we've both done this many times before, we know it can quickly become "launch party time".  The sun has not yet risen, but it's

glow is out there in the ocean beyond the river.  And a dot of bright light directs our eyes to Pad 39B and Artemis.

A young family from Germany, the 8 year old boy wanting to be the first man on Mars one day!  A couple who happen to live in the same neighborhood.  Another from South Carolina, their first ever launch with their brindled Greyhound and sweet Dalmatian puppy.  Florida license plates mingled with ones from states near and far, campers and Harley Davidsons, the very young and elderly with walkers.

Every few seconds another is stopping on one side of the road or the other.

Slowly the sun is rising, the VAB outlined against silhouetted clouds.

An 8:33 estimated first launch time goes into a 40 minute hold.

Sometime later, to the disappointment of not just our little gathering here,

but perhaps a few hundred thousand along the Space Coast ...

and one can only guess at how many worldwide,

ARTEMIS is scrubbed.

Of course, our disappointment is nothing compared to the many

over at KSC and NASA who worked so hard toward this day.

But they will forge on, there will be another day, there will be a launch.

Artemis 1.

It was wonderful.

And we said goodbye to all the friends we shared this special morning with.