Tuesday, May 30, 2006

The Take Off

All the waiting, anticipating was finally over as I heard the engines begin to spool up, feeling the power rise both audibly and by touch until we finally began to roll slowly away towards the runway. Once there I could hear Leonid talking with the tower not understanding a word of his Russian of course. And then, all at once (although probably another 5 minutes) and we were moving to the point that the in-cockpit video clearly distorts with vibration showing me forcibly pushed back into the seat. Once clear of the runway, the vibration stopped and we were a rocket climbing at a 45 degree angle towards the sun.