November 2022! We have Liftoff!!!

LunaH-Map has FINALLY launched to space on Nov 16th! Woohoo!!! Craig was able to travel to Florida to watch the launch. Ben and I went to ASU to watch the launch on the big screen. Ben said "I KNEW it would launch!!! Grandma TT woke Nora up just in time to watch it at home. Thank you Grandma for coming out to help with the kids while Craig was out of town :). Congrats to the Artemis and Lunah-Map teams!!!

We had Thanksgiving at home by ourselves because Ben had the flu. We were sad that we couldn't have dinner with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Joe, but I don't think they wanted the flu (lol). Craig, Ben and Nora finally visited the Sea Life Aquarium and Legoland - they always love a good aquarium and were very proud of their Lego creations, which they put on display. Craig was able to take Ben to an Arizona Cardinals game. Ben is super in to sports and somehow has the attention span to watch an entire game. Poor Nora was sick this month. She recovered quickly, though. Her favorite saying of late is "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?", which is also our fav :)

The Night Before Launchmas:

Twas the night before Launchmas on Florida's east coast,
The launchpad was cleared of debris for the roast.
LunaH-Map was hung below Orion with care,
With hopes that Artemis 1 would soon take to the air!

NASA engineers were nestled all snug at their desks,
Sharing lucky peanuts while making finals checks.
Nora and Ben slept in LunaH-Map tees in their beds,
As visions of exhaust trails danced in their heads.

Then suddenly the 10 minute mark the countdown did reach,
It seemed that SLS will launch from this gater-infested beach!
Engines shone brightly as the clock approached zero,
Its entry to the vacuum of space was now so near - Oh!

Miss Nora and Sir Ben looked on with wonder,
As the rocket engines roared loud like thunder.
Dad cheered with joy on that warm Florida night,
As little L-map slowly disappeared from sight.

The rocket left trails as it flew through the air,
And engineers did check every milestone with care.
All systems were good and parameters were right,
As Artemis finally left Earth in the middle of this night.

Merry Launchmas, everyone!