Rocket Launch

Today's lectures were about satellite applications, remote sensors, and the heart in space. In the afternoon we met with our departments. The business and management department had two guest lecturers, Philippe Clerc who is head of the legal office for Arianespace and Stefano Fiorilli who is head of the procurement division for space infrastructure at the European Space Agency (ESA). At the end of the lecture we were given the details for our department project. We have been asked to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP). I'm in a team of 4 people. One of them is Chinese and doesn't speak English well, so it is going to be a challenge, but that's what its all about.

The design department put on a model rocket launch for the public after our lectures were over. They had an Arriane V, a Soyuz, a Canadian rocket, the Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), and the Spaceship One. The CLV and Spaceship One did the best by far. It was fun to see. There were 3 astronauts that joined us. One from the US, one from Canada, and one from China. Mr. Yang Liwei was the first Chinese astronaut to orbit the Earth. I managed to get a picture with him before he got annoyed by everyone asking for pictures. The astronauts were the launch managers for the rockets from their countries, which means they did the countdown to launch. After all of the rockets were launched we had a question & answer session with Mr. Liwei.

A few of us decided to skip the cafeteria dinner tonight and went out for Indian food. Believe it or not, I think this was the first time I've ever had it. It was pretty good. Although, I expected it to be spicier.