It was a few days late, but Swift was successfully launched at 12:16 EST on November 20, 2004. I had gone down for the launch, which was scheduled for November 17th. However, due to a communications problem with the explosives onboard (safety feature in case the rocket went off course), the launch was scrubbed. I was going to stay one more day if they could get things fixed in time for our launch window the next day, but such was not the case. They had to ship parts out from California as I understand it. I was able watch it online, which was still pretty cool. And Laurie was able to watch with me.

I will say that Kennedy Space Center is very cool. I will post a few pictures soon from the tour we took of KSC and Cape Canaveral. I should have some good shots of the Shuttle launch pad and of Swift on its pad. GLAST, another mission I work on, is due to launch in 2007 and by that time C will be old enough to enjoy the stuff at KSC, so I think we will make a family vacation of it.