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Coronavirus

Brevard Sheriff: C'mon Down To The Launch

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
May 1, 2020
Filed under

Unlike NASA, sheriff asks people to come to Brevard to see historic space launch
“Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey is encouraging people to come to Brevard County to watch the scheduled May 27 historic launch of a SpaceX rocket with two astronauts aboard. .. But Ivey’s invitation runs contrary to a NASA recommendation for people to watch the launch on television. Administrator Jim Bridenstine reiterated that call on Friday during a pre-launch news conference ahead of the May 27 mission.”
Keith’s note: Jim Bridenstine has asked people to “join us for this launch – but do so from home. We are asking people not to travel to Kennedy Space Center.” Meanwhile the local Sheriff says c’mon down folks. Stay tuned.
Will People Really Stay Away From The SpaceX Crew Launch? (Update), earlier post

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

30 responses to “Brevard Sheriff: C'mon Down To The Launch”

  1. Aero313 says:
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    “Florida man…”

  2. ThomasLMatula says:
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    Since the massive crowds that come spend lots of money in the county it is easy to see their motive for promoting it, especially as those that get sick from the virus won’t burden the county but their own communities when they bring the virus home as a souvenir of the launch.

    Virgin Galactic just did it’s first test flight in New Mexico and there were no crowds watching it because they didn’t publicize it before hand. Maybe NASA needs to learn a lesson from them about space launches in the virus era.

  3. Michael Spencer says:
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    Don Walker, the county board of commissioner’s communications director, said. If people do flock to Brevard County, Walker added, they should expect “a headache and a half.” Public parking is closed along the county’s entire 72-mile stretch of coastline. Restaurants are still shut down, and hotels are not welcoming guests. If that is still the situation next month, Walker said an influx of tourists could leave people gridlocked in traffic and stranded on roadways.”

    That’s a grim and likely prediction, one that dissuaded me from previous determination to drive up for the launch.

    • ThomasLMatula says:
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      That raises another delicate point. If all those businesses are closed where are those tens of thousands of folks going to go when they need a restroom break? The words public health nightmare come to mind, and not just in terms of transmitting the virus.

      • Brian Thorn says:
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        Most fast-food restaurants are open for drive-thru and are also open for the use of restrooms. Just not for ordering-in or dining-in.

        • fcrary says:
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          I’m not even sure I want to know how open restrooms at a fast food place fits in with social distancing or other precautions. I’m pretty sure the number of users per hour would be significantly reduced in some way. Even though they are open, I’d say large numbers at the launch would end up being, well, a mess.

          • Brian Thorn says:
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            The same as at grocery stores and convenience stores that are still open. You wait in line, and they have stickers on the floor six feet apart. I really don’t think that will be the problem. The problem will be people cramming together to get a better view in the final minutes before the launch.

          • fcrary says:
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            As I wrote, that provides social distancing, but reduces the capacity (users per hour) of those restrooms. If a lot of people go to the launch, that would greatly increase the number of people wanting to use those facilities. That’s going to mean longer lines, and longer waits in those lines. I’d also imagine many of those tourists will be going there their families, including small children. I have a feeling long lines and long waits to get in the available restrooms, combined with small children in those lines, will create a mess.

    • fcrary says:
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      I hope people in general are thinking along the same lines as you are. But how many people would travel to a launch out of Canaveral without having a hotel reservation? I know the answer is “lots.” But what fraction of the people who are thinking of going? And what fraction of the people would change their minds after trying to make a reservation and being told the hotels are closed? I think (hope) that would dissuade a sizable fraction of the potential tourists.

  4. Don Platt says:
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    Florida is opening Monday. Restaurants will be open at lower capacity. Beaches are open. County beach parking is open. By end of May much more will be open unless theres a spike in the next three weeks.

  5. Brian_M2525 says:
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    When Mr. Bridenstine made his proclamation, everything was shut down all over the US. All over the nation now things are beginning to open up and in a month I anticipate most things will be open. In fact after 5-6 weeks of lock-down people want to get out and a tourism destination like Florida depends on the visitors. They might need to scale back the routine and change things to allow for social distancing, but I am guessing there will be a lot of people heading to see the launch in any case. I saw the last Shuttle and I was planning to see the first post-Shuttle launch. Maybe they’d best prepare for us?

    • kcowing says:
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      No. He said this on Thursday and Friday too knowing full well what Florida has in the planning stages. I heard him. Good luck trying to enforce social distancing over such a huge area. Tens of thousands of cars- many more people. The virus does not care if people want to get out of the house. It will simply have an easier time spreading to more humans – faster.

      • Brian Thorn says:
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        “Beach parking reopens drawing crowds to Brevard County beaches”

        https://www.floridatoday.co

        You have to be a subscriber. But there is this…

        “Previously barricaded parking lots were opened and even where spots were still scarce, people were finding a way to crowd beaches in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach to take advantage of a sunny first weekend of May.”

        and…

        “In places like Cocoa Beach and near Patrick Air Force Base, dozens of people flouted the still-in-place parking rules and risked tickets to get to the beach.”

        • kcowing says:
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          I can’t blame anyone for wanting to see the launch. But an infrastructure that is not capable of handling large crowds is going to be utterly incapable of enforcing any social distancing.

          • Brian_M2525 says:
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            In early Shuttle, Titan (Viking and Voyager) and Saturn days they opened the causeway to those with passes. They had a limited number of people to direct traffic and parking and they put out porta-potties. They could limit the number of passes which would reduce the infrastructure requirements and still handle a limited crowd. I suspect it will be far worse if no arrangements are made.

          • fcrary says:
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            I’m not optimistic about that. They could limit access to the best and most popular locations to see a launch. But what would the people who can’t get a pass do? If they are from out of state (which most would be, I think) and had come all that way, they would just find some other place to watch the launch. Which would make the beaches and other spots more crowded.

            Some restrictions just don’t accomplish what they were intended to do. I suspect this would be like some of the early restrictions on access to grocery store. Only so many people allowed in at a time, and everyone else getting to wait in a crowded line outside. (Note that I think, within a few days, most places imposed a minimum spacing between people in those lines, but that did take days to work out…)

          • Brian_M2525 says:
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            The causeway is miles long. It holds tens of thousands of cars; hundreds of thousands of people with plenty of spacing. Almost no services provided or needed. It would take the relief off the rest of the public locations. Passes would ensure few of the riff-raff get in. Maybe too late for a bureaucracy to figure it out now but they should have been thinking about this for years.

          • Brian Thorn says:
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            That ended after 9/11. Now the only way for the general public to get onto KSC property for a launch is to buy expensive tickets through Delaware North, the company that runs the visitors center. They bus you out to the viewing site. No word on if the Visitors Center will be open for the launch, but I’m gonna guess it won’t be.

          • Brian_M2525 says:
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            I guess that makes dollars for DN but prevents everyone from seeing anything; actually keeps DN from making any money too, in this case.

          • chuckc192000 says:
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            That’s not true. KSC employees can obtain free launch passes for NASA-related launches that allows us to bring up to six people in our cars to view launches from either the causeway connecting KSC with CCAFS or in a field near the VAB.

  6. chuckc192000 says:
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    Wayne Ivey is your typical bubba-type sheriff, ala Bufford T. Justice (from Smokey and the Bandit).

  7. ThomasLMatula says:
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    I checked online and found that the motels there are actually taking reservations. It also appears that most only have a handful of rooms left at the usual launch date pricing, so it looks like folks are planning to flood the area.

  8. Daniel Woodard says:
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    Ivey is politically very ambitious, spending thousands of tax dollars just to get his picture taken with President Trump. His entreaty to violate distancing guidelines is designed to appeal to people who are suspicious of science and “government”, many of whom believe COVID is a hoax.

    I have lived here since long before Ivey was elected. He is a travesty of justice, “rounding up” people for his jail until it is bursting at the seams with inmates in tents, mostly people with addiction or mental illness who get no treatment until they are released and relapse. Does this make us safer? Drugs are available even inside the jail. More prisoners bring in money money for jails, which in Florida are a major industry, and to judges, who in Florida are paid only from the money they collect from prisoners they find guilty. TMK there have been no tests for COVID among prisoners but two jail guards have the virus.

  9. Roman Glad says:
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    It will be ok. Stop worrying so much…sheesh. And let the trolls hit me.

  10. Michael Spencer says:
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    This event is important to many of those hereabouts, but is it as important to the general population, I wonder?

    • chuckc192000 says:
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      I seriously doubt it. I bet at least 70% of the American public aren’t aware of the significance of this launch. Probably more than half aren’t aware that we have a space station in orbit with people on it.

      • kcowing says:
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        Who cares about 70% of the American public. Put 10-20 thousand people close together with lax social distancing, masks, etc. and you will have a virus incubator that will spread across the south eastern U.S.

        • DJE51 says:
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          And they will all be returning to their homes. Some of them will be infected. And some of those infected will be “super spreaders” that we hear about in news programs. The virus will then have fertile ground to spread quickly, since by the end of May most states will have dropped any semblance of social distancing. And the results of this won’t really be evident for about a month or so later. That takes us to late June or early July. Expect to see a surge of infections and deaths around that time. Of course, this launch will only be a small contributor of this, but it is a part of the greater whole which will mostly come from the general relaxing of common sense precautions such as distancing yourself from everyone else that might be carrying the virus.

          Such a great country that prides itself in its past science achievements (eg the moon landing in the 1960s for goodness sake!) has turned its back on science. For the sake of convenience.

  11. Steve Pemberton says:
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    The vast majority of people who would be going to see the launch are likely drawn mainly by the excitement of it, which is understandable since we haven’t had astronauts launch from the U.S. in nearly nine years. The message to them is that there will be more launches. This is just the first of what we certainly hope and expect will be a resumption of regular human launches from Cape Canaveral. While it would be nice for everyone to “join together” like we have in the past for this first launch, the current situation just does not allow for that sadly. But again there will be many more launches to come so no need to risk health and lives when it is safer to postpone the resumption of public launch viewing. After all even the astronaut’s families won’t be at the launch from what I understand.

    That being said, there is a historical aspect to it, and for a much smaller percentage of people it would really mean a lot for them to see the first human launch of this new era and they really want to go, they live close enough to make it a day trip, and basically nothing is going to stop them. If someone is that determined to go then please at least be willing to make some sacrifices. Considering that a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral can be seen from a very wide area once the rocket has gained altitude, you can and should avoid the normal popular locations which have the best views, i.e. Port Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, etc. Actually many of those locations will possibly be closed to the public on launch day regardless of recent openings. But even if any of those viewing spots are open they will likely be crowded both with people and cars, and you will just be contributing to the problem.

    Moving much farther south along the coast would be one option as there might be less crowded beaches to be found the farther south you go, although that is hard to predict. A safer option would be to find an empty parking lot a few miles inland with minimal obstruction of trees and buildings in the direction of the launch. You won’t be able to see the moment of launch but depending on the weather you should be able to see it after the first minute or so. The view won’t be as good as you can get from the closer coastal viewing locations, but if the point is to be there for history, you will have seen it. The good views will come later, there will be more launches.