Weather Stalls Launch Of Cassini Hundreds Gather To Watch Controversial Probe Blast Off

Eric and David Brinkmeyer flew from St. Louis to watch the launch of the Cassini probe Monday morning.

After the launch was scrubbed by high winds, David Brinkmeyer grabbed blankets belonging to 4-year-old Eric and shrugged his shoulders. He said they would be back on Wednesday because they had a five-day “window” on their vacation.

Eric was just simply excited to be up so late - or early - and thrilled by the helicopters flying by.

“I wanted him to see the launch and then, a year from now when there is the fly-by of the Earth, we’ll watch that together and by the time he’s 11 or 12, information will be coming back from the probe and he’ll remember being here,” said David Brinkmeyer, a plumbing contractor.

The Brinkmeyers were among hundreds of people who lined the side of the road to the gates to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to watch the launch.

These were people who weren’t afraid a launch explosion would release the plutonium aboard Cassini. Some said they had worked on different aspects of the probe or the Titan rocket that was sending Cassini on its journey. All were disappointed at the delay.

“We’re on vacation from England and heard about it on the television. We haven’t a clue about what it will really look like because all we’ve ever seen is the shuttle taking off on television,” said Fiona Whistlecroft who was there with her father and husband.

About 15 miles away, emergency operations personnel and their counterparts in different areas shared their disappointment at the cancellation.

If a disaster had occurred, they were poised to post an emergency alert from their bunker-like headquarters wedged between the county health department and a county morgue.

“It’s taxing,” said Stephen Benn, shortly before he had to dismiss two dozen workers who had arrived at 2 a.m. “But if you didn’t want to do this work, you wouldn’t have gone into it.”

Right before the mission was scrubbed, workers in shirt sleeves milled around the receptionist’s office swapping golf stories, while some of the emergency staff settled down in the operations room, one man fast asleep with his leg up on a chair.

As a voice from NASA rose from their directly-link TV, everyone came to immediate attention.

“Okay, folks,” said Benn, taking the podium next to a huge Cassini monitoring map studded with lighted pegs.”Looks like we’ll see you here next Wednesday. … And thanks to the Red Cross for bringing the donuts.”

One by one, representatives from Brevard County schools, the sheriff’s office, public works and other county agencies shuffled out into the silent night, lugging their thick emergency manuals under their arms.

Feelings about the possibility of a plutonium-related mishap ran the gamut among spectators gathered in Titusville, Fla.

Nolan Lallement, a retired welder from Orlando, said he felt confident NASA’s engineers would take appropriate steps to minimize the risks.

The following fields overflowed: DATELINE = CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FLA.