August 16, 2004 notes

 

Rebuilding

 

In the final total, after accounting for absolutely everything, the vehicle replacement cost is about $40,000 instead of $35,000. The new vehicle has a few more expensive machined parts, so total cost will be about $45,000. To put this in perspective, we could crash a vehicle like this every single week for ten years and still spend less than the Space Ship One development program. The time factor is a bit more annoying, but the chance to incorporate all the new improvement ideas we have is valuable.

 

I ordered two of most of the long lead time items for the replacement, so when we crash again, rebuilding won’t take as long.

 

New team member

 

I didn’t get to do any rocket building this weekend, because I was helping with a new team member – my son was born. Six pounds, seven ounces, all systems nominal.

 

Much to our surprise, my fair-and-pasty genes somehow put one over on Anna’s Asian genes, and the little guy has blond hair. I have never been much of a baby admirer, but through the miracle of subjective observation, he looks rather cute to me. Except when he grimaces and stretches his neck, in which case he looks like Gollum…

 

I’m not one of those developers that can work for days on end without proper sleep, so I’m pretty beat at the moment, and I didn’t even do any of the hard parts. Somehow, Anna manages to look beautiful and happy while holding the baby, even on just naps scattered through the day.