September 5, 2017

Since his retirement from NASA in 2013 and recently returning to Butler County, Phil Bounds has been thinking of different ways he could give back to the community and young people. When the retired senior strategic security adviser for NASA received an invitation to attend the launch of a satellite at Kennedy Space Center he helped work on before retirement, Bounds knew exactly how he could use this opportunity to give back...

Since his retirement from NASA in 2013 and recently returning to Butler County, Phil Bounds has been thinking of different ways he could give back to the community and young people.

When the retired senior strategic security adviser for NASA received an invitation to attend the launch of a satellite at Kennedy Space Center he helped work on before retirement, Bounds knew exactly how he could use this opportunity to give back.

"I want to open the imagination and opportunity for all kinds to see there is a great big world out there," Bounds said.

When thinking about who to invite along to the launch, Bounds immediately thought of Westwood Baptist Academy high school students, Joseph and Jacob Crites.

As a friend of the Crites family, Bounds knew younger son, Jacob, was particularly interested in robotics, and attending a satellite launch would be a once in a lifetime event for the young men.

When being told by Bounds they would be attending a satellite launch, Joseph said he was pretty overwhelmed by the news.

"I don't know how to put it in words," Joseph said. "I just thought this is really about to happen!"

When preparing for the trip, Bounds had a few changes come about while scheduling and booking hotel rooms.

"Rockets don't always go as scheduled," Bounds said.

The original launch date was scheduled for Aug. 3. After antenna damage was discovered, the date was moved to Aug. 20, but was finally bumped to 8:03 a.m., Aug. 18 shortly after.

Once the launch date was finalized, Joe, Linda, Joseph and Jacob Crites along with Bounds and his wife, Di, departed from Poplar Bluff Aug. 15 for the trip to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Before arriving in Florida, the group made a stop in Huntsville, Ala. to visit the Huntsville Rocket Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Joseph and Jacob both recalled the private tour they received of the Marshall Space Flight Center as a memorable moment from the trip.

The group was given the tour by Russell Detherage, a former colleague of Bounds.

They were able to see testing items and sites, including Redstone Test Stand, which not everyone is able to visit.

Linda said the group was warned if they heard sirens to leave immediately with the tour guide or he would leave without them.

"We heard a giant boom and were ready to run," Linda said. They were told the loud explosion came from a test site at a nearby military base and there was no cause for concern.

After a full day in Huntsville, the group headed to Florida to spend two days at Kennedy Space Center.

The first day was spent exploring, receiving a briefing on Bounds' tracking data relay satellite (TDRS-M) and meeting an astronaut.

One of the areas visited was the Heroes & Legends U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

"Jacob told me I would be seeing his name there someday," Bounds said. "I told him I sure hoped I would."

The group was then treated to a briefing from top officials on how the satellite they would see launched was put together.

"That was pretty cool," both boys agreed.

In addition to receiving information from some of the top officials, the boys said they also spent a lot of time talking with Bounds about the satellite he helped create.

"There is a lot of interesting stuff to learn from him," both boys said.

After attending a presentation from astronaut Jim Reilly, who Bounds worked with in Texas, the group was treated to a special one-on-one visit, which even Bounds did not expect.

"We were invited to his office for a short visit," Bounds said. "That doesn't happen. They are very busy."

Reilly, who flew on three space shuttle missions, visited with the boys and signed souvenirs.

"He [Reilly] said he takes six rolls of Duct Tape into space with him each time he goes and has never come back with any," Jacob said. "Even though he didn't say why, I thought that was interesting."

The boys said Reilly was really excited about a new shuttle launch system and encouraged the next generation to be involved with launches in the future.

"He is a great guy with a great sense of humor," Joseph said.

After all the behind the scenes information the group witnessed during their first day, launch day finally arrived.

Bounds said the group was scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space Center at 5 a.m. on launch day.

"The boys were bright-eyed when we arrived," Bounds said. "Not too many people from this part of the country get to see a rocket take off."

Once the group checked in, they boarded a bus for Cape Canaveral to their VIP section to witness the TDRS-M satellite launch.

An additional day was scheduled at Kennedy Space Center just in case the launch did not happen, and for a short period of time, it looked like the launch might be delayed.

Bounds explained there was about a 40 minute window for the launch to take place.

Weather first delayed the launch by five minutes and then a cooling issue became the second cause for another five minute delay.

"It was up and down emotions," Bounds said.

The boys agreed and said they began to think "this may not happen."

"Even the smallest issues can delay a launch," Jacob said. He added what can seem like a small issue, such as the cooling, can impact a launch very heavily.

"It has to be perfect," he said.

Finally, at 8:29 a.m., the Atlas V rocket was launched 22,300 miles into space.

Linda said the group was about four miles away from the launch and scientists on hand briefed the crowd on how loud the launch would be even at a distance.

"It started quiet," Joseph said. "Then there was a loud, delayed boom and a lot of vibration."

Bounds added the group did not just see the launch, but they felt it as well and were able to feel the sounds associated with a launch and how animals react.

After the experience, the boys said their interest in science and space grew even more.

"The trip just enhanced my wanting to do robotics," Jacob said.

Joseph said he is interested in welding after high school and the trip sparked his thinking on how he could weld items that might be sent to Mars.

"You never stop learning," Bounds said. "Life is a process of learning from beginning to end."

The boys said talk has already begun about attending the SLS launch in the future.

"I want kids to know there are a lot of great things not far away," Bounds said.

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