The first of us are out of the gate and on the way to CTAM.  John, Devon, Vinciane and Brian met (with the rest of us) at 11:15 this morning, and after some last-minute kerfuffling with a certain 35-year veteran of our program over ECW gear,  off they went!  At last check a few minutes ago, they weren’t actually in the air yet,  but the weather here is decent and reportedly the weather up at CTAM is fantastic.

Vinciane and Devon all dressed up and ready to fly. Christine looks happy for them, Ryan and Ralph more skeptical. John and Brian are already on the plane.

The remaining four of us (myself, Ryan, Shannon and Christine) are due for bag-drag (checking in our gear, getting weighed, etc) tonight at 8 pm.   About 8:45 I will talk to John and company via satellite phone for the update.   Motion is a great thing for us right now, so if you don’t hear from us for a day or two, don’t worry-  that’s a good sign that we’re busy moving uphill and away from McMurdo to the home of the meteorites,  Davis-Ward.

UPDATE:   The plane never left the airfield due to mechanical issues.  Now we’re off the schedule for a couple of days, through the weekend.  Here’s hoping Monday is a better day for flying!

-posted by rph from McMurdo, 11 Dec 2014