Huntsville’s coverage of the launch of the Ares rocket
Didja see the huge, huge photo on the front of today’s Huntsville Times?
It’s huge. Because the first test of the Ares rocket is a huge story for readers in the Huntsville area (Click for a larger look):
The wonderful photo is by staffer Eric Schultz. Look here to find a gallery of his shots from Wednesday. Find today’s story here.
Times editor Kevin Wendt took a time this morning to answer a few questions for us.
Q. That’s a heckuva ride you gave the Ares test today. Who was the designer?
A. Mr. [Tim] Ball, whose last shift is today, set up the 1A.
Q. You sent a staff photog to the Cape. And the result speaks for itself, I think. I’d imagine economic pressures make it tempting to rely on AP art. How do you justify the expense?
A. We have been extremely selective about when we have traveled this year. The Ares program is being managed out of the Marshall Space Flight Center here in Huntsville, and with all the questions surrounding it — and manned space flight overall — we had to have a presence for launch. Our reporter, Shelby Spires, left on Thursday and Eric Schultz (photo) left Friday. They did features about folks who had moved from Huntsville to Florida to oversee construction of the test rocket and had access to many local folks who have spent years working up to this point.
Kevin Wendt
—
Q. Tell me a little about covering space in Huntsville. I’m guessing it’s a lot like covering computers and software in San Jose.
A. I’ve told many of our reporters, but especially Shelby Spires on NASA and Ken Kesner who covers Redstone Arsenal, that there is a terrific level of whiz-bang stuff that we should amaze our readers with. So whether it’s the Ares rocket or, my personal favorite, a Javelin missile, let’s take readers into the technology that makes those things work and the people who come up with solutions that protect soldiers and advance our position in space science. Huntsville has the highest rate of engineers per capita in the U.S., so we have to try to work at a level that’s interesting to them, but is accessible by folks trying to understand how this technology gets applied. So, when you have a big moment like Ares, you do what you have to to take readers to the Cape.
As usual, that’s fine, fine work by the Times. Find our most recent story here about previous design exploits in Huntsville.
A number of Florida papers also put the Ares test on page one. Orlando and Melbourne used staff art; Sarasota’s photo was from AP.
None of these fronts were bad. But none had quite the impact of the Huntsville front.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Newseum didn’t show of course, but FLORIDA TODAY’s coverage included a spadea, with a huge poster of the launch, photo by Amanda Stratford.
My respects to Kevin, but Huntsville doesn’t out-space the Space Coast. :-D
November 4th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I sat right next to Squires and Schultz in the KSC Media Room and they were just about the funniest, friendliest, most knowledgeable and hardest-working people in a room crammed with representatives of media outlets large and small from all over the world.