NASA Crew-5 commander Nicole Mann cheered by classmates at The Space Bar in Titusville
Perched atop a chair, the cardboard cutout of NASA Crew-5 astronaut Nicole Mann overlooked The Space Bar ā while the white exhaust plume of her SpaceX Falcon9 rocket billowed overhead as she soared skyward to the International Space Station.
"Go Duke!" exclaimed several of her U.S. Naval Test Pilot School classmates and their relatives as they cheered, snapped photos and filmed video.
A group of about 15 Mann fans spent the night at Courtyard by Marriott off State Road 405 for close-up views of the noon crewed launch from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The five-story Titusville hotel opened in April, capped by The Space Bar on the rooftop.
"We had a great time in class. Duke was the No. 1 graduate out of our class," recalled Mike Harris, a Navy civil employee and flight test engineer, referring to Mann's pilot call sign.
"We're just super proud of her, and happy to be here to celebrate her launch. It's her first launch into space. So we're just excited for her, here to support her ā and catching up with old friends," Harris said.
Mann ā the first Native American woman to travel to space ā is a U.S. Marine Corps colonel who served as an F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet test pilot.
The native of Petaluma, California, is commanding the Crew-5 mission, which is sending four people inside the Crew Dragon Endurance capsule to the ISS for about six months. Mann is joined by NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.
After returning from her second combat deployment during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, Mann reported in 2009 to U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland.
She and Harris attended Class 135. Harris and four of their fellow classmates reunited at The Space Bar to watch Mann's launch ā congregating around the cardboard cutout of Mann, shade umbrellas and a large monitor broadcasting NASA Television launch coverage.
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Mann sent her supporters at The Space Bar a swag collection of Crew-5 T-shirts, bracelets, stickers, patches and other commemorative items. Her fans traveled to Titusville from as far as Destin, Maryland and Georgia.
Tuesday at the hotel, the group watched the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launch at 5:36 p.m. from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. They also ate dinner at the nearby Playalinda Brewing Co. Brix Project.
The Space Bar debuted in April by hosting spectators on the rooftop for SpaceX's Axiom-1 mission liftoff, the first all-private mission to the ISS. Delaware North advertises the 152-room hotel as the closest hotel to KSC pads 39A and 39B, the two complexes used for crewed missions.
General Manager Wayne Soard said launches provided an economic boost for his hotel during the summer months, pushing occupancy near capacity.
"That's because families were out and traveling already, and they just added this to their vacations," Soard said.
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Count John and Maggie Murray in that category. The couple from Guernsey ā the second-largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel ā decided to book a room during their Florida trip "by pure accident" to see the Crew-5 launch, Maggie Murray said.
The Murrays were visiting Florida's East Coast to attend the upcoming Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association fly-in and trade show, which kicks off Thursday in Amelia Island. They previously watched a nighttime shuttle launch about 25 years ago in Cocoa Beach.
"I'm amazed. Twenty-five years ago, you'd get a launch every six months. Now, it's almost one every day with SpaceX and all the privatization," John Murray said, sitting in the sunshine at The Space Bar near Mann's reunion party.
"It's quite amazing just how things have changed," he said.
A few tables away, Winter Garden 3-month-old Miles Josey rested in his stroller wearing a gray "Future NASA Astronaut" onesie.
"For me, it's equal part nostalgia," said Miles' father, Nic Josey.
"I remember being a little kid, and my parents would always travel down from Michigan to Central Florida. We were in Orlando for a vacation, and it just so happened that we saw the shuttle launch for the first portion of the ISS," Josey said, wearing a red NASA T-shirt.
"It's fun to see all the pomp and circumstance with it, and also the tie-in to all the history," he said.
Miles' mother, Alex Josey, chimed in while lifting him from his stroller into her arms.
"And now, I want him to grow up experiencing those things that (Nic) experienced as a kid, being able to see the launches," Alex Josey said.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA SpaceX Crew-5: Nicole Mann cheered by classmates in Titusville
