[NOTE: This post was written Friday and posted Saturday]

Armstrong at Curtis Wharf in Anacortes with one day until sailing. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

One day until we sail and there is still a lot to do, from the technical to the mundane. Technicians with the Shipboard Scientific Services Group are still running cable and setting up the science work areas. The docking collar on the crane that handles the CTD rosette has to be attached. The ship needs to be ballasted. And the trash has to be taken out.

It’s a long list, but not insurmountable and, one way or another, we’re leaving. Barring any major problems, at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Saturday, we will cast off and Armstrong will begin its trip home to Woods Hole. This will undoubtedly be a late night and an early morning, but this crew, which came almost entirely from R/V Knorr, has a reputation for getting things done. They take pride in that fact and those of us who do not have official duties take solace in it.

Assembling chairs, because someone has to. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

There is no science planned between here and the first shipyard period where Armstrong will receive the bulk of its scientific gear, so most of the urgency is at least partly driven by a sailor’s desire to see things are put right before setting sail. For that reason, one of the most important things to happen before we leave will be to make sure that anything moveable is tied down. That task becomes even more critical whenever we look at the printout of the marine forecast that’s posted on the wall outside the ship’s library. It’s not looking good. No one is worried, but no one has ridden Armstrong out of the channel yet, so we don’t know how it will ride.

And there’s only one way to find out.

The first of many modules that eventually became R/V Neil Armstrong. (Photo by Gary McGrath, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

In just a few days, R/V Neil Armstrong will begin the first of four legs in its trip to the East Coast. On October 31, it will leave Anacortes, Wash., and head south to San Francisco. From there it will continue down the coast to the Panama Canal, transit the canal, and then turn north to an as-yet unnamed shipyard, where it will complete its fitting-out and to conduct a series of science verification cruises to test its ability to support ocean-going research. A fifth leg in the spring of 2016 will take it from the shipyard to its eventual home in Woods Hole.

Time is a funny thing, as anyone who once held a newborn, only to turn around and find themselves driving away from a college campus with an empty car. Back in 2010, when WHOI was selected to operate what was then known as AGOR (Auxiliary General Purpose Oceanographic Research Vessel) 27, and even as recently as September, when signatures were still drying on the paperwork transferring Armstrong to WHOI, the date of departure seemed impossibly far away. Now time is moving like a juggernaut, and the crew is busy completing a long list of final tasks before departure.

The newly completed Armstrong stretching its sea legs in the channel near Anacortes. (Photo by Mark Spear, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Last week, the ship passed its Coast Guard safety audit, a key milestone in certifying its readiness for sea. But in reality, there have been many milestones over the past four years it spent taking shape in the friendly confines and waters of Anacortes and when these final tasks are complete, it will be time to leave and time to begin looking forward to its future carrying scientists and engineers from around the world in their quest to understand more about the ocean. Like its namesake, R/V Neil Armstrong will make many small steps and hopefully just as many giant leaps over what is likely to be a 40-year career of exploration and discovery.

On the way to San Francisco, the ship will stop so the crew can test the oceanographic winches—a task that requires deep water, something that’s easy to find in the canyons and trenches off the West Coast of North America. We will try to post along the way (satellite connectivity willing) to give you an look at Armstrong‘s voyage home and an inside view of the nation’s newest tool to understand our global ocean and the many ways it sustains life here on Earth.