There I was…about to run out of fuel in the middle of the jungle. The red fuel light was on for a long time now and my reserves were about to run out. The map said there should have been a petrol station here in this village. The reality was..that village wasn’t even there anymore. I was sure I wouldn’t make it to the next town but I had to try. As it turned out, I made it to the town, only to find out that its petrol station was closed. That was it then.
Or was it? A local popped up next to the car. “Do you need fuel?”. Indeed I did, but I was cautious not to be taken to a shady place, so was hesitating what to do. With little choice, I opened the door for the local and he guided me to…a shady place. But I was not alone. A queue of cars was in front of me, all waiting to be filled out by another local who had plenty of jerrycans. It wouldn’t be the last time that a local helped me preventing disaster. Paying premium price for the jerrycan, I could continue to my destination: turtles! The scary travel was rewarded by the amazing sight of turtles arriving at the beach, laying eggs right in front of me, and disappearing into the ocean again. It was a special moment, sitting there on the beach behind (in order not to disturb) a giant turtle laying its eggs right in front of you under a full Moon.
Laying eggs right in front of me 
A bit disoriented on the way back 
But finally found the sea again
The story is, in my opinion, representative for life in a country like French Guiana where 90% of the country is jungle. The jungle is beautiful. It contains the most beautiful birds and plants. There is sunshine and a warm climate, and the cherry on the cake, for a rocket scientist like me: one of the most modern rocket launch bases in the world. After work, you just hang in your hammock, and enjoy the jungle sounds. But it is also unforgiving. Spiders will jump into your face, sharks will eat you not far from the coast, mosquitos bite you constantly, the sometimes daily afternoon rains destroy many roads and may bring millions of bugs into your apartment, and I was shocked to see the horrid conditions that prisoners had to live in when the country was still used as a prison (the conditions that famous prisoner ‘Papillon’ lived in were luxurious by comparison).
I got a job with CNES, the French space agency, analysing tests of Europe’s new (at that time) Ariane 5 rocket. The first launch resulted in an explosion, and the next few satellites would be put in orbit by the most successful launcher of that decade: the Ariane 4. While my work was mostly office work (mind you, the view from the office was the launch pad!), I did get to work on an Ariane 4 launch campaign testing functionality of its attitude rockets, and witnessed two Ariane 4 launches and one Ariane 5 launch. It had been a dream for many years, to one day work on a real rocket launch pad, and it came true that year.
Ariane 4 rollout seen from my office 
First launch in the rain. 
Next Ariane 4 is being prepared 
Control room, inside a bunker, close to the launch pad 
A view from the top of the launch pad 
My task to analyse the cooling of all these pipes 
2n launch with four solid rocket boosters 
The very bottom of the Ariane 4 rocket 
Testing attitude thrusters 
Rollout from the the integration building to final assembly building 
The comparison to a large Himalayan expedition is remarkable though. Climbing an 8000er requires a few months of living in harsh conditions, missing your family, and severe suffering. Yet the friends you make, the experiences you gain, and the surrounding beauty of the mountains and summit experiences are priceless. It makes you come back again, and have great memories and stories to tell for the rest of your life. In French Guiana, our boat stopped working in the middle of the jungle during a weekend excursion into the jungle, and I once sank with a boat on a creek filled with caiman crocodiles and piranhas. Scary at the time, but bringing huge smiles on me today when I think back about my adventures with my friends.
Steering a boat, not long before we sank.. 
Finding our way back through amazon creeks filled with caiman croc’s 
When your boat engine fails and miraculously another boat passes by and helps you 
Spending the night in the jungle. No sleep at all due to rats constantly trying to steal food 
..so we went on a night boat trip instead 
Good adventures
My time in French Guiana wasn’t easy. I arrived broke and was struggling financially, was struggling with the foreign culture, was fighting bugs and other animals to stay out of my bed (and lost plenty of times), and missed my family in Europe. But I worked on rockets about to launch to space, watched them launching into space, observed the beautiful nature, spend overwhelming nights in the jungle with millions of noisy animals around me, learned to take care of myself in a country completely different from mine, and now, exactly 25 years later, I am still in contact with some friends I made there. Do I remember the struggles? Yes. Would I go again? Absolutely.
Ciao!
Robin
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