Year 1 Parents: your kids will be fine - amazing actually! YOU will be fine, too.
You are going to miss them like crazy, like all the time for the first couple months in particular. You will see them in person before you know it and all will seem completely right in the world again.
You WILL feel some anxiety and maybe a bit insulted that they are not prioritizing keeping in touch with you.
I've been looking at it this way (a couple of days from Year 2 dropoff):
They've been prepping to Go to Space for over a decade and they've been sitting in a cramped rocket capsule for years now. They are overly ready to launch.
Once flames are shooting out the engines they are overwhelmed with New - and the tiny windows only face forward (up and away).
Looking at a now empty launch tower, it's impossible to not miss that majestic rocket we helped build. That void is undeniable and hard to ignore.
They still love you very much.
Eventually, they'll make orbital velocity, cut the engines and get stability and weightlessness. Time to reflect and time to notice how cramped the capsule is ("three other people in this tiny room?!").
They'll have time to talk and to share.
They'll come home.
There will be some pushback and some setting of boundaries as they work out some of the things they didn't like about the Astronaut Training Program.
Your relationship will change, but it will be with a more capable, BIGGER person. I'm reminded of this amazing growth with a mere glance at my son; I'm instantaneously inspired, awed, happy, relieved. Every. Glance.
I'm talking brave now, because I still have a few days with my explorer before he flies another mission. I absolutely guarantee you that I will be glued to this group after dropoff. I need you. Maybe I can do it without you, I don't want to find out.
When you're aching, when your hurting, we are here for you. You've probably noticed, we are all in this together. Bound by a shared experience, a shared schedule, and the deep love of our children.
Launch your Bird, and when waiting for contact, lean on your ground crew - our flock.