The alarm clock goes off; it's 0300 hours (pronounced "oh three hundred hours," which is 3:00 a.m.) (which I refer to as "0 dark thirty in the morning"). I climb out of bed and head for the shower; I am starting to wake up now. My mind is drifting to what is ahead later this morning: "What is the weather like? I wonder what the winds are like. Do I feel right? I hope my partner is not sick!"

I get dressed and head out to the garage. The door opens and I back out onto the driveway. The stars are out and shining bright. There is little wind, if any. I feel good and alert now. I make the half-hour drive through the Merritt Island Wild Life preserve. There is an osprey on just about every other telephone pole. Turkey buzzards are roosting on the telephone lines and the towers along the route. There's an owl watching for a morning meal to be scared up from my car as it passes by. I have to stay alert because of the hog population; they tend to try and commit suicide using your car. Off in the distance, I can see the xenon lights. Xenon lights are the very bright lights that light up the runway so the shuttle can see the runway from outer space. The lights are shining up the runway from the south, indicating a landing on runway 33. Runway 33 is the preferred landing area because the Sun will not be shining into the windshield.

Once I pass the guard gate, my drive to the mid-park site is only about three miles more. I need to report there by 0400. Inside the building at the mid-park site, I have to check in with the supervisor on duty. I check in and receive an early tie-in briefing. This briefing will let me know what, if any, funnies are happening with the orbiter so far this early morning. I need to gather the tools and supplies that I will need to bring out to the white room truck. My partner working with me today will be Scott. On our way out to the truck, we will stop and check out two radios so supervision can contact us at anytime. We also get our hazardous badges from the orbiter integrity clerks.

When we get to the white room truck we stash our supplies inside. Next we start our walk around, giving the truck a twice going over. I open the hood and check the fluids with Scott looking over my shoulders. The mechanics from roads and grounds will be checking the fluids later. Roads and grounds' employees are responsible for all the mechanical work on all the vehicles used on the runway. We look at the tires to see if there is enough air pressure in them. The white room truck is more than 18 feet off the ground, making it very top heavy. If the tires are too soft the truck could turn over. I get into the truck and start it up. After the truck has warmed up enough I will engage the hydraulic pump. The hydraulic pump supplies fluid to the stabilizers on the truck. I will run all the cylinders up and down to make sure they all work. Scott watches each one and lets me know what is happening. Next I turn on all the lights and Scott checks them all to make sure they are working.

Besides the standard running lights, there are area flood lights. Flood lights all around the truck plus lights for the stairs and the inside of the white room help light the work area. Scott rolls up the large 6x8 roll up door from the inside of the white room. He now unsnaps the straps that hold the large seal from its place of storage. When Scott tells me he's finished, I flip the switch that activates the blowers and the seal inflates. After inflation of the seal has been completed and checked out, I'll turn the switch to de-inflate the seal. Scott re-snaps the straps and pulls the door back down for the ride to the end of the runway. I turn the engine off and we return to the main building. With all our pre-ops complete for the white room truck, I go to the quality control person and put my stamp number on the completion of our pre-ops.

The time is now about 0445 and we have about 15 minutes to take a break before call to stations. As I look around the room I can see everyone's relaxing. Some are reading the paper while others are resting their eyes. Management has brought in several boxes of doughnuts and there is juice in the refrigerator. Call to stations is two hours before landing. Houston verifies KSC is ready to support an 0700 landing. One of the steps JSC is looking for is that the spacecraft operator in charge is fuel cell certified or 016-1. I answer the call, giving my stamp number, indicating I have the required certification. Next is a radio check with all players to verify all radio communications are in good operating order. Scott answers to OOA2. I will answer to OOA1. OOA1 operator orbiter access is the driver and responsible spacecraft operator.

At about 0530 there will be a meeting at the NASA convoy van. The convoy commander will then inform us of any problems that the orbiter is having. The commander briefs us on the wind direction and speed and tells us which runway they will be using. He will also give us a safety briefing. Working on an orbiter "hot" from orbit is very hazardous. After the meeting I gather with the astronaut support persons. We introduce ourselves. I go over what's expected of us with them, and how I can best be of help to them. Normally the ASP'S and SCO'S work well together.

Now it's time to go to the restroom, because it's going to be a very long time before we get to go again. We get into the white room truck and get ourselves lined up in the convoy where the orbiter move director has told us. Once the forward convoy has lined up, the convoy will head for the north end of the runway. It takes us about 30 to 45 minutes to reach the end of the runway. The white room truck has a maximum speed of 25 mph. The runway is almost due north and south in direction. A landing on runway 33 puts the Sun at the commander's back.

The forward convoy deploys to the end of the runway that the orbiter will stop at. In our case, the north end! The aft convoy will deploy from the mid-park site where we started. The mid-park site is at the halfway point. The orbiter will roll past the aft convoy. The aft convoy will then head north today.

[What lies ahead for Glen Davis and his team? What will happen when the shuttle begins its descent onto runway 33? Stay tuned for Part 2 of Sunrise Landing, coming up!]