Landing to Launch Reaches its Destination at Launch Pad 39

By: Brandt Secosh
June 15, 2000

The NASA QUEST Landing to Launch Series of webcasts came to a conclusion yesterday at Launch Pad 39A. This series has focused on the processing of the orbiter fleet from the time they land at Kennedy Space Center until launch. The series began September last year and as the title of this journal indicates ended June 14th. Each month during that time we have toured the facilities involved in processing the orbiter. These facilities have included the Shuttle Landing Facility, the Orbiter Processing Facility, the Vehicle Assembly Building, The Launch Control Center, The crawler and crawlerway. Astronaut Sam Durrance and his daughter, Susan,  participated in the May webcast and we have had many experts here at Kennedy Space Center support the series by hosting chats. Michael Ciannilli is a Test Project Engineer at KSC and works for the United Space Alliance. Mike has been an INCREDIBLE CO-host for the series and it has been a real privilege for me to work with him. We have had great support from many people to include James Dumoulin and Michael Downs from the Payloads Operations Network (PON), engineers and scientist throughout KSC and the KSC Press Site.

The final Launch Pad webcast no exception in the support that we have enjoyed. Mike and I enjoyed the the company of Mr. Charlie Parker during this last webcast. Charlie escorted us from the base of the Launch Pad all the way to the top level of the pad. In the photograph at Left, Mike and Charlie are standing at the base of the Launch Pad 39 on the crawlerway. In the photograph at right, Charlie and I are standing at the 255 foot level. In the background you can see the VAB and get a pretty good idea how far away the VAB is from the Launch pad. The view from this level is awesome to say the least! If you missed  this webcast, or any others in the series, you are invited to view the presentations from our archived files. Planning will begin this summer for more webcasts for the 2000-2001 school year. We would appreciate it if you would take the time to fill out our survey to let us know what YOU would like to have presented next year. Our most important customer is YOU.

On behalf of the Space Team Online thanks for a great school year. Enjoy the summer! We all look forward to your safe return to school next year!