NASA Quest > Space Team Online

UPDATE # 5 - April 5, 1997

PART 1: Next WebChat: April 9 with George Thomas
PART 2: We goofed; re-register for shuttle simulation
PART 3: Verifying the launch requirements for GLS software
PART 4: Already time to plan for next year
PART 5: Launch day
PART 6: Helping microgravity researchers with computer problems
PART 7: Status of STS-83
PART 8: Subscribing/unsubscribing: how to do it

SPECIAL NOTE: STS-83 got off to a good start with the successful
launch of Columbia Friday afternoon. See PART 7 for more details. NEXT WEBCHAT: APRIL 9 WITH GEORGE THOMAS

Launch expert George Thomas will be the next guest in the online chat series. George is the lead engineer for the Ground Launch Sequencer group. During launches, he pushes the button that starts or stops the launch countdown clock. Also his group develops software that sends the commands to the Space Shuttle and the equipment on the launch pad during the last 9 minutes before launch; this software configures all the valves, starts pumps, and does much much more. On launch day, he sits in the firing room of the Launch Control Center, and if you listen carefully, you can hear his voice in the background saying things like, "GLS auto sequence has been initiated; GLS go for main engine start." George's chat is scheduled for April 9 from 10-11 a.m. Pacific (1-2 p.m. Eastern). Before attending the chat, we strongly suggest that your students read George's biography and Field Journal. If you plan to chat, you must register for the event. Sign up now by sending a brief email note to rsvp-sto@quest.arc.nasa.gov This RSVP is very important, since it will allow us to ensure that the chatroom does not become too crowded. For more details, and for the complete schedule, please visit: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/interact.html

WE GOOFED; RE-REGISTER FOR SHUTTLE SIMULATIONS

In STO #3, we asked people to register for a shuttle simulation activity. Alas, a computer glitch caused us to lose the information on those who already registered. So we are asking everybody who already registered to please re-register. To do so, follow the instructions at this web address: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/simulations/registertxt.htm Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience. For those who are new or may have missed it the first time around, here is an overview of "Shuttle Simulations." Students pretend they are conducting their own in-class space shuttle mission. Youngsters will first perform a launch simulation with a NASA-provided script. Next, while "on-orbit," an experiment will be conducted, collecting real data. To complete the mission, a landing simulation will occur. Classrooms will be then be teamed with others to share the numerical data gathered and draw conclusions. This will work best at the elementary/middle school levels. Teachers have flexibility about when they schedule their mission, but we hope you'll register your intent to participate as soon as possible. Please visit: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/simulations

[Editor's note: George is the lead engineer for the Ground Launch
Sequencer group. He will be featured in the next webchat (see above).] VERIFYING THE LAUNCH REQUIREMENTS FOR GLS SOFTWARE George H. Thomas - http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/thomas.html March 24, l997 Today we worked with system engineers from each of the Space Shuttle subsystems to establish and verify any unique requirements they have for this launch that are different from previous launches. Here are changes we will put into our software for the STS-83 launch. The Space Shuttle is capable of supplying electrical power to any payloads that sit in the payload bay. For the Spacehab module, which is like a big locker room, electrical power to the payload will not be a requirement for launch and so we will "mask" or ignore measurements that tell us if the Space Shuttle is providing power to the Spacehab module. The Space Shuttle computers can calculate the position of the orbiter at any moment during landing by receiving data from ground radar stations. This data is received by the computers from "black boxes" on the orbiter called TACANs (Tactical Air Command and Navigation System). The fleet of Space Shuttle orbiters has two types of TACANs: GOULD and COLLINs. The GOULD TACANs are older and still work well, but the COLLINs TACANs are newer and more reliable. Each orbiter has 3 TACANs onboard and they can be a mix of the two types. For this launch, Columbia has a GOULD TACAN in position 2 and COLLINs TACANs in positions 1 and 3. The COLLINs TACANs have a little more information to tell you if they are healthy or not, which the GOULD TACANs do not provide. So, we will "mask" or ignore those new measurements for TACAN 2 since it is a GOULD. Next up, we start the Countdown Clock for launch on Monday.

[Editor's note: Francis leads the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) Their job is to develop new weather technologies which help space flight managers understand and predict the weather. After developing new systems, the AMU group then transitions these technologies into operational use.] ALREADY TIME TO PLAN FOR NEXT YEAR Francis J. Merceret - http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/merceret.html March 24, l997 0745: Today began with teleconferences with two of our customers to discuss the AMU's tasking for the next year. In May we will hold a tasking meeting with all of our customers to decide what we will do for the year. The two customers we spoke to today (the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Station and the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at Johnson Space Center) had some questions about things they might propose. 0915: A television station in Miami, Florida, called to discuss KSC's lightning research programs. I discussed our Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) system which is being transitioned by KSC to commercial use in a joint venture with Global Atmospherics, Inc. I also explained our efforts to better understand lightning and related phenomena to improve our launch and landing weather constraints to safely increase launch and landing availability while reducing costs. 1000: The morning continued with getting environmental clearances for the placement of a network of soil moisture sensors around the Center. Mission Research Corporation is doing a Small Business Innovative Research project for us to determine how to use soil moisture measurements to improve local computerized weather prediction models to help with forecasting for Shuttle operations. 1100: I closed out the morning with preliminary work on the Fiscal Year 1998 budget for all of my projects. My afternoon was spent on two major efforts. 1200: I completed building a data base of everything the AMU has worked on for the last six years, with the names of the advocates, the beneficiaries, and the labor and money used for each task. This will be used to show senior management how our resources have been allocated and who has received the benefits of our work. 1500: I attended a detailed briefing by my AMU contractor, ENSCO, Inc., to the 45th Weather Squadron regarding the results of a study we just completed evaluating the accuracy and utility of a new numerical weather prediction model, the 29 Km "Eta" now being provided by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. 1700: Finally, I reviewed preliminary drafts of two presentations that ENSCO will make to the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida, later this week.

[Editor's note: Mike is a shuttle engineer who works on orbiter fuel cell flight systems; also he is involved with ground and launch pad systems, as well as water and waste management. Here he writes about the big picture.] LAUNCH DAY Mike Ciannilli - http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/ciannilli.html March 24, l997 Launch Day is the day when the Kennedy Space Center takes center stage in the news. Thousands of journalists, reporters and film crews from around the world assemble here to record a new entry into the history books. The scene can be compared to the filming of a Hollywood blockbuster movie. However, after the orbiter is safely orbiting the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour and the press center is again still, the appearance may be that things are quiet until the next time the ground shakes and the sky is lit up. However, this appearance is deceiving. We are up and running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, nearly every day of the year. There are four orbiters in the fleet: Columbia, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. At any one time, each of these incredible machines is in a different state of preparation for its upcoming launch. There are numerous very talented people dedicated to every aspect of the space shuttle. We have teams to process the solid rocket boosters, the external tank, and the orbiter itself. In addition, there are thousands who keep the facilities ready to go such as the launch pads and orbiter processing facilities. Even more help to manage and schedule the entire processing operations. As diversified and varied as their jobs may be, they all come together for one purpose, to launch the space shuttle. Imagine a machine that weighs 4,500,000 pounds. It is 184 feet tall and consists of three main components: two 149-foot-long solid rocket boosters (the largest in the entire world), a 154-foot external tank that will hold over 500,000 gallons of liquid fuel, and an orbiter that is the most complicated and amazing spacecraft the world has ever seen. Next take this machine and ignite its propellants in just exactly the right way, remembering you are igniting some of the most dangerous fuel in existence. Now you accelerate the most powerful rocket ship into the sky reaching a speed of 17,500 miles per hour. And, by the way, you put the spacecraft into exactly the right orbit, at exactly the precise second you want to. Then after you complete a highly complex mission in outer space, you fall back to Earth. On the way back you heat your vehicle to over 3,000 degrees F. Finally, at the end of a several million mile journey and after orbiting the planet hundreds of times, you land at the exact spot you want at precisely the exact second you want to. It is one of the greatest adventures man has ever seen. Welcome on our journey into the future!

[Editor's note: Ted provides computer user support to the various scientists, engineers, and researchers associated with the Microgravity Science Division at NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. He answers computer questions, helps purchase and set up new hardware and software and solves any network-related problem. Also he administers a variety of computer systems, and maintains the division's Web server.] HELPING MICROGRAVITY RESEARCHERS WITH COMPUTER PROBLEMS Ted Fabian - http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/fabian.html March 24, 1997 Lately, my typical work days have been really busy. While I don't have direct responsibility for any of the MSL-1 Experiments, or for anything even remotely associated with the space shuttle, I find myself working toward the deadlines imposed by the STS-83 mission. Let's backup a bit so I can fill in some of the holes. I'm a Computer Scientist here at NASA Lewis Research Center in the Microgravity Science Division. One of my responsibilities is putting together web pages for the experiments that our researchers conduct. Since eleven of these experiments are flying on STS-8 (http://zeta.lerc.nasa.gov/missions/msl1.htm). Anyway, back to the point I was making originally. My work days have been busy lately. I spent most of last week in a training class that dealt with "Contemporary Issues in Information Technology Security", and I'm back in the office today trying to get caught up. I had several hundred email messages and a couple phone messages. It helped that I was listening and responding to the phone messages after the class let out each day. Today, in between phone calls, I'm trying to respond to and read all my email. Tomorrow I'll be out again though. This time it is because my son will become a US Citizen. My wife and I have to appear at the Department of Immigration and sign the final forms. We adopted him almost six months ago from Moscow Russia. The end result of missing another day will mean that I end up falling even further behind. Oh well. I just got a phone call from an investigator on one of the MSL-1 experiments. He's planning on being in the POCC (Payload Operations Control Center) at MSFC during the mission, and he's trying to work out taking a laptop computer down there with him. He needs to fill out a bunch of forms, and get approvals and authorizations to temporarily move a government computer from one state to another, and to arrange for network connections at MSFC so he can avoid falling behind in his email. He wants my help in arranging the move. He's coming to see me in about half an hour. Just before that, I got some bad news. We've been attempting to upgrade our PC network servers. Our purchase request has been temporarily rejected and/or delayed since we're asking for machines that are different than what the Computer Services Division here feels are appropriate. Ultimately, our users will suffer. Prior to that, I was working with another engineer/scientist here who is trying to dial in to our network from home. He's successfully dialed into the Remote Access Server that the lab runs in the past, but something changed either on his system, or on the server. The end result is he can't get to his data, and he's not happy about it. I offered to devote some time after work one afternoon this week, and drive to his house to try to help him solve the problem. There's the phone again. It's probably another user problem. Hopefully it's something that will easily be taken care of. Back to a typical day at the Computer and Network Help Desk.

STATUS OF STS-83

The next scheduled shuttle mission is STS-83, a 16 day microgravity lab which launched on April 4 at 2:21 p.m. EST. Below you'll find some details about the preparations the launch. In future messages, we'll provide details about the ongoing mission. These reports will contain jargon and unfamiliar terms; our intent is not to confuse you, but to provide a glimpse at all the details involved. Detailed daily reports about launch preparation can be found at the NASA Shuttle Status web site at http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/status.htm Since the last updates-sto message, launch countdown preparations and aft engine compartment close-outs were completed. The launch countdown began March 31 at 2 p.m. EST shortly after the crew arrived at KSC. Pad 39-A was cleared at about 10 a.m. April 1 to load the onboard cryogenic tanks and the extended duration orbiter pallet in the payload bay with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen reactants. These reactants provide electricity for the orbiter and crew while in space and drinking water as a by-product. Final mid-deck payload stowage operations were to resume following cryogenic loading operations. On April 1, NASA decided to postpone for 24-hours the launch of Columbia. Following a review, managers determined that a water coolant line in the orbiter's payload bay was not properly insulated. Additional insulation was required to prevent this line from possibly freezing during Columbia's 16 days in space. After the decision to delay, technicians halted operations to load cryogenics into the orbiter's onboard storage tanks and the tanks were drained. The payload bay doors were opened and platforms installed to reach the forward bulkhead in the payload bay where the water line is located. Installation of the insulation was completed by late morning on April 3 and the doors closed for flight by mid-afternoon. The 12-hour operation to load the cryogenics into Columbia's storage tanks began shortly thereafter. Early Friday morning, loading of the external tank with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen was delayed by an hour as managers addressed a concern with fuel cell No. 2 which was reading higher than desirable voltages. Following fuel cell calibrations, managers determined that the cell was working properly and loading the external tank with the cryogenic propellants commenced with no additional concerns for the fuel cells. Columbia lifted off from Pad 39A today at 2:20 p.m. EST on its 16-day Microgravity Science Laboratory mission. Launch was delayed 20 minutes, 32 seconds due to an orbiter access hatch seal that had to be replaced. Initial reports from Pad 39A indicate no significant damage resulting from the launch. The solid rocket booster retrieval ships are on station with the boosters and will begin the process of preparing them for tow back to Cape Canaveral Air Station.

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