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UPDATE # 112 - March 6, 2000 PART 1: Women's History Month and More WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH AND MORE
Since it's Women's History Month, it's a good time to become acquainted with the Women of NASA chapter of NASA Quest if you've not already done so. This section of NASA Quest, located at: http://quest.nasa.gov/women was developed with an eye towards encouraging young women to pursue careers in math, science and technology. The women profiled at this site, however, are an inspiration to anyone seeking to know and understand contributions made by NASA team members. Featured this month is a full roster of activities including chats and puzzle challenges. Take advantage of a STO-sister project! But don't miss out on the activities outlined in the section below, Linda Conrad lindac@quest.nasa.gov SPECIAL FEATURES COMING UP:
Be sure to check the Featured Events section of STO on the web: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/events ->Monday, March 13 at 1:00pm PST, we will feature a WebCast with Astronaut Mike Anderson. The focus of this event will be on Technology Centers created by HUD (Housing and Urban Development) to serve the inner city youth. Naturally because it will be on the Internet, everyone is invited. See: http://quest.nasa.gov/ltc/hud ->The week of March 13 through 17 will mark a cooperative effort between NASA Quest's Space Team Online and Classroom Connect. Throughout the week, the space shuttle will be spotlighted, complete with chats, mystery sounds, questions and other challenges. See: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/events/cc ->Segment 3 of the SRTM WebCasts: Mission Follow-up has been postponed to accommodate schedules. The new date will be March 28th. Mark your calendar as we chat live with principals in this important mapping mission. We are hoping to have one of the astronauts who was involved in the mission join us too. See http://quest.nasa.gov/ltc/jpl/srtm.html [Editor's note: Bill Foster works in Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center where he is responsible maintaining voice and data communications between the MCC and the space shuttle. He and others of this group will be featured in the Thursday, March 16 expert panel for the Classroom Connect week - see: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/events/cc/#thurs] STS-99 - WHAT A MISSION! http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/foster.html February 29, 2000 STS-99 was one of the most interesting missions I've worked from several perspectives. First, we were chasing a potentially serious problem with our command system pre-launch that had a lot of support personnel spun up to make sure we were in a good posture to support ascent. As it turned out, we could not fix the problem without delaying the launch, and due to the levels of redundancy available, decided to proceed with a plan to mitigate the risk. During the last few minutes of the countdown, a minor problem with the command system occurred that looked similar to the problem we were concerned about. Due to the risk mitigation plan, we had a software engineer on console ready to analyze any problems, and she was able to very quickly determine it was not an issue. Launch proceeded very smoothly, with no issues at all. Following ascent, I moved into the role of shift relief for GC's working the orbit portions of the flight, while my partner moved into one of the orbit shifts. For the next nine days I worked six shifts, two each on midnight, evening and day shifts. Talk about not knowing what day it is; you never get used to a sleep pattern that way. During the mission, I had the privilege of watching the systems flight controllers work the problem with the reaction control thrusters on the end of the SRTM mast. They turned a potential mission-shortening problem into a plan that actually extended the mapping mission several hours. What a team of people to work with! The MCC was fairly well behaved during the mission. There was a system used to retrieve previously stored data that had persistent problems during the flight, but these were worked as they happened and never became a major issue. We also had one of the three large projectors that drive the front screens die in a blaze of smoke and burning smells. This happened a few hours before I came on for my first orbit shift, so it was all cleaned up with a spare projector in place when I came on. During the event, however, they had to open the doors to the control room and bring in fans to clear the smoke. As the mission proceeded, the SRTM people began putting huge pictures on the walls around the MCC that were made from images transmitted from the mapping mission. If you got a chance to see any of these on NASA TV during the mission, just imagine how much better they looked in extra large size. They started out in the hallways, but day by day more of them made their way into the control room. During one period of no communication with the orbiter, the flight director recruited me to help him remove one from the wall in the hallway and put it in the control room. It must have been ten feet long as we walked it down the hall into the room. When it came time to put it on the wall, there was no way for us to reach high enough to attach the top border. Thankfully, our Prop officer, Dean Lenort (who went on to hang the mission plaque for his work on overcoming the thruster problem) is exceedingly tall and had no problem finishing the job. During the missions, I help coordinate team pictures for Mission Control. One of these, with the Orbit 2 team, including lead flight director Paul Dye, gave in to a payload team request to don 3-D glasses used to look at some of the pictures from the mission. The result was a true masterpiece that was later sent up to the crew to give them confidence in their ground support team in the MCC. I thought it would be nice to share with you as well. I was not in this picture since I was not working that particular shift. All team photos are taken during the ZOE (Zone of Exclusion) periods when no data is coming down from the orbiter, and only if all is quiet in the MCC. They are very rushed, with the photographer setting up ahead of time. Then everyone who could came into the room for the photo. Once complete, everyone quickly returns to their console and waits for comm to resume on the other side of the ZOE. Landing was another story altogether. Lead meteorologist Steve Sokol came into the control room on Sunday with gloomy predictions for landing. By Monday nothing had improved, and we began working contingency plans in case we had to land at Edwards AFB in California or at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. As it turned out, we ended up waving off the first KSC opportunity on Tuesday, and then had acceptable weather for landing on the second opportunity. Endeavour and the STS-99 crew came in for a picture perfect landing Tuesday evening. About an hour after landing, Lead Flight Director Paul Dye awarded the plaque hanging honors to Lead Propulsion Officer Dean Lenort in recognition of the work the Prop team did for the mission. I've included a picture of the Prop team holding the plaque (Dean is the exceedingly tall fellow in the middle) and Dean on the ladder (I still think he did not really need it if he stood on tip toes) hanging the plaque. The whole experience was capped off by heading out to Ellington Field on Wednesday, to welcome the crew back to Houston. What a flight and what a great job to work with this group of people doing this kind of work! [Editor's Note: PROP is the call sign for the Propulsion Systems Engineer. The PROP monitors and evaluates reaction control and orbital maneuvering systems on the shuttle during all phases of flight. The PROP also manages propellants (fuel) and other consumables available for maneuvers.] [Editor's note: Steve is the Lead Meteorologist for STS-99. This is a copy of a document that Steve prepared for his job, pertaining to this mission.] POSTFLIGHT SUMMARY FOR STS-99
by Steve Sokol http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/sokol.html March 6, 2000 POSTFLIGHT SUMMARY FOR STS-99 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPACEFLIGHT METEOROLOGY GROUP HOUSTON, TEXAS February 28, 2000 SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR COMPLETES FIRST MISSION OF THE NEW MILENNIUM The Space Shuttle Endeavour soared high over the Southeast U.S. to a beautiful twilight landing at the Kennedy Space Center on February 22, 2000. The first attempt to land at KSC had been thwarted by no-go weather. Though clouds remained scattered below 8000 feet, crosswinds exceeded the 15-knot limit at the deorbit burn time. NASA waived off the first landing opportunity due to high crosswinds. For the second landing opportunity, meteorologists at the NWS Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) in Mission Control Houston closely monitored the winds and scattered to broken clouds northeast and southeast of KSC. NASA Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) pilot Charlie Precourt relayed crucial weather reconnaissance reports back to Houston. When he and SMG gave a "weather-go" to the flight director, Endeavour was cleared to land. It glided past a few clouds below 10000 feet and landed with crosswinds of 12 knots from the northeast, within the 15-knot limit. Commander Kevin Kregel reported smooth conditions for the 1823 EDT (2323 UTC) landing. No-go weather was forecast for the next two days at both the Edwards, California and KSC landing sites. Therefore, White Sands, New Mexico was being considered as a potential landing site if Endeavour had not landed on the 22nd. This highly successful mapping mission completed 181 orbits of the Earth on its 11-day mission. The primary Payload SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography) sent back spectacularly detailed pictures of most of the populated portion of the earth. The secondary payload EarthKAM allowed students to take many pictures of the Earth. Endeavour had launched on February 11th at 12:44 EDT (1744 UTC). Launch weather also presented a challenge with clouds at 4000 feet, staying just scattered enough (4/8 coverage); crosswinds were just under the 15-knot limit for Return To Launch Site (RTLS) at KSC. The SMG Lead Forecaster for STS-99 was Steve Sokol, working his 86th mission and the 16th as Mission Lead. Wayne Baggett was the Assistant Lead and Mark Keehn was the Techniques Development Unit (TDU) Meteorologist. The Spaceflight Meteorology Group web site is http://www.srh.noaa.gov/smg. Submitted by: Steve Sokol STS-99 Lead Meteorologist STO NOTE: This is a copy of a document that Steve prepared for his job, pertaining to this mission.
RE: MISSION: STS-101, 3rd ISS Flight (2A.2a) - carrying SPACEHAB Technicians have completed servicing of Atlantis'9 ammonia boiler. Orbiter integrated hydraulic system testing concluded early last week. Work to close-out the orbiter's payload bay continues and the payload bay doors are slated for closure today, Monday. Shuttle wiring inspections are nearing completion. Preparation to roll Atlantis out of the OPF is on going. On March 10, Shuttle managers at KSC will gather in a standard meeting to review the orbiter'9s readiness for transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The move is currently planned for March 13. RE: MISSION: STS-92 -- 4th ISS Flight (2A.2b) Discovery'9s life support and environmental control system is undergoing routine servicing. Auxiliary power unit installation is complete and connection to the orbiter is planned through this week.
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