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PART 1: Connecting with a Panel of Experts CONNECTING WITH A PANEL OF EXPERTS
The week of STO's joint effort with the Classroom Today project of Classroom Connect has just begun, and the response has been exciting. Yesterday's chat with a meteorologist, engineers involved in Global Positioning and Shuttle landing simulators, and a designer of future spacecraft was filled to the brim with excellent questions and answers. If you missed it, the archive is now online - see the schedule at: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/events/cc The archive for today's chat concerning payloads with veteran chatters Tracy Gill and Diane McMahon is being prepared and will be online about the time I send this out. Here's an example of an exchange today: MrsHestersClass asks: Is it fun working with NASA? Diane McMahon reponded with: YES! I'd recommend a career with NASA. It's exciting to be working with science and engineering breakthroughs that end up as "ordinary" everyday things. For example, the super-strong plastics in tennis rackets came from the need for them in space, and the design of jogging shoes comes from the boots designed to walk on the moon. The rest of the week is abbreviated below. Be sure to join us! Linda Conrad lindac@quest.nasa.gov UPCOMING EVENTS:
Continuing the Week with Classroom Connect: For a full schedule and registration instructions go to: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/events/cc Wednesday, March 15, 10:00 -11:00 a.m. PST (1-2pm EST, 6-7pm GMT) Monthly Webcast with Mike Ciannilli and Brandt Secosh of Kennedy Space Center, FL, about the huge crawler that carries the Space Shuttle three-and-a-half miles to the launch pad. Wednesday, March 15, 11a.m. -12:00 noon PST (2-3pm EST, 7-8pm GMT) Chat with the vehicle manager for Space Shuttle Discovery, Jenny Lyons, who follows the Shuttle orbiter through ground testing and checkout; and Chuck Davis, also of Kennedy Space Center, who is in charge of fuel delivery to the Shuttle launch pad. Thursday, March 16, 10:00 -11:00 a.m. PST(1-2pm EST, 6-7pm GMT) Chat with a panel of experts from NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, including Space Shuttle Flight Controller, Mike Moses, who monitors data from the Shuttle during missions; Space Shuttle flight controller Lisa Shore; Ground Controller William Foster who is responsible for providing all other flight controllers with timely and reliable access to Shuttle data; Tim Terry who prepares the flight control teams; and Larry Parker, Air Traffic Controller at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Friday, March 17, 10:00 -11:00 a.m. PST (1-2pm EST, 6-7pm GMT) Chat with Ron Woods of KSC, who is on a team that works with space suits. Friday, March 17, 12:30 -1:00 pm, PST (3:30pm EST, 8:30-9pm GMT) Chat with Astronaut Linda Godwin, veteran of three space flights including over 633 hours in space and a 6-hour spacewalk. [Editor's note: Again, our STO correspondent, Brandt Secosh shares his special perspective from the Kennedy Space center. Briefs like the one below may be viewed on NASA TV. If you have the RealMedia viewer, our web link to the NASA TV coverage may be found at http://quest.nasa.gov/ltc/live/live.rm NASA TV listings may be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/index.html ] STS 103 Crew Briefs Kennedy Space Center http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/secosh.html March 7, 2000 The crew of STS 103 spent almost an hour today briefing an audience at Kennedy Space Center on the Hubble repair mission. It was an hour of fascinating accounts of their experience in space, awesome pictures, video tape and good humor! The crew collectively expressed their appreciation to all of those that support the Space Program. This appreciation includes all of you! The astronauts opened the presentation by thanking the Kennedy Space Center ground crews for providing them with a "safe launch vehicle" (Discovery) to complete a very important mission. The astronauts then presented KSC with a montage of mission photographs and crew patch that was flown on the mission noting that the STS 103 crew orbited the earth 120 times at an altitude of 308 miles and traveling 3.3 million miles from December 19th to December 27th 1999. After crew introductions, an explanation of how the STS 103 mission patch was developed. This was followed by a video tape that showed each crew member being suited up at the Operations and Checkout building. As many of you recall, STS 103 was the last mission of the century and fell under some unusual constraints. First the mission was delayed by weather. This was complicated by the issue of having STS 103 back on the ground before the turn of the century because of Y2K. This resulted in the mission duration being shortened and the crew would end up making three eight-hour space-walks instead of four six-hour space-walks. The film then went on to show the inside of the orbiter during the launch sequence. Some SERIOUS shaking and vibration was taking place that is normal in every launch. The video provided an incredible view of the awesome power that the space shuttle has. As the launch footage progressed, there was a VERY bright flash that illuminated the cockpit two minutes into the flight. This is when the solid rocket boosters separated from the orbiter. The pictures of the SRB's separating and falling back to earth were stunning! We could view the SRB's falling gracefully away, just as planned, against a back drop of our earth and the blackness of space - beautiful! Once in space, the crew spent almost two days "catching up" to the Hubble space telescope before capturing it with the orbiters robotic arm and bringing it into the payload bay. Some of the gyroscopes on the Hubble had failed and the astronauts had to maneuver Hubble 180 degrees to properly secure it into the payload bay. The pictures of the space walks from the astronauts' perspective were incredible! The space suits the astronauts wear weigh 300 pounds on earth but are very comfortable and easy to move in once in space. The astronauts explained that half of their work was in the dark and half in the light. A reminder that the sun goes up and down sixteen times each day! The first task was to replace the gyros. In fact the goal was to replace thirteen boxes containing gyros - and thirteen were replaced! The next task was to replace the 386 computer with a 486 computer and once again, a complete success! Next was to extract and replace the fine guidance sensor, which is the size of a baby grand piano and weighs about 300 pounds on earth. The third space walk required the Hubble to be rewired for its new fine guidance system and several other servicing boxes to be replaced. An S-band radio transmitter was changed and a reel-to-reel data recorder was replaced with solid state memory, further increasing the capability of the new 486 computer. Finally some of the insulation was repaired. It was pointed out that part of the Hubble is always in the light, while the other part is always in the dark when it is on orbit. The section that was exposed to the light had shown signs of wear and this is what was replaced. After having the Hubble Telescope in the bay of Discovery for five days and completing all of the required service missions, it was time to release it back into space. Hubble was once again secured by the orbiters robotic arm and positioned for release. Once in position, only the forward RTS jets were used to maneuver Discovery away from Hubble. By using only the forward jets, contamination of Hubble's optical sytem was avoided. The views of each of these maneuvers were spectacular. I have always enjoyed seeing the views of our earth from the astronauts' perspective. The views shown in the slide-show presentation included deserts, oceans, storms and so much more. In one of the shots you could see almost the entire United States! A person would have to appreciate the earth we live on after seeing these incredible shots. I wish I could have taken pictures to share with you but it would have interrupted the presentation. Instead, please visit this Johnson Space Center site to get an idea of how incredible these photos are. Hearing the STS 103 crew account for their mission in space first hand was impressive to say the least. It is obvious that they and their fellow astronauts have had the privilege of seeing our planet and solar system from a much different perspective - space. Thanks to the STS 103 crew for a great mission and sharing their experiences! [Editor's note: Jeff is in charge of keeping the long packing/shopping list of items to take up to the International Space Station, leave on orbit, and bring back on the shuttle for the upcoming ISS shuttle flight.] A NEW JOB ASSIGNMENT
by Jeff Sugar http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/sugar.html March 6, 2000 I was hired into a new position at the end of February. I am now working for the NASA Mission Operations Directorate (MOD). In particular, I support the Space Flight Training Division where I am in the Mechanical and Robotic Systems department. In the simplest of terms, I will be an instructor teaching the use and operation of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS) - the Shuttle robotic arm. I had been working in the Space Station Program Office, assigned to Space Station Flight 2A.2/STS-101. That flight was originally a logistics flight carrying supplies to the orbiting space station. Around the time that I left, the flight was split into two flights -- 2A.2a/STS-101 and 2A.2b/STS-106. The reason for the split was a result of the Russian Service Module not arriving prior to the originally planned 2A.2 launch. The FGB, currently on-orbit attached to the Node, is in need of some servicing and in-flight maintenance; the new 2A.2a flight will be used to carry supplies, begin the original 2A.2 tasks, and bring new hardware to keep the FGB functioning. After the Service Module is launched sometime in July, the 2A.2b mission will be sent up to carry the rest of the supplies and carry out the remaining original 2A.2 tasks not completed on 2A.2a. An easier analogy to help explain this is to imagine a house under construction and a truck packed with your boxes ready to move in. You have more items packed on your truck than you have room for in your house. You need a closet to be finished on your house before you can put items in it but you also need to put other items away in your garage. To solve this, you put some of your boxes in the garage, wait for the closet to be finished, and then come back again to fill in the closet with more boxes. Currently, I am at the United Space Alliance (USA) Training Academy where I am taking classes pertaining to the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The Training Academy is used to teach those individuals new to MOD about these programs so they have a basic understanding to help them begin their job. In my class, there are students who will become future instructors, flight controllers, and flight surgeons.
RE: MISSION: STS-101, 3rd ISS Flight (2A.2a) - carrying SPACEHAB Last Monday while workers were stowing Atlantis' Ku band antenna into the payload bay, the graphite epoxy dish contacted an unmanned bridge bucket and damaged the edge of the 3-feet-diameter dish. Engineers are evaluating the damage to determine whether repair or replacement work is required. Once a work plan is developed managers will assess what impact, if any, the unplanned work will have on the processing schedule. Managers had planned to close Atlantis' payload bay today, but that effort is contingent upon the engineering evaluation. KSC workers are preparing to transfer orbiter Atlantis to the Vehicle Assembly Building as early as March 16. Shuttle managers completed the STS-101 Orbiter Rollout Review Friday at KSC and determined that Orbiter Atlantis is ready to proceed with vertical processing following the completion of open work. Though launch remains targeted for no earlier than April 13, managers continue to evaluate STS-101 launch options. A delay of a few days is possible and a target date decision is expected this week.
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