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PART 1: Testing new parts on the launch simulator
TESTING NEW PARTS ON THE LAUNCH SIMULATOR
George Thomas http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/thomas.html August 21, l997 Today I took two newly hired people in our group and we went up to a launch firing room that is used for practices. It is not connected to any Shuttle hardware, but instead hooks up to a computer (shuttle simulator) that behaves like the Shuttle would. The computers we use in the firing rooms are over 20 years old. This means that many of the parts are starting to break a lot. So, we went out and found new parts that are made today that can take the place of the old parts. Before we can use these new parts in a firing room against the real shuttle, we have to use them in this practice firing room against the shuttle simulator. So today we ran our computer programs against the shuttle simulator and looked at the data to make sure that we are still sending out commands to the shuttle at the same times as before. Once we do this several times and see that everything looks the same, we will be able to put these new pieces into the real launch firing rooms. [Editor's note: George's main job is to maintain the health of the astronauts and the workers who support the astronauts. He also works to ensure that all employees at Kennedy Space Center, and all visitors who come to tour the Space Center or to watch a launch, enter into a safe healthy environment. George's team is also responsible for making sure that none of the work done at KSC damages the animals and plants and the rest of the natural environment.] I'M ALWAYS READY FOR A MEDICAL EMERGENCY
George Martin http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/martin.html August 18, l997 One of the things I am working on personally is a new blood pressure cuff. Part of my primary job is maintaining an emergency medical service system for shuttle launches and landing. I am responsible for making sure that all of the personnel and equipment that we have is ready for each mission, and that people are properly trained to use the equipment, in case of any contingency. We have a number of rescue helicopters, and we have Department of Defense (DoD) physicians in the helicopters with a pair of rescue specialists, who serve as paramedics. In the case of a contingency, they could airlift any ill or injured astronaut or support crewmember to hospitals close to KSC, and get them to a facility with medical care they might need. However, even in the civilian air medical business, measuring blood pressure is difficult to do in a helicopter, due to the vibrations, and a stethoscope cannot be used due to the noise. The automated cuffs used in hospitals are very sensitive to vibration and movement, so they're very inadequate as well. So one of the things we've set out to do, along with our engineering department, is to try to develop a better means of assessing blood pressure and pulse in a helicopter. We received a large grant from NASA Headquarters to pursue this, and we are very excited. We have come up with a blood pressure cup that is based on Doppler principal, which incorporates a Doppler transducer. We actually developed an instrument, which we are now going to have patented, and we are just beginning to receive some preliminary data from some subjects flying in our NASA helicopter. This effort will help us with our mission, but it has a lot of commercialization potential. Along the same vein, we're always trying to upgrade our medical capability in case of a contingency. At every launch and landing, we have the capability to set up a triage site, and we have physicians that are flown in from the University of Florida hospital, in Gainsville, FL. The physicians, who are trauma specialists, come to KSC for every launch and landing to supplement the physicians, paramedics and medical equipment that we have. In case of a contingency, we could have really advanced medical capability on-site. We could then at least initially stabilize, evaluate, and triage, and later airlift people if we need to. We are just beginning to refit our triage van, which is an expensive project; we're getting a new van and equipment to put into it. The van will have much better capability. We have systems like this that the DoD uses for Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) sites; for every launch , there are at least two TAL sites that are available in case the shuttle launches but can not build up enough energy to make orbit and, therefore, land across the Atlantic Ocean. Two TAL sites are located in Spain, one in Morocco, and one in the Gambia in Banjul. The DoD and some NASA people staff the sites, and they are at the sites for every launch and landing, depending on if the inclination orbit is high or low. We have medical capabilities at those sites. The medical capability at the sites is the same as that at KSC. When the Gambia station is involved, the best medical capability is available. There of a number of physicians and nurses, and a lot of medical equipment. [Editor's note: Lesley is a Traffic Management Specialist for NASA at Kennedy Space Center. She is responsible for the movement of freight on and off the center - freight as small and as simple as thumbtacks to freight as big and as complicated as satellites.] GETTING PAYLOADS WHERE THEY NEED TO GO
Lesley Carroll http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/carroll.html August 25, l997 When you think of a payload, what comes to mind? A satellite? An experiment? If you thought of these, you would be correct. Have you ever wondered how they get to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to be put into the shuttle or onto an expendable launch vehicle (ELV)? Let me give you a little background on the process. All the satellites that are launched are manufactured somewhere else - sometimes at companies in the United States, sometimes at companies in Europe or Asia. They all have one thing in common, however - they have to get from there to here. Some are sent overland on a truck or, occasionally, by water on a barge. Others are sent by air, and that's when I get involved. Part of my work is transportation support and coordination for payloads arriving by aircraft, either a commercial cargo airplane or a military airplane. The transportation process starts six months to a year before the payload is due to arrive. The Launch Site Support Manager (LSSM) for the particular program holds many meetings with the customers and the many support people here at Kennedy Space Center, including me. A Ground Operations Working Group Meeting (GOWG) is scheduled, and the transportation requirements are included in that and/or several additional meetings. At this time, the transportation requirements are covered in detail, including customs requirements if it is an international flight. The approximate date of arrival is discussed, along with: how many and what kinds of trucks will be needed to transport the payload after its removal from the aircraft; aircraft offloading equipment; security requirements (all flight hardware MUST be escorted by Security from the landing strip to the processing facility); and other necessary pieces of ground support equipment that will be needed at the time of arrival and/or offload. In the time before the arrival of the aircraft, I stay in touch with the landing facility, either the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) here on KSC, or the Skid Strip, located across the river on Cape Canaveral Air Station, to monitor the potential landing problems that could cause a delay in the arrival, especially if it is very close to the Shuttle launch day. The SLF has a requirement that no cargo planes can arrive or offload within three days of a launch due to the arrival of many other planes, such as the T-38 jets the astronauts fly in, and the Gulfstreams that are used for Shuttle Training Approaches, as well as ramp restrictions due to lack of "parking space" for all the aircraft. If a situation arises that would impact the cargo aircraft arrival time or location, I notify the LSSM so that the decision can be made either to delay the arrival or pull it forward, if possible, or to change the landing location. If such changes are made, or even if no changes are made, I remain in contact with the contractor transportation personnel and the folks in the Heavy Equipment yard, advising them of any changes to the schedule/location. Once an airplane arrives, if I have done my prelanding job well, I simply monitor the offload procedure, being available to answer questions or solve problems that are within my authority to do, or to contact anyone else that is needed. If all goes well--if the weather cooperates (no lightning!), if the offloading equipment functions well and doesn't "glitch," if the payload is not shoehorned into the cargo space, and so on--then we can have the cargo out of the plane and loaded onto the transport vehicle, the ground support equipment (GSE) necessary to assist in processing the satellite or experiments, off the plane and onto trucks for transport, and all escorted by Security to the appropriate payload processing facility (such as the Space Station Processing Facility, the vertical processing facility, etc.) in a matter of one to three hours. However, this is not always the case, as the following stories of previous missions will explain. The SOHO Mission Weather can cause many problems with an offload. The SOHO satellite was due to arrive at KSC SLF in an Air France 747 cargo plane about 10 a.m. Because it was an international flight, customs, immigration and agriculture personnel were required to clear the plane, the flight personnel, the garbage, and the cargo before any offloading could begin. Unfortunately for all of us, when the plane was originally scheduled, hurricane Erin was brewing in the Atlantic Ocean, but was due to hit south Florida and bypass us completely. The morning of the arrival, the hurricane shifted its track and headed UP the coast towards us. There we all were, out on the ramp, with the winds beginning to blow harder and rain threatening. As soon as the officials cleared the plane, our heavy equipment personnel set to offloading the satellite and the associated GSE. The satellite in its canister had to be removed using a crane, but...the lifting bar that needed to be attached to the canister had been loaded on the aircraft behind the canister, which made it very difficult to get to and attach. This took more time than we had originally planned, which, given the fact the hurricane was making tracks for us, was something we were beginning to run short of. Anyway, with the winds increasing in speed and intensity, the crew finally attached the bar, and the satellite was removed from the plane, just under the maximum wind speed allowed to use the crane. The equipment crew scrambled to get the remaining payload off of the aircraft, while I assisted with decisions and trips to obtain items for the Air France crew. The offload was completed, the airplane departed around 2:30 p.m., and we all beat a hasty retreat to our homes. The Cassini Mission This is a very politically active project because of the radioactive fuel that is to be used for electrical generation. This particular payload arrived at three separate times in three separate aircraft. The first part was the PMS module, with the high-gain antenna, and GSE, which arrived in March on a C-17, a U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft. I had been working with the LSSM for six to eight months on this project prior to its arrival, and had made sure the SLF was available. The plane arrived on schedule, the cargo was offloaded and the plane departed. A very smooth operation. We should have known! The second part, which was the overseas segment, caused many problems. A Lufthansa 747, bringing in the Huygens Probe from Europe, was scheduled to arrive at the SLF on launch day. I informed the LSSM of the conflict, and scheduled the aircraft to land at the Skid Strip. Since this was an international flight, arrangements were made for customs, immigration and agriculture agents to support the incoming plane. Okay, so far, but now came a major problem with documentation. The probe carries a small quantity of pyrotechnics (explosives) which propels the satellite away from the ELV, thus allowing it to use its own motor to place it into orbit. The Germans had received their required document from their government, permitting it to be flown on a commercial aircraft, but no one had contacted the United States Department of Transportation, the government office responsible for providing the document that would allow the aircraft to fly into American airspace. Immediate chaos followed since the plane was scheduled to arrive in less than one week. The carrier had to have this document in order to load the airplane and apply for their departure time slot. We were notified of this oversight on Wednesday, with an absolute resolution day of the following Monday. It took a coordinated effort of multiple offices - KSC Transportation, Payload Ground Operations Contractor (PGOC) Transportation, the head of the Bureau of Explosives, the Department of Transportation, and the LSSM - to get all of this to come together. The problem was worked on throughout the entire weekend, with the documentation faxed to the LSSM on Monday, who, in turn, faxed it to the carrier. Thankfully, the probe arrived on schedule, thanks to an incredible effort. The Space Station Node The most current mission of national interest was the arrival of the Space Station Node, the first major piece of station hardware. This was an effort involving about 50 people, however, despite all the planning, there were problems. The node was transported in a special canister, call the Space Container Transportation System (SCTS), which was built to fit into a military airplane, specifically a specially modified C-5. The C-5C is the only aircraft that this canister will fit into, and it takes almost the entire cargo space. If a mechanical problem arises with the plane making it unusable, there is only one additional specially modified C-5C to use. For this mission, there were two aircraft scheduled - a regular C-5B for ground support equipment, and the C-5C, carrying the node. The arrival times were to be late at night, around midnight, with partial offload immediately after arrival, and the node offload the following evening. Those were the plans, anyway. Needless to say, it didn't quite happen that way! Weather at the originating installation, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Alabama, was not cooperative, resulting in an overweight flight load. Part of the cargo had to be removed from the C-5B prior to its departure at MSFC, thus delaying the arrival at KSC, and requiring an additional trip back to retrieve the cargo left behind. Instead of arriving at 10:30 p.m., the planes finally arrived at 1:30 a.m. The C-5C was parked on the ramp at the SLF for offload later that evening, while the C-5B was parked on the runway for offloading and subsequent departure (at 2:15 a.m.) for its return trip. At 6:00 p.m. that same day, preparations were started to offload the node from the C-5C, an operation which took close to six hours to complete. The clearance between the SCTS canister and the walls/ceiling of the plane was about one inch. Moving the canister required very slow, precise movements; basically it was inched out of the cargo bay! After offload, it was transported to the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). Of course, what comes in must go out. We looked at the problem of returning the canister and the ground support equipment later that week. Same problem, different day. The C-5C arrived at the SLF Thursday evening and prepared for the upload of the canister on Friday evening. When the plane arrived, we discovered there had been several mechanical problems, which did not worry us since the aircraft was not scheduled to depart until Sunday morning. Plenty of time to fix it, right? Wrong! The upload began around 6 p.m. on Friday evening, proceeded slowly but smoothly, finishing at 1:30 a.m. Since we had a launch conflict with the SLF, the C-5B arrived Saturday at the Skid Strip, two hours later than originally scheduled. The upload of the GSE began, and upon completion, the plane was closed up for its Sunday morning departure. During the loading, however, I was called by the Ops people at the SLF advising me that another problem had arisen with the C-5C, which was going to adversely impact not only all the ground transportation arrangements I had made for the air crews, but also the flight departure time. I was told the parts had been ordered to repair the plane, and would hopefully arrive the following morning. On Sunday morning, I called the SLF, only to learn of yet another mechanical problem, which would delay departure, and which required additional transportation arrangements for the air crews. The C-5B departed the Skid Strip on time Sunday morning, but the C-5C was still on the ground at the SLF. Of major concern at this time was the impact the plane was having on the launch activities, since a shuttle was due to launch on Tuesday. Monday morning - the C-5C was still on the ground. We set up a convoy of vans, retrieved the air crew at noon and transported them to the SLF (again!). They scrambled to get the plane fixed and airworthy, finally succeeding, and departed at 10:08 p.m. Monday. We were never so glad to see a plane leave in our entire lives!! In the world of offloads, we hope for the best and try to plan for the worst. As I have mentioned in the episodes above, when things go wrong, they go wrong in a big way! Fortunately, problems like these don't happen regularly - just often enough to keep the job interesting. STATUS OF COLUMBIA PROCESSING
Below and in the future, we'll provide some details about the post flight work being done after STS-94 and the subsequent processing of Columbia as it gets ready to fly again as STS-87. These reports will contain jargon and unfamiliar terms; our intent is not to confuse you, but to provide a glimpse at all the steps involved. Detailed daily reports about Columbia's processing 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, Columbia's remote manipulator system (RMS) was removed and will be replaced with the RMS used on Discovery's last mission. The Shuttle's water spray boilers are scheduled for checkout this week. Installation of Columbia's main engines is now slated for Sept. 23. Auxiliary power unit lubrication and oil servicing is under way.
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