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UPDATE # 27 - October 13, 1997 PART 1: An easy online activity AN EASY ONLINE ACTIVITY
Here is a simple activity that will work on the communication skills of your students while challenging them to think creatively. You will use the Internet to have youngsters talk to other youngsters about the Shuttle. The basic idea is this: kids make riddles for other kids to solve. Students or (classes working together) will create questions about the shuttle that they think will be difficult but fun to answer. Send us your question (we'll put it online in the Kids' Corner of the Web), and others will email their responses directly back. The question creator gets to decide if the respondent is right. Then, we'd love to see the results if you'd like to share. We expect the result to be a bunch of kid-kid email exchanges which heat up the Internet. An example question might be: Why did NASA stop painting the external tank white (after the first four space shuttle missions? That question isn't too tough; we know you can do better than that! Send your original Student Stumpers to Linda. Also, visit the web at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/kids/stumpers.html CHATTING WITH NASA PEOPLE
Don't forget that each week, a different NASA person is available in the Shuttle Team Online chatroom. In one intense hour, you'll get to participate in the technical and personal grilling of a NASA expert. Join the excitement as students from all over pepper quick shuttle people with interesting questions. To participate (ask questions), you will need to pre-register for the individual chats. There is no RSVP needed if you will only be observing the chat. In the next few weeks the chatroom will feature: Thursday, October 16, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Pacific Time Victor Cooley, Space Station Design Lead Victor leads a team designing the future International Space Station (ISS). Wednesday, October 22, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Pacific Time: Ted Fabian, Computer Scientist Ted provides computer support to the Microgravity Science people who work at NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, Ohio. Wednesday, October 29, 10:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m. Pacific Time: Jim Draus, Mechanical Systems Engineer Jim's makes sure that various shuttle ground support systems are ready to support every mission, from rollout to the launch pad, up through launch. For all of the details about chats, see: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/interact.html [Editor's note: Glen is a technician who works on the inside of the shuttle fleet, in the crew compartment and on the flight deck. People call Glen a Ground Astronaut because he sits in the crew compartment and flips the switches and circuit breakers during pre and post-flight system checks. He is one of the last people to leave the Orbiter before tanking and launch and one of the first to enter the Orbiter after a landing on the runway. If that sounds cool, IT IS! But it is not all fun. Glen also has to clean the "potty" and vacuum the floors.] BEING THERE WHEN THE SHUTTLE LANDS (Part 1)
Glen Davis http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/gdavis.html October 6, l997 The alarm clock goes off; it's 0300 hours (pronounced "oh three hundred hours," which is 3:00 a.m.) (which I refer to as "0 dark thirty in the morning"). I climb out of bed and head for the shower; I am starting to wake up now. My mind is drifting to what is ahead later this morning: "What is the weather like? I wonder what the winds are like. Do I feel right? I hope my partner is not sick!" I get dressed and head out to the garage. The door opens and I back out onto the driveway. The stars are out and shining bright. There is little wind, if any. I feel good and alert now. I make the half-hour drive through the Merritt Island Wild Life preserve. There is an osprey on just about every other telephone pole. Turkey buzzards are roosting on the telephone lines and the towers along the route. There's an owl watching for a morning meal to be scared up from my car as it passes by. I have to stay alert because of the hog population; they tend to try and commit suicide using your car. Off in the distance, I can see the zeon lights. Zeon lights are the very bright lights that light up the runway so the shuttle can see the runway from outer space. The lights are shining up the runway from the south, indicating a landing on runway 33. Runway 33 is the preferred landing area because the Sun will not be shining into the windshield. Once I pass the guard gate, my drive to the mid-park site is only about three miles more. I need to report there by 0400. Inside the building at the mid-park site, I have to check in with the supervisor on duty. I check in and receive an early tie-in briefing. This briefing will let me know what, if any, funnies are happening with the orbiter so far this early morning. I need to gather the tools and supplies that I will need to bring out to the white room truck. My partner working with me today will be Scott. On our way out to the truck, we will stop and check out two radios so supervision can contact us at anytime. We also get our hazardous badges from the orbiter integrity clerks. When we get to the white room truck we stash our supplies inside. Next we start our walk around, giving the truck a twice going over. I open the hood and check the fluids with Scott looking over my shoulders. The mechanics from roads and grounds will be checking the fluids later. Roads and grounds' employees are responsible for all the mechanical work on all the vehicles used on the runway. We look at the tires to see if there is enough air pressure in them. The white room truck is more than 18 feet off the ground, making it very top heavy. If the tires are too soft the truck could turn over. I get into the truck and start it up. After the truck has warmed up enough I will engage the hydraulic pump. The hydraulic pump supplies fluid to the stabilizers on the truck. I will run all the cylinders up and down to make sure they all work. Scott watches each one and lets me know what is happening. Next I turn on all the lights and Scott checks them all to make sure they are working. Besides the standard running lights, there are area flood lights. Flood lights all around the truck plus lights for the stairs and the inside of the white room help light the work area. Scott rolls up the large 6x8 roll up door from the inside of the white room. He now unsnaps the straps that hold the large seal from its place of storage. When Scott tells me he's finished, I flip the switch that activates the blowers and the seal inflates. After inflation of the seal has been completed and checked out, I'll turn the switch to de-inflate the seal. Scott re-snaps the straps and pulls the door back down for the ride to the end of the runway. I turn the engine off and we return to the main building. With all our pre-ops complete for the white room truck, I go to the quality control person and put my stamp number on the completion of our pre-ops. The time is now about 0445 and we have about 15 minutes to take a break before call to stations. As I look around the room I can see everyone is relaxing. Some are reading the paper while others are resting their eyes. Management has brought in several boxes of doughnuts and there is juice in the refrigerator. Call to stations is two hours before landing. Houston verifies KSC is ready to support an 0700 landing. One of the steps JSC is looking for is that the spacecraft operator in charge is fuel cell certified or 016-1. I answer the call, giving my stamp number, indicating I have the required certification. Next is a radio check with all players to verify all radio communications are in good operating order. Scott answers to OOA2. I will answer to OOA1. OOA1 operator orbiter access is the driver and responsible spacecraft operator. At about 0530 there will be a meeting at the NASA convoy van. The convoy commander will then inform us of any problems that the orbiter is having. The commander briefs us on the wind direction and speed and tells us which runway they will be using. He will also give us a safety briefing. Working on an orbiter "hot" from orbit is very hazardous. After the meeting I gather with the astronaut support persons. We introduce ourselves. I go over what's expected of us with them, and how I can best be of help to them. Normally the ASP'S and SCO'S work well together. Now it's time to go to the restroom, because it's going to be a very long time before we get to go again. We get into the white room truck and get ourselves lined up in the convoy where the orbiter move director has told us. Once the forward convoy has lined up, the convoy will head for the north end of the runway. It takes us about 30 to 45 minutes to reach the end of the runway. The white room truck has a maximum speed of 25 mph. The runway is almost due north and south in direction. A landing on runway 33 puts the Sun at the commander's back. The forward convoy deploys to the end of the runway that the orbiter will stop at. In our case, the north end! The aft convoy will deploy from the mid-park site where we started. The mid-park site is at the halfway point. The orbiter will roll past the aft convoy. The aft convoy will then head north today. [What lies ahead for Glen Davis and his team? What will happen when the shuttle begins its descent onto runway 33? Stay tuned for Part 2, coming up in a future updates-STO message!]
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, external tank/solid rocket booster post-mate close-outs are in work in the Vehicle Assembly Building, On October 2, the STS-87 crew arrived at KSC to participate in mission familiarization activities. On October 3 the crew toured through Columbia's crew module and midbody and also on went on a visit of the Spartan payload in KSC's Vertical Processing Facility. Fuel cell monitoring system modifications were underway when a faulty connector on the fuel cell monitoring system in the orbiter's midbody was discovered. It was changed out and retested, along with other connectors on Columbia's fuel cell monitoring system. While this work took place, shuttle managers evaluated the impact on the scheduled date for roll over to the VAB. With all of the extra work in the midbody, rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building for mate to the complement of external tank and solid rocket boosters has moved to Oct. 24 (from October 20). Close-outs continue in the midbody around-the-clock Body flap repairs and heat shield installation were completed. The payload premate test was finished. With weight-saving modifications complete on Columbia's elevons, work continues on the flipper doors located above the elevon cove. Aft compartment close-outs continue. Upcoming milestones - Payload bay door closure (Oct. 21) - Orbiter roll over to VAB (Oct. 24) - Orbiter roll out to Pad 39B (Oct. 29) - Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (Nov. 3 and 4)
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