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UPDATE # 29 - November 14, 1997 PART 1: Upcoming chats with NASA people UPCOMING CHATS WITH NASA PEOPLE
Don't forget that almost every 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, November 20, 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Pacific Time: Andy Warren, Ground Support Engineer Andy works with equipment like cranes and platforms that is used to prepare space shuttles and payloads for launches. He must make sure that this equipment is designed, operated, maintained and modified correctly. Wednesday, December 3, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Pacific Time: Mike Olka, Civil Structural Engineer Mike oversees engineering projects from beginning to end at NASA Kennedy Space Center. He determines if projects can be completed within the guidelines of NASA. Also he communicates important information to different people involved in the projects. Wednesday, December 10, 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time: Stuart Engelhardt, Software Engineer Stuart works develops shuttle mission software and then trains astronauts in how to use it. Stuart has also worked as a flight controller in the Mission Control Center For all of the details about chats, see: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/interact.html [Editor's note: Tracy works in Experiment Integration, where he gets experiment hardware ready for launch. He installs the hardware and then tests all the power, video, cooling, and data interfaces. All this testing helps makes sure that the experiment will work successfully once the mission begins.] WORKING HARD ON THE NEUROLAB EXPERIMENTS
Tracy Gill http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/gill.html November 12, l997 We've had a very busy October and early November here in Experiment Integration at the Kennedy Space Center. In early October, we were putting the final touches on mechanical integration of experiment hardware into the Spacelab racks. Once that integration was complete, we did a few electrical cable checks in each rack, verifying that the power systems would be safe to initially apply power to each experiment facility. Then each rack was lifted by crane up to its designated rack position on the flight floor on one of our test stands. Then each rack had to be connected to the data cables, power cables, air cooling ducts, and in some cases, fluid cooling lines emanating from the flight floor. Once that work was complete, we connected ground equipment cables from our Level IV (Experiment Integration) test system, the Payload Checkout Unit (PCU), to begin test operations. The PCU is used to simulate Spacelab for experiment test purposes because, in Level IV, the racks and the flight floor are not yet integrated inside the Spacelab module. We went on to test each of the Neurolab experiment facilities one at a time, in what we call an Interface Verification Test (IVT). This set of testing began on October 10 and went through October 27. This series of IVTs is an effort building up to the Mission Sequence Test (MST), an integrated test involving all the experiments and the astronaut crew. During the initial IVT phase, we had nine different test engineers running test procedures. Some of the engineers tested two or even three different experiments. I am the lead test engineer, and my job is to review and approve the IVT procedures, to help figure out the best and easiest way to test, and to lead the effort in troubleshooting and resolving problems once we detect them. I control the test activities from a small control room where I have three video monitors to keep tabs on surveillance cameras by the payload, a data terminal to look at telemetry, a headset console to talk to the test team, and a laptop computer connected to the Internet which allows me to look up archived data and access my e-mail. It's a pinnacle of engineer "geekdom" to have all this equipment surrounding you when you're trying to run a test, but you can never have too much information. The Neurolab facilities we tested included the Autonomic Investigations hardware (includes the Lower Body Negative Pressure Device), two Refrigerator/Freezer Units, the Astronaut Lung Function Experiment, the Vestibular Function Experiment Unit, the two Research Animal Holding Facilities, the Body Rotation Device (a chair on a spinning axis), the Virtual Environment Generator, the Kinelite (a ball launching and catching to study human reactions in microgravity) experiment, centrifuge and incubator equipment, the Visuo-Motor Coordination Facility, and the General Purpose Work Station (a large, enclosed chamber where experiment observations will occur through video systems). [Editor's note: For more on NeuroLab, see http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron] With this Neurolab IVT testing, we worked six days a week, twelve hours a day. Shew! It's not easy to keep that up for three weeks, but we managed to get through the testing and work out all the problems we found. Then we were ready for the Mission Sequence Test. For MST, I am the test conductor and the author of the procedure. It turned out to be a 540-page whopper. I don't write every little bit of the procedure. The nine test engineers write the pieces relating to the experiment facilities that they have tested, and I write portions directing the order and sequencing of what we do. I assemble the procedure using the test guidelines given to me by Johnson Space Center (JSC) mission management for what they'd like to see in the test. The astronaut crew arrived to participate in the test, and on October 28, we did the pre-test setups of stowage hardware to ready the experiments for testing on October 29. It was the astronauts' first experience with the assembled flight hardware, and quite a few of us engineers here were kept busy that day between doing our setups and helping answer questions for the flight crew. The astronauts also took many, many pictures of the experiment hardware to take back to JSC to study while they trained back there. [Editor's note: Steve is a meteorologist (weatherman) who provides advise about weather issues, primarily during launch and landings.] HELPING THE FRENCH PREDICT THE WEATHER
Steve Sokol http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/sokol.html October 30, l997 The Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) supported a unique NASA project involving the French Ariane-5 launch from French Guiana on October 30, 1997. The goal of the NASA project was to track the re-entry and breakup of the main stage in the Pacific Ocean. This was to determine the core stage's "debris footprint," helping define shipping lanes that should be closed during future launches. The French Space Program requested this NASA support. SMG gave several unique briefings via the Internet and telecons with Hawaii and Kwajalein where weather aircraft and tracking personnel were deployed. The briefings were very well received. Webmaster Mark Keehn set up satellite pictures and loops, as well as upper wind forecasts at 35K, 40K, and 45K. Overlays of the re-entry path and aircraft primary and alternate viewing locations were displayed on these products. Over 100 people and two aircraft, Boeing's Airborne Surveillance Testbed's (AST) 767, and a USAF C135 (ARGUS), were involved in this NASA support. SMG provided weather support to the aircraft, whose goal was to get cloud-free line-of-sight photographs and other data during the re-entry. This was no small feat, since all of the primary and alternate target selection points (TSP) were in the very convectively active Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) about 2,000 miles south of Hawaii. However, post-mission feedback said visibility was excellent at the TSPs SMG recommended. SMG's late invitation to join the NASA project supporting the French Ariane came about two weeks before launch. This required highly innovative, original, and flexible weather support. 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, a Flight Readiness Review took place to confirm that all aspects of the STS-87 mission are prepared for launch. At the conclusion of the meeting, NASA managers announced Nov. 19 as the official launch date. A Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) successfully concluded on November 5. The crew and others practiced the activities for the launch, including a simulated main engine start and cutoff at T-0 The USMP (the main payload for STS-97) was installed in Columbia's payload bay. Payload interface verification tests were completed and the payload bay doors were then closed. The helium signature test was finished. The pad was then closed for loading of hypergolic propellants into the orbiter. During this procedure, approximately 100 gallons of oxidizer leaked from propellant lines at Pad 39B. The leak occurred on the west slope of the pad and there was no injury to personnel nor damage to flight hardware. Environmental cleanup activities were quickly initiated. Gaskets on the newly refurbished oxidizer and fuel valves were replaced and prelaunch hypergolic fuel loading was completed November 9. Columbia's payload bay doors were reopened to allow secondary payload servicing. The engine flight readiness test concluded and water spray boiler testing was also completed. Close-outs of the aft engine compartment continue through Saturday. Ordnance installation is complete. The space suits that will be used in this mission's planned space walk were installed and are being tested. Orbiter/payload interface verification testing were completed. Data could not be loaded into mass memory unit No. 2, so technicians planned to replace the unit. STS-87 SCHEDULED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only): - Aft engine compartment close-outs complete (Nov. 15) - STS-87 crew arrives at KSC (Nov. 16 at about 3:30 p.m.) - Launch countdown begins (Nov. 16 at 3 p.m.) - Power reactant storage and distribution system loading (Nov. 17) - Rotating Service Structure retracted (Nov. 18 at 9 p.m.)
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