|
   |
 |
                 
|
S P A C E T E A M O N L I N EUPDATE # 46 - July 24, l998 PART 1: Big plans BIG PLANS
I want to thank those of you who have written with encouraging words as I have undertaken the management of the STO project. I guess I should have anticipated that my enthusiasm over having joined the Quest team at NASA full time might have been a bit contagious. I wish I could offer more than encouragement to those who would like to do the same. The best clues I can give you are online in the multiple bios at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team There are almost as many roads to joining the NASA team as there are team members. And for those who have written with great ideas for the space program, the best response I can give you is the one I found at the NASA headquarters website: In answer to: Can NASA engineers evaluate my invention, drawing or plans? NASA encourages the submission of unsolicited proposals to receive unique and innovative research aligned with the agency's mission. Proposals may be submitted to: NASA Headquarters Mail Code CO 300 E St. SW Washington DC 20546 Here at Quest we can tell that most schools are out. Our ISS QuestChats were very lightly attended, but we'd like to continue to encourage more of you, though perhaps on vacation, to take the opportunity to join us. The next QuestChat is listed in the calendar of events below. The Challenge Project seems to be taking on a life of its own. We're expanding as partner groups join us and increase our scope. Plan to be with us all the way through September for the Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station adventure from the sea floor; and then in October as Brandt Secosh, Quest's correspondent from Kennedy Space Center, comes to us Live from Banana Creek for the STS-95 launch! We hope to soon have a list online of our distinguished "Challenge Takers" who will crew the SCSAS for the underwater mission and a calendar of our interactive opportunities as they are scheduled. Keep in touch at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/challenge At the same time, plans are in the works to join forces with our Quest Women of NASA project to feature the monumental event of the first woman commander Eileen Collins as she leads the team into space aboard STS-93 in January 1999. More on this as plans develop. As exciting as launches are, as Brandt said in his last journal, "...This was my first live landing and I have to say that it was just as impressive as the launches are to me!" The journals below describe other aspects involved in landing the shuttle from the standpoint of other STO team members. Stay tuned, Linda Conrad CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:
->August 12, 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time: with Andrew Petro, spacecraft design engineer. Andrew is part of a team involved with planning future projects and designing spacecraft for returning to the moon and going on to Mars. His team also works on improvements to space shuttles and designs for launchers, which will eventually replace the shuttles. As usual, you will better contribute to the chat if you first read his bio at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/petro.html ->August 19, take a tour of the International Space Station. Astronaut flight crews for Space Shuttle flights and upcoming Space Station missions receive most of their hands-on training in flight simulators and full-size mockups at Johnson Space Center. Join us for a tour of the Space Station Mockup and Training facility (SSMTF) one such simulator. To prepare for this event, go to: http://k12-dev.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/sto/tours/index.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. As told here, what's installed must be recovered.] BRINGING STS-91 HOME http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/gill.html July 22, l998 It was now four hours prior to the return of STS-91. Three other team members and I were in the vicinity of the Shuttle Landing Facility in two separate vans waiting to recover equipment from the MIR Space Station that would be returned by the Orbiter Discovery. It was an incredibly hot day. The heat index was 105-110 degrees, no wind and very humid. Unfortunately, the recovery vehicle I was stationed in was not doing much to cool the air! Our job that day was to recover the powered mid-deck and support equipment and many of the personal effects that astronaut Andy Thomas used while onboard MIR. We knew that 30 minutes prior to landing, we would have to don our fire protective garments and continue to wear them until the "All Clear" was announced. Even with all of this we were all very happy to be a part of the recovery process! After Columbia rolled to a stop and the crew has departed, the USA crews "safed" the Orbiter, we began the recovery of the equipment. Pictures of some examples of the equipment that we recovered are online at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/journals/gill/07-22-98.html Once all of the equipment is gathered it is delivered to several locations around Kennedy Space Center. This is the schedule that we used for the STS-91 mission: STS -91 Destow Agenda NOTE: R = time on runway. For example R+3 would mean this task must be completed within 3 hours after Discovery was on the runway Landing Status Turnover Times Landing at 2:08pm R+3 Items around 4:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. R+5 Items to Operations and Checkout around 8:00 p.m.-9:00pm then need to be inventoried R+3 Items Cold Stowage-O&C 1292 CoCult (powered items)-O&C 1295 CREAM- Hi Bay (takes priority) DCAMS & Dewars- Hi Bay Starboard Ceiling & Starboard Floor Bags-Hi Bay Biotech and Biocorrosion Exp-0 &C 2249 R+5 Items Cold Stowage-O&C 1292 Pre-pack bags- Hi- Bay Flight Crew Equipment Some items signed for and turned over at FCE Other items transferred to O&C for weigh and photographed for distribution Camera Bags return to FCE Andy's Personal Items R+3 Items SPSR Adv Astroculture MSD053 (MF28K) Teflon Sample Bags Standoff Cross and Bag Baseplate CWC's T-38 Requirements Camera Bags SMP Items (NEF28K) Some of the experiment hardware we recover is powered to keep their contents at a critical temperature for science purposes. In order to remove these items from the Orbiter and transport them back to the hardware developer's facility, where scientists can begin to study their contents, we use heavy duty (45lb!) Ni-Cad batteries as a portable power source. We station the battery in the Orbiter "white room," a small room at the top of the stairway leading into the Orbiter hatch. We have a thirty foot cable that runs into the Orbiter which we use connect our battery to the experiment hardware without having to lug the battery inside. For this mission, I was in the white room with the batteries. Once I had the battery in position, a co-worker, Jennifer Wahlberg, who was actually inside the Orbiter middeck shut off the experiment and then the Orbiter power feed, disconnected the cable from the Orbiter power source. Then she connected our battery cable and turned the experiment back on once I switched on our battery output. We had three hardware items on this mission that required battery power: the Commercial Protein Crystal Growth experiment, the Biotechnology Refrigerator, and the Co-Culture Experiments. The latter two of these had launched to the Mir on STS-89 and were returning to Earth on STS-91. Once the experiment hardware was on our battery power, United Space Alliance (USA) Flight Crew Systems (FCS) personnel dismounted the hardware from the Orbiter and helped us transport it eventually down to our experiment vans. Other tasks we had to do in the middeck prior to leaving were placing the TEHM contents into a cooler full of ice packs before shutting it off and removing some film cartridges from the Solid Surface Combustion Experiment. Finally, we helped the USA FCS personnel remove four large bags of equipment and materials we brought back from Mir. This included everything from personal effects to notebooks to camera equipment to clothes and even a collapsible guitar. These bags were so heavy (around 200 lbs.) and so full that they were difficult to squeeze through the hatch, but we managed to do it. We filled our two experiment vans with this hardware before finally heading back to the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building which was our first and primary stop. Some of our load was eventually headed for off-line lab areas in the Space Station Processing Facility and Hangar L, but most of it went into processing areas within the O&C Building. We had an anxious group of scientists and hardware developers waiting for us as we pulled up, and we quickly got to work handing over the equipment to them. It was a long, hot day, but it was worth it to see the happy looks on these people as they began to unwrap their "presents" full of scientific data from the Discovery and the Mir. [Editor's note: Mark is one of our newest STO team members and is responsible for the electrical power system at Launch Pad-B. One of his responsibilities is to validate and operate the Visual Landing Aids, which gives him a front row seat in viewing many successful Shuttle landings here at KSC.] PREPARING THE LANDING SITES FOR THE SHUTTLE http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/weller.html July 20, l998 Part of my job is to make sure that the overseas landing sites for the Shuttle are operational and tested approximately one week prior to each launch. We go to these sites with a small team of engineers, technicians, and mechanics. I serve as an Electrical Engineer on the team. The four different sites are located just outside of Seville, Spain; Zaragoza, Spain; Marrakech, Morocco; and Banjul, The Gambia. My primary job is to make sure that all of the visual landing aids and electrical equipment are functional and tested. NASA maintains our equipment in warehouses at each site so that we do not have to carry much equipment with us. Many countries use different power standards than we use in the United States and it is part of my job to make sure that the power that is supplied to our equipment meets the requirements of that equipment. We also maintain the Barrier nets located on the runways at several of these sites. Some of the runways are not long enough for the Shuttle to ensure that it will be able to complete its rollout after landing. The barrier nets will "catch" the Shuttle at the end of the landing so that it does not overrun the runway. The barrier nets are made of heavy canvas straps that are arranged vertically when it is deployed. The net is attached to "tear away straps" that are anchored to the runway and these are connected to huge spindles along side the runway. The spindles are connected to impellers that are submerged in glycol and water. As the nose of the Shuttle approaches the barrier net, it separates the straps and continues to roll forward until the straps come into contact with its wings. After the straps contact the wings, the straps are torn away from anchors in the runway and the mechanism absorbs the velocity of the Shuttle. In preparation for the launch we deploy the net, inspect and test it. It is then kept in a lowered position until it is required to be used during a mission. This allows other aircraft at these airports to continue to use the runway. Technicians also setup, test and maintain satellite communications at each site that keep us in contact with the Kennedy Space Center and Houston, Texas. There are weather personnel on the team which setup weather measurement instruments and collect data on the existing weather conditions. An astronaut goes with us as part of the team to "Dive the lights at each site." The astronaut will fly to a specific point near the runway and place the aircraft into a dive simulating an actual Shuttle approach. He or she will fly the approach and recommend what the light intensities should be for the existing weather conditions. All the information about the existing weather conditions and landing aid equipment status is relayed to the LRD (Landing Recovery Director) at the Kennedy Space Center and to the Houston test team. From this information a Prime Contingency Landing Site is then selected before liftoff. During the next launch listen for the announcement to the astronauts on when and where they could possibly land the Orbiter if a problem should occur. It should sound something like "Discovery -- Two Engine Banjul." Working with Lockheed and United Space Alliance has given me the opportunity to travel to these countries and I have made many friends during these trips that I visit with when I return. I always bring "trading material" on these trips. Trading material depends on which country we are in. In The Gambia they like ink pens and candy. In Spain they like the mission patches. I have volunteered for a Space Team Online chat that should be scheduled in the near future. I hope that you will register during that event and join me for this chat. STATUS OF COLUMBIA PROCESSING
Below, we'll provide some details about the post flight work being done after STS-90 and the subsequent processing of Columbia as it prepares to fly again as STS-93. 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 As Columbia continues preparation for its next scheduled flight, STS-93 scheduled for January 1999, installation of the new lightweight commander and pilot seats is complete and functional tests on the seats are in work. Middeck locker installation is also complete. Servicing of the orbiterŐs three freon coolant loops continues. Checkout and servicing of the water spray boiler and pressure tests of the flash evaporator system are under way. ColumbiaŐs window No. 1 is being replaced this week. SUBSCRIBING & UNSUBSCRIBING: HOW TO DO IT!
If this is your first message from the updates-sto list, welcome! To catch up on back issues, please visit the following Internet URL: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/updates To subscribe to the updates-sto mailing list (where this message came from), send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words: subscribe updates-sto CONVERSELY... To remove your name from the updates-sto mailing list, send a message to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov In the message body, write these words: unsubscribe updates-sto If you have Web access, please visit our "continuous construction" site at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space |
||
|
|
|
