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UPDATE # 59 - November 12, 1998 PART 1: Looking ahead LOOKING AHEAD
I want to thank those of you who responded to my request for feedback. I heard you loud and clear. The time is perfect to reinstate the Updates section on processing the Columbia Shuttle since Columbia is the designated Shuttle for STS-93. We have plans in the works for this mission. Stay tuned. I will give you information here as it develops. Our next Shuttle flight is STS-88, which marks the first Station hardware delivered by the Space Shuttle. I'm often asked why the numbers assigned to these missions are sometimes not in sequence. (e.g. Why is STS-88 going after STS-95?) In this case it is because STS-88 was originally scheduled for launch December 4, 1997. It had to be rescheduled as it will represent the mating of Node 1 Station element to the Functional Energy Block (FGB) built by Boeing and the Russian Space Agency. The FGB needed to already be in orbit for this to happen. The FGB is scheduled to launch this month on a Russian Proton Rocket. STS-88 is scheduled to launch December 3, 1998 3:59 a.m. EST. Though we do not have any special Quest activities scheduled around this launch, a series of background briefings on the this mission will be held tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 13, starting at 9 a.m. EST from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. These and the launch itself may be seen by following the links at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/live Thanks for the encouraging notes I received! Linda UPCOMING CHAT
Note: Space Team Online QuestChats require pre-registration. Please sign up at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats ->Thursday, November 19, 1998, 10 AM Pacific Time (1 PM Eastern): Rick Pettegrew works with a team that analyzes the characteristics and behavior of fire. Rick and his team try to better understand the science by performing experiments in reduced gravity environments. Read Rick's profile at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/pettegrew.html WOMEN OF NASA PRESENTS!
WON presents the new Women of NASA Forums beginning Monday, November 16. You may dialogue with NASA women at a time convenient to you. Much like QuestChats, you must pre-register to participate, but you may submit question(s) at any time during the week. You pose your questions to a chat room (now forum) to a private reading room. The most appropriate questions will be selected from that queue and placed into the "public forum" where they will be answered by the featured NASA woman. Monday, November 16 - Friday, November 20 Featuring: Kim Hubbard [Editor's note: Elizabeth works for a group at Johnson Space Center that is in charge of the payloads (the experiments and satellites) that the Shuttle carries into space] HELPING OUT WITH STS-95
by Elizabeth Bloomer http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/bloomer.html November 10, l998 I work as a flight controller in the Mission Control Center, but I don't work every single shuttle mission. I was not assigned to work on STS-95 (the shuttle flight with John Glenn) as a flight controller. However, I did get a chance to work for the Public Affairs Office. During normal shuttle flights, 10-20 reporters are at the Johnson Space Center. But, during this last mission, we had over 500 reporters here! The Public Affairs Office needed help handling all the extra media attention. So, they asked for volunteers -- and I volunteered. They assigned me to work in the "Crow's Nest." This is an area overlooking the Front Room in Mission Control (where the Flight Director and the most experienced flight controllers sit). In the Crow's Nest, the television reporters would give their news reports LIVE. It is the same thing as when you see a news reporter go LIVE to any location -- they say something like "I'm here live at Mission Control...." Then the reporter would tell what was going on at that point during the mission. It was fun working there. I was able to meet some nice camera crew and reporters. My job really wasn't that hard, I just had to watch everyone and make sure they didn't use cell phones while they were in the building. Using a cell phone in the building might mess up the communication loops the flight controllers are using to talk on, which would be a bad thing! Anyway, everyone here at JSC seems very happy that the flight is over, and we are glad it went well. [Editor's note: Vincent works in Payload Safety to keep shuttle payloads from harming the shuttle or its crew.] Watching History Repeat Itself http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/mulhern.html November 5, l998 Hello all. As the afternoon draws to a close, I am thinking about the week's events, and it really has been fairly remarkable. Seven days ago, I went to the auditorium here to watch the same thing a whole lot of people around the world were watching, Discovery headed for orbit, carrying several payloads and, as everybody knows, a very well-known crewmember in John Glenn. The group I work in is responsible for payload safety. I thought about the experiments I had seen for this flight, realizing that some of them were his projects. It seems like everybody around here has wanted to make sure they're in on this mission, at least in some way. I have friends who went to see the launch. Many of us have been collecting shirts, pictures, mugs, patches, stickers, and just about anything else that would serve as STS-95 mission mementos for ourselves and for family members. John Glenn reminds us of how inspiring the space program can be, and we've all felt a little bit of that inspiration rubbing off around the office. I wasn't born yet for his first flight, but I'll sure remember being here for the second. Having a mission flying tends to make a difference in coming to work each day. First thing in the morning, we're checking up on how the flight is going. We all want to make sure that things are going well, working right, and that there have been no problems. It helps us pay attention to today's payloads, which will fly in the years to come. We'll want those flights to go just as smoothly. This means we have to do the job right today. For me, this week's work has included cameras and other filming equipment planned for use in making a 3-D IMAX movie of the construction of the International Space Station. My group works payload safety for shuttle and station payloads. All payloads go through a review by a panel of experts from many disciplines to ensure that the experiments are not hazardous to the crew or the vehicle. Our group represents the panel and acts as an interface with the people who are providing the payload. My job is to document all issues that come out of the meetings, including what happened, what work must be done and what work has been completed. So someday, I hope to be sitting in a theater watching a movie filmed by the astronauts and thinking that it's another piece of history that I also can claim a small part of. And after that, who knows? The experiment that finds a cure for cancer? A device to take astronauts back to the Moon or on to Mars? It's hard to tell what will be next because around here, even the sky's not the limit. 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. My last Updates report was STO#47 on August 5. To catch up, 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 On Thursday, October 15, 1998 Columbia's main engine installation began. Columbia's main engine securing is now complete, as is the filling of the water spray boiler's core. Solid rocket booster stacking operations continue in the Vehicle Assembly Building. To read more about the VAB see: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/facilities/vab.html The AXAF payload is now expected to arrive at KSC in early January and the payload pre-mate test will move accordingly to mid-November. AXAF is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory ever built. It is designed to observe X-rays from high energy regions of the universe, such as hot gas in the remnants of exploded stars. To read more about the AXAF payload, see: http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/pub.html
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