|
   |
 |
                 
|
UPDATE # 60 - November 20, 1998 PART 1: The first ISS launch is history THE FIRST ISS LAUNCH IS HISTORY!
I hope you're not missing the activities surrounding our first steps in assembling the International Space Station! This past week has been full of activities and pre-launch briefs preparing for the long-awaited launch of the Russian built Zarya, the first element of the ISS. Then, finally, the launch happened last night around midnight! We've been capturing the events and archiving them online for you at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/sto/launch This now sets the U.S. up for the launch of the Unity node aboard STS-88 on December 3 at 3:59 a.m. Eastern (Kennedy Space Center) Time (just after midnight December 2 Pacific time)! You can watch this launch live also. See the above site for more information. We're thankful to Robert Dempsey for the two journals below that describe some of the behind the scenes activities that have led to these historic moments. As you can see by the new Puzzle and CASE projects below, we've been busily exploring new ways to engage students in the fun of learning about the many aspects of Space exploration. PUZZLER CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
Thanks to a concept suggested by Stephanie Wong, a long-time participant from Canada, we are proud to introduce a new tool for challenging students to research and to learn. Let's give it a try while reviewing the events we've covered recently! The puzzle takes the form of a jigsaw puzzle. As students successfully answer challenge questions, they are provided with a password that will uncover a part of a picture pertinent to the subject being explored. When the entire picture has been exposed, the students will identify the subject matter and write a description. Scoring will be based on timely, accurate and complete responses. ->Introducing: The Space Team Online Puzzle based on: The Challenge Project and STS-95. This week's question: The Challenge Project's underwater mission in September took place aboard the Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station. Explain three ways this station could be considered a parallel to a space shuttle. Send your answers to Deadline: 11/28/98 See full instructions at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/puzzle UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS
QuestChats require pre-registration. To register go to: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats ->QuestChat: Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time (2 p.m. Eastern): Diane McMahon, as experiment support scientist, works with a group that makes sure that all requirements are met for flying experiments so that a successful science mission will be flown. Additionally, Diane was involved in training U.S. astronauts for the Phase I program, a series of joint American and Russian missions to Mir. Read her profile at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/mcmahon.html ->QuestChat: Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. Pacific Time (5 p.m. Eastern): Luis Rodriguez, whose primary responsibility as a senior safety engineer is to make sure that design engineers and scientists use NASA-approved materials, chemicals, and electrical components when designing their experiments, will accept questions in English and Spanish during this chat. His profile also exists in English: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/rodriguez.html and en español: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/rodriguez-esp.html ->December 16 at 10 a.m. Pacific (1:00 p.m. Eastern) Tour of the International Space Station mockup and training facility. Each month you are invited to join our tour guide at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. You will be able to ask your questions during the tour and have them answered during the event. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/sto/tours/ STUDENTS ON THE "CASE"
Have you ever wondered how an experiment is prepared and conducted in Space? Here's your opportunity to get a kid's eye view as the scientists involved in the Cell Adhesion Space Experiment cooperate with a group of students, preparing videos and interacting with classrooms as the process unfolds. Join them! http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/case [Editor's note: Robert is a flight controller for the International Space Station (ISS) working with the computer system that will operate the station.] IT'S AN INCREDIBLE TIME IN THE HISTORY OF SPACE FLIGHT
by Robert Dempsey http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/dempsey.html November 14, l998 This is an incredible time. After so much work we are less than a week from the launch of Zarya (FGB) by the Russians on Flight 1A/R. A few weeks later, STS-88/2A will launch Unity (Node-1). Therefore, we are busy finishing up all the products needed for the flight. For example, this week we spent a lot of time running through the procedures, and contingencies, we will need for the flight. We discovered the new command system needed more tests while we were certifying the software for flight. You don't want to send the wrong command, or not have it work as expected, in a critical situation. This has meant many hours in the Mission Control Center (see my photo tour) -- many late at night or early in the morning. I will not be performing flight control duties during STS-88, but I will be giving the Command and Data Handling (C&DH) team a lot of support. I am now in full training for the next U.S. flight, 2A.1, scheduled for May. That is the amazing thing about the International Space Station (ISS) -- it is an ongoing project with the same goal, but each mission is very different. While I am training for 2A.1, and helping my team on 2A, I am working full time on 5A -- the mission where we launch the U.S. laboratory 'lab' module. That mission is over a year away yet! Next month, I will be heading back to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to review the procedures we will use to test the lab early next year. In that test, we will hook up the lab and several other modules to be launched over the next year. We have to make sure they all work together as planned. Then I come back to Houston to perform a dry run of the test, only to return to Florida for the actual test in January. So, as you can see, I am pretty busy, but we all are. Because we are actually starting to launch the hardware, I am very excited and don't mind the long hours. [Editor's note: see above] TESTING CONTINUES FOR ISS PREPARATIONS
by Robert Dempsey http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/dempsey.html November 1, l998 It's late at night (October 8, 3 a.m.) as we work in Mission Control conducting a test with the Russian space agency. It is pretty quiet with just a handful of flight controllers and a flight director working. The purpose of the test is to determine if our system can uplink spacecraft commands via computer to the Russian Mission Control (called Mission Control - Moscow or MCC-M). Once the commands reach Moscow they reformat them to be compatible with their system, and they send them to a communications station that will be used with the International Space Station (ISS). This is just a small part of a simulation they are running over there in Moscow. It is during the day for them which, unfortunately, means it is in the middle of the night for us. Unlike the shuttle, Russian spacecraft are only in radio communication with the ground for brief periods of time. Therefore, for us to send a command to the Node-1 (Unity), for example, we have to build a command file two hours before the communication window opens. We send the command and don't hear how things went until after the spacecraft passes over the ground site. Thus it makes for a slow night - send a command, wait two hours or more for a response, send another and so on. But the test is going well tonight, and it looks like the system is working as we would expect. One more thing ready for flight. STATUS OF COLUMBIA PROCESSING
Below, we provide reports on the processing of Shuttle Columbia taken from the detailed daily reports found at the NASA Shuttle Status web site at http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/status.htm At times 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. web site at http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/status.htm Checks on the multifunction cathode ray tube display screen located on the orbiter's flight deck concluded last week. Engine heat shield installation and aft compartment closeouts continue. Workers will replace a damaged sensor for freon coolant line No. 2. The 12th, the STS-93 flight crew arrived at KSC to participate in the Crew Equipment Interface Test. As of yesterday, Columbia's payload bay doors were closed in preparation for this weekend's scheduled structural tests. The tests are being conducted as a part of the final structural checks prior to preparations for rollout to the pad early next year. Solid rocket booster stacking operations in the Vehicle Assembly Building are now complete.
|
||
|
|
|
