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S P A C E T E A M O N L I N EUPDATE # 81 - May 3, 1999 PART 1: Scrubs can be disappointing! SCRUBS CAN BE DISAPPOINTING!
Though a delay has not yet been officially announced, it is probable that the STS-93 flight commanded by Eileen Collins will be delayed. In case you've not heard, the U.S. Air Force is investigating problems with the April 9, Titan 4 rocket mission launch of a Department of Defense Satellite in which the IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) rocket motor apparently failed to boost the satellite into its proper orbit. Chandra, STS-93's main payload uses the same rocket motor. That rocket motor has been used on 20 missions, with 18 successes and two failures (The last failure was in 1983), but the plan is not to launch until the Titan 4 incident is understood. According to STO team member, Mike Ciannilli, "Engineering-wise, it is the smartest decision." Do join Mike on May 13 for a webchat anticipating the May 20 launch of STS-96. See the schedule below. The Tuesday, May 11 "Meet your Student Ambassadors" webcast has consequently been postponed while decisions regarding the launch date of STS-93 are made. We are all, of course, very disappointed as most of us even had our plane tickets to the launch. Stay tuned as things continue to develop. We'll try to keep you current with these Updates. Thanks for hanging in there with us! Linda UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS:
QuestChats require pre-registration.
-Thursday, May 6, 1999: Space Day:
->8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. PDT Laura Hoppe, First female INCO Flight
Controller. She is responsible for ensuring that all INCOs
(Instrumentation and communication officers) fully prepare an orbiter's
communication systems, and computer software is updated and ready for
another mission. See her online profile at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/hoppe.html or
Register at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats/index.html#chatting
->Tuesday, May 11, 1999, 11 AM Pacific Daylight Time:
William Foster, a ground controller works in the White Flight Control
room, which is the new front room of NASA's Mission
Control Center (MCC). He is one of many people responsible for providing
flight controllers with space shuttle data and maintaining voice and data
communications between the MCC and the space shuttle. Currently, Bill is
assigned ascent/entry duties and is scheduled to support the next several
shuttle launch and landing operations. Read his profile and field
journals at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/foster.html
Register at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats/index.html#chatting
->Thursday, May 13, 1999, 8:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time:
Mike Ciannilli, test project engineer, monitors all of the systems on the
orbiter as they are tested and resolves any conflicts during systems
testing that may arise. He helps find solutions to any problems that occur
during testing. Additionally, Mike is known to NASA Quest members as the
narrator of several special online video events! Read his profile and
field journals at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/ciannilli.html
Register at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats/index.html#chatting
****Anticipating STS-96 launch-May 20, 1999: ****
->Tuesday, May 18, 1999, 11 a.m. PDT (2:00 p.m. EST)
Lonnie Moffitt, works directly with the NASA astronauts. He meets with
different crew members as they rotate through technical jobs between their
flight assignments. See Lonnie's profile at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/moffitt.html
Register at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats/index.html#chatting
->Wednesday, May 19, 1999, 10 AM Pacific Time:
Joe Delai, works in the Space Station Hardware Integration Office (SSHIO)
on the Space Lab Pallet. He works directly with other engineers on the
development of the International Space Station. See his profile at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/delai.html
Register at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats/index.html#chatting
->Wednesday, May 19, 1999, 10:00 a.m. PDT (1:00 p.m. EST)
Webcast: Tour of the ISS Mockup and Training Facility at JSC
Join us for our regularly scheduled guided tour of the International Space
Station mockup and training facility at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in
Houston, Texas. Information on this event may be found at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/sto/tours
->Thursday, May 20, 1999, 6:32 a.m. PDT (9:32 a.m. EDT)
LIVE webcast coverage of the STS-96 Launch. STS-96 is a logistics and
resupply mission for the International Space Station. It will be the first
flight to dock to the International Space Station. The SPACEHAB double
module will carry internal and resupply cargo for station outfitting. Stay
posted at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/sto/launch
-> Thursday, May 20, 1999, 10 AM Pacific Time:
Diane McMahon, a experiment support scientist, has worked closely with
scientists to incorporate their experiments into shuttle
missions. However, she has recently changed positions at Johnson Space
Center, and will be online to discuss her new responsibilities. A new
profile will be online soon at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/mcmahon.html
Register at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats/index.html#chatting
For April Space Team Online chats see:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats
FEMALE FRONTIERS PUZZLE
The online version is at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/ffpuzzle
Question #7: Answers due by Wednesday May 12, 1999
What is Space Shuttle Columbia going to do after STS-93 (give the word(s)
the
KSC engineers use)?
Question #6: Answers due by Wednesday, May 5, 1999
Which little satellite is Elizabeth Bloomer (STO expert) worried about
because if something goes wrong, it might be in the shuttle's path? How
heavy is it?
Send your answers to Student Ambassador, Stephanie Wong:
wongtong@connect.ab.ca
Check your personal score at:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/ffpuzzle/scoring.html
Answer to Question #5: What do the symbols on the STS-93 mission patch
mean?
The STS-93 patch depicts Chandra separating from the Space Shuttle
Columbia after a successful deployment. A spiral galaxy is shown in the
background as a possible target for Chandra observations. The two flags
represent the international crew, consisting of astronauts from both the
United States and France.
RESPONDING TO YOUR NEEDS
Continuing to respond to our latest survey requests and suggestions for improvement: *I would like a list of frequencies used for space/ground transmission, that would be fascinating to listen to Much of the interaction between a crew in orbit and the ground is available over NASA TV. You can usually access that by choosing the proper connection at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/live/qv.ram or on your local cable company. Also there are links on our site and on NASA Headquarters site to online tracking locations specific to a given mission. For example see: http://38.201.67.72/realdata/tracking/index.html * I would like not to see 'server has reached its capacity' when trying to see live shuttle launches/landings We at NASA Quest agree with your disenchantment with reaching capacity and closing anyone out who wants to view a launch. I'll even take that further and say I get frustrated when things slow down due to heavy traffic. I'm going to guess that STS-95 was the inspiration for this note, and I can't respond except to say that all forms of media were faced with a huge audience for that very popular flight. We even farmed out thousands of "streams" that were beyond our capability to accept, but, still, I hope you are having better success at this point, and, naturally, as we are financially able, and/or the technology improves, we will expand what we can handle. * I would like to see some engineering aspect to be included. I'm not entirely sure what this question is looking for, but let me take a stab at it. NASA Quest primarily focuses on the people of NASA, so I'm going to turn this into a "more engineers" question and suggest that during the next two weeks you plan to join the chats with: Michael Ciannilli, test project engineer Lonnie Moffitt, support engineer, Flight Crew Operations Joe Delai, mechanical engineer See the schedule of events above. [Editor's note: Brandt, our NASA Quest correspondent at the Kennedy Space Center, again brings up a first-hand view of some of the exciting events happening at KSC. Don't miss the picture at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/journals/secosh/ ] STS-96 ROLLS OUT TO PAD 39B http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/secosh.html April 28, 1999 As most of you may know, last Friday, Shuttle Discovery rolled out to Launch Pad 39B. Barry Slack, our newest Space Team Online member, happened to have a new camera that he wanted to try out and got this great shot of Discovery and the MLP being transported by the crawler. Thanks for the photo, Barry! Over the weekend, workers conducted routine launch pad validations and Shuttle main-engine frequency response tests. The SPACEHAB payload is at the pad and will be installed in the payload changeout room later today. The payload will be installed in the orbiter tomorrow morning (April 29). The STS-96 flight crew arrived at KSC yesterday in preparation for this week's Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The crew will conduct orbiter and payload familiarization activities over the next few days and then participate in a launch dress rehearsal on Thursday. To stay up with the progress of Discovery, visit and bookmark this web site: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-96/countdown.html The Crawler-Transporter Is this incredible or what? The two-tracked Crawler-Transporter was once used to move the assembled Apollo/Saturn from the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) to the launch pad. It is now used for transporting Shuttle vehicles. This vehicle weighs in at 2,721 metric tons (6 million pounds), is 131 feet wide and 114 feet long! KSC has two crawler-transporters. The KSC crawlers are the largest known tracked vehicles in the world! Maximum speed is one mile per hour loaded, about 2 miles per hour unloaded. The trip from the VAB to the Launch Pad with the Mobile Launch Platform is about 5 hours. The crawler burns 568 liters (150 gallons) of diesel oil per mile. The top of the orbiter is kept vertical within the diameter of a basketball during the journey. Once the crawler reaches the pad, it must negotiate a ramp and keep the MLP and the Shuttle level. Leveling systems within the crawler keeps the platform level while negotiating the 5% ramp leading up to the pad surface. The height of the crawler is adjustable from 20 feet to 26 feet. The top deck is flat and square, about the size of a baseball infield, 90 feet on a side. Two operator control cabs, one at each end of the chassis, are used to control all crawler systems. The Mobile Launch Platforms (MLP) Amazingly, once the MLP is delivered to the launch pad, it stays there and becomes the launch platform for the shuttle. Once the shuttle launches, it goes through a preparation phase for the next mission. The three Mobile Launcher Platforms that were once used for the Apollo/Saturn operations were modified for use in Shuttle operations. In place of one large opening in the platform that used to accommodate the Saturn main-engine, three smaller openings accommodate flames and hot exhaust gases from the solid rocket boosters and the orbiter engines. The MLP is a two-story steel structure that is 25 feet high, 160 feet long, and 135 ft wide. It weighs 9.25 million lbs. by itself; with an unfueled Shuttle it weighs 12.02 million lbs. and with a fueled Shuttle, 13.72 million lbs. Stay tuned to Space Team Online for future updates of events surrounding STS-96! [Editor's note: Elizabeth works as a flight controller for the space shuttle. Her group is responsible for knowing what to do when a payload is not working correctly.] FLYING ON THE VOMIT COMET http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/bloomer.html April 29, l999 Well, I did it. I finally did it. After working at NASA for over five years, I had the chance to ride the KC-135 (AKA the Vomit Comet). Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. How did I become involved with flying? There is a new program called Texas Fly High where high school students from around the state have the opportunity to do experiments in zero-gravity. NASA employees (that's me!) act as mentors during the pre-flight preparation and actually fly with the students. My high school group was trying to assemble a workbench that the astronauts will be using on the International Space Station. They were recording how easy/hard it was to install and how many people were needed to set it up. After they assembled it, they had an experiment in which they were trying to determine the mass of an object by looking at its momentum. So what was it like being in zero-gravity? In a word -- weird. I never understood, or believed, when the astronauts said there was no "up" or "down". How could there be no up or down? Impossible! But when your legs are floating sideways despite your best attempts to keep them out in front of you, and when you watch people and things float around at every angle, suddenly the reality you've accepted all your life doesn't seem to fit. After all, it isn't "normal" to see someone floating upside down above your head. And my normal reality didn't include watching my stopwatch float off my neck or having pens seemingly hover in midair. Is it like being in space? Some astronauts that I have talked to say, "Not really." Yes, you have periods of weightlessness, but it lasts only 15-20 seconds. Then you suddenly feel twice as heavy as normal while the plane climbs back up in the sky and you experience 2-g's. Repeat this about 40 times, and you have a typical KC-135 flight. Anyway, the question EVERYONE asks when you fly on the KC-135 is, "Did it live up to its nickname - the Vomit Comet?" Well, include me in on the 10 out of 14 people on my flight who would emphatically say, "YES!" 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. NASA decided April 26 to postpone mating Chandra with its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) pending the U.S. Air Force investigation into problems with the April 9 launch of a Department of Defense Satellite that utilized an IUS. This decision will likely delay launch of mission STS-93 beyond its current target launch date of July 9. NASA managers are participating in the Air Force investigation and have determined not to launch Mission STS-93 until the IUS situation is fully understood. Chandra is currently in KSC's Vertical Processing Facility. 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 |
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