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UPDATE # 92 - September 20, 1999 PART 1: We could use your help WE COULD USE YOUR HELP
Please note the change of dates in the Landing to Launch series broadcast for October. Initially we had avoided that date because there was to be a launch the following day. That is no longer true, and, since there was a conflict here for the earlier date, we have moved to October 13, still a Wednesday, still the same time. For a full schedule of events see: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/ksc99 Within the next few weeks you will be asked to respond to a Survey Form requesting feedback on your experience with Space Team Online. We have several reasons for these surveys, and these reasons are key to our existence: * We need to know how we can continue to improve in serving your needs. * We need the encouragement of knowing that what we do is helpful to you. * Those who contribute to our funding need to measure their investment. I have whittled the questions down to 12 (most of which are multiple choice.) Please take a few moments to respond, and let us know how we're doing. Thanks in advance. If you've always wanted to be a part of NASA Quest but haven't known how, we have a great opportunity for you! Under the heading Smart Filters needed (PART 3 below), STO question and answer manager Chris Tanski writes describing the role and requirements. We hope you'll be inspired to join our efforts in this way. That will make it even more your project! As always, if you'd like to contact me directly, email me at Linda UPCOMING EVENTS
Please be sure to visit each site before the scheduled time. Usually these events require pre-registration and some include preparation. Remember, you can get help if you've never chatted online before. Join your chat host, Oran Cox, during one of his weekly practice sessions. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats/practice/ ->Wednesday, September 22, 1999 10-11 a.m. PDT (1-2 EDT, 5-6 GMT) Webcast from the International Space Station Mock-Up and Training Facility at Johnson Space Center. This is a virtual tour with the opportunity to ask questions, part of the Focus: International Space Station series. See: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/iss99 ->Thursday, September 23, 1999, 9-10 a.m. PDT (12-1 p.m. EDT, 4-5 GMT) Chat with Ken Schrock, radio frequency engineer Today, Ken works as a radio frequency engineer, designing equipment to help launch vehicles and space craft navigate. But he has also worked as a technical writer (writing flight manuals), a flight test engineer, an instrumentation engineer, a telemetry engineer, and a data communications engineer. Whew! There is plenty to learn about Ken's diverse career history. Read Ken Schrock's profile at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/schrock.html Register on STO Chat page: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats ->Wednesday, September 29, 1999; 10-11a.m. PDT (1-2EDT, 5-6GMT) WebCast INTRODUCTION to KSC Shuttle Countdown: Landing to Launch Brandt Secosh and Mike Ciannilli bring you an introduction to the 99/00 academic year, KSC Behind the Scenes series with a special focus on shuttle processing at Kennedy Space Center. See: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/ksc99 ->Thursday, September 30, 1999, 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Chat with Patricia Currier, payload scientist Patty works with scientists from colleges and universities around the world to help them fly biology experiments aboard the space shuttle. She helps them analyze what they want to do and figures out how to do it. In most cases, she works with scientists from scratch to determine their needs. Read Patricia Currier's profile at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/currier.html and see her journal below! Register on STO Chat page: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/chats ->Wednesday, Oct 13, 1999, 10-11:30a.m. PDT (1-2:30 EDT, 5-6:30 GMT) Web Cast with KSC Experts. Landing, a new beginning: Brandt Secosh, Mike Ciannilli take you to the runway and introduces you to aeronautic and navigation aspects unique to landing the orbiter. Join us from http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/events/ksc99 To see a complete listing of NASA Quest's offerings, see the schedule of events at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/common/events SMART FILTERS NEEDED
NASA's Quest Project currently offers question-and-answer services in four areas: Mars and Martian exploration, aeronautics and aerodynamics, human spaceflight (space shuttle and space station), and Saturn/Cassini. These Q&A services are made possible by two groups of people: NASA experts who answer questions and volunteer smart filters who process answers and make the system work. We are establishing a pool of people who wish to serve as volunteer smart filters for one of these projects. Currently, there is a minimal need for new folks to serve as smart filters. However, this need changes over time, and new folks are added all the time. The smart filter's job is to take incoming questions from students and, using web-based software and lots of instructions, get answers using a variety of methods. There's lots of support along the way, and the job is very satisfying. There are two minimum requirements for being a volunteer smart filter: 1-You need to be able to spend at least 30 minutes every other day processing questions (sometimes more, usually less). This is a very important requirement, so please don't reply unless you know you have the time. 2-You need to be able to read and follow detailed and picky instructions. If you are interested in being added to the waiting list and meet the above requirements, send email to me directly. If you have a specific area from the above four that you'd like to work for, indicate that otherwise we'll add you to the general waiting list. Folks on this list are usually called up to be an active smart filter within a month or two. Thanks for your support. Chris Tanski Question-and-answer manager ctanski@mail.arc.nasa.gov [Editor's note: Brandt Secosh is our NASA Quest correspondent at the Kennedy Space Center. We got this journal from him as soon as he had power to logon again after Floyd passed KSC and moved north.] HURRICANE FLOYD VISITS FLORIDA http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/secosh.html September 13, 1999 Monday, September 13 began a pretty crazy week for Kennedy Space Center. Hurricane Floyd was bearing down on Florida, with Kennedy Space Center as one of its potential targets for landfall. By 9:00 a.m. many of the HURCON plans for all of the workers were placed into effect. All of the offices on the bottom floor of the Headquarters building where I work began following the outlined steps in the hurricane plan. Those steps included securing equipment, making backups of computer files, sandbagging entrances, and re-enforcing windows with plywood. Hurricane Floyd is a massive category IV hurricane. The main elements of the hurricane that threaten Kennedy Space Center are the winds, which are measured at 155 mph, and the storm surge, which could be as high as twenty feet. This would place my office completely underwater, reaching the bottom of the second floor in the Headquarters building. There is much to lose if a storm hits Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Station right next door. A rocket can cost anywhere from $55 million to $340 million. Each orbiter costs approximately $2 billion. All four of NASA's $2 billion orbiters are in the Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPF) and/or the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB). The OPF is designed to withstand winds of up to 105 mph, and the VAB can withstand up to 125 mph. A multimillion dollar radar mapper to be launched in November was stored within a specially designed cargo canister inside a payload processing building built to withstand winds up to 110 mph. A U. S. laboratory and other parts of NASA's International Space Station were secured in the same building. Gear for a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission in late October was covered up in a spacecraft processing center built to withstand winds of 125 mph. Four rockets were secured at their launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS), and protective service towers have been placed were around them. The towers are built to withstand winds of up to 120 mph. At 3:30 P.M. Eastern Time, all workers were released to go and prepare their homes for Hurricane Floyd and standby for evacuation orders. I arrived at my home around 4:00 and began placing plywood on all the windows. After talking with my wife, Stephanie, we decided to stay and ride it out. My parents had called and said they were going to Alabama, my brother went to Ocala, one of my sisters went to Kissimmee, and my other sister was preparing to go to west Orlando. After preparing our home, we began helping our neighbors board up and prepare for Floyd. Many of our neighbors are elderly and were very appreciative for the help! September 14, 1999 O.K.! This is getting a bit scary now. The hurricane seems set on coming right to Kennedy Space Center, and it seems to be homed in on my front door. This is, without a doubt, one of the most well developed and massive storms I have ever seen. The satellite imagery is incredible! I am going out for batteries and supplies and to check on the neighbors. This afternoon, the rains began and the winds started picking up. There was an eerie feeling seeing everybody leaving and all of the houses boarded up. Evacuation orders have now been ordered for the barrier islands, and the traffic is backing up on the Interstate and the bridges from the barrier islands that access the Interstate. It is now 9:00 P.M. eastern, and the news channels are indicating that Floyd may be making a shift to the north! This is really good news because the hurricane force winds may stay in the ocean and only the tropical storm winds (74 mph or less) will hit the mainland. It is 11:30 P.M., and it has been confirmed that Floyd has turned North! The winds are now around forty mph with stringer gusts. It has been strange inside the house because we can't see outside. We can only hear the winds and occasional branches and debris flying around. We have been boarded up since Monday, and it is weird not be able to tell if it is day or night. September 15, 1999 The power went out around 5:00 A.M. Wow! We really dodged a bullet here. Floyd did take the northerly path that was predicted by the National Hurricane Center. In this National Hurricane Center graphic you can see the path that Floyd took and is now on its way to South Carolina. We have gone out to clear branches and limbs from the yard. Our neighbor has a fifty-foot oak tree that has blown down, but, fortunately, it missed their house. The most damage has come from beach erosion and fallen trees. We are all very grateful because this could have been a huge disaster, and we were certainly spared! All reports that I have heard about Kennedy and CCAS indicate that no real damage has been sustained. It is scary to realize that all of the nation's orbiters that were located at KSC could have been lost. I am sure that there will be a lot of talk about this in the future to develop a plan to disperse the orbiters. The rains are still coming down, but this all seems mild considering what it could have been! I can't wait to get these boards off the windows! I seem to be a bit more claustrophobic than I thought! As soon as the phone lines are restored, I will get this journal out to the Space Team Online. The boards are down now, and Stephanie and I made a quick trip to the beach this evening to surf some really nice waves! Now we will be watching what GERT does over the next few days. [Editor's note: Steve is an International Space Station flight controller. In his job he has to become familiar with all the radio systems used on ISS and what those systems can do. Steve has shared pictures and anecdotes from his trips to Russia before. Here's his latest!] WORKING STS-96 FROM RUSSIAN MISSION CONTROL CENTER http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/long.html September 14, 1999 Interviewer: Lori Keith It's been about eight months since my last journal, and I have been busy. I became a new dad when my son, Stephen Kent Long, Jr., was born June 23. My daughter, Ariel, is real protective of her new baby brother and very excited to have him all to herself. Ariel took swimming lessons this summer and is like a little fish. She had a ball with that. I have registered for two classes (working towards my master's degree) this fall at the University of Houston - Clear Lake. On April 1, I flew to Russia, arriving April 2 after a 20-hour flight. I traveled with a few other co-workers. We took a taxi to our new apartment and proceeded to get checked in and start our adventure in Moscow. We had a day or so to relax and get accustomed to the nine-hour time difference between Houston, Texas and Moscow, Russia. Once we had a bit of time to rest up, off to the Korolev Control Center (TsUP) we went. The TsUP (pronounced soup) is the Russian Mission Control Center at Korolev (formerly Kaliningrad) for the International Space Station (ISS). We met with the NASA people who had arrived a week or so earlier. We also met with the 12 translators (translators are on duty 24 hours, usually in three different shifts). My group is called the HSG, Houston Support Group, and we work in the HSR (Houston Support Room). The first month is spent learning what needs to be done, how to get it done, who my Russian counterparts are and how to reach them, and what protocols to use when communicating over the radio and during meetings. Not being fluent in Russian, as of yet, the translators are very important and are present during all meetings and such. While I was there, the Early Com System broke. While attempting to fix this problem, Victor Blagov (the head flight director of the Mir Space Station) came to see Keith Zimmerman, another STO expert, and myself. Victor Blagov is a legend in the Russian Space Program. During our meeting, we discussed why the system broke and how we were going to fix it. We talked about the Early Com not being a redundant system. A redundant system is one in which if one piece of the system isn't working there's a copy of it nearby which would take over and keep the system from breaking down. We gave Blagov a run-down about the system --describing each piece of the hardware and how it worked. The Early Com system was repaired when the STS-96 crew visited the ISS. The crew replaced two boxes, containing a transmitter and a switching unit, and that fixed the problem. Since the system quit working before the flight, it was easy to make sure all parts, tools and testing equipment were available for the repair. While the system was down, we were using different available Russian ground sites/assets to get our telemetry through. I was on console while they were making these repairs, which was neat since that is one of the communication systems my group is responsible for. I was able to watch the EVA performed during STS-96, which was really pretty interesting. They attached some tool bags and a couple of building cranes to be used in the future construction. I was also able to watch some of the other systems, like the battery repair. This repair replaced a small piece of hardware used to keep the Russian batteries charged on the FGB (Functional Cargo Block). At this point, the mission was over on our end, the undocking was a success and the astronauts were on their way home. In Russia, a big party is thrown after the undocking to celebrate the completion of a successful and safe mission to the station. We left shortly thereafter to go to St. Petersburg, where we spent just a little over a day seeing the wonderful sights. This was the weekend of the Pushkin celebration, so we had to fly because the trains were all full. Pushkin was a famous Russian poet and writer. We saw many beautiful places - the Hermitage, Peterhof, St. Isaac's Cathedral, and Tsarskoye Selo, among others - and took lots of photographs. You can view picture's from my stay in Russia in the following two journals: Work Pictures from Russia: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/journals/long/08-02-99.html A Few of the Russian Sights http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/journals/long/08-03-99.html It's nice to be home. I missed driving, though once I hit the traffic on the freeway I wondered why I had missed this. I will be returning to Russia in January. I am taking my family with me this time. We are all so excited! 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.
As KSC entered standard hurricane preparedness plan anticipating Hurricane
Floyd, Columbia remained in Orbiter Processing Facility bays 3. The
Orbiter Processing Facility is designed to withstand winds of 105 mph and
according to the post-storm statistics: The highest wind was 91 mph from
the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday. This was recorded at a weather tower
located between Pad 39-A and Launch Complex 41. The maximum sustained wind
was 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches.
The eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 statute miles east of Cape Canaveral
at 4 a.m. For more information on the effects of Floyd, see:
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/stsstat/1999/sep/9-16-99s.htm
Orbiter Columbia's departure for Palmdale, CA for Orbiter Maintenance Down
Period (OMDP) has been delayed as a result of Hurricane Floyd's threat
and KSC's mandatory evacuation. Final preparations for the cross-country
ferry flight are under way and managers plan to move Columbia to the
Mate/Demate Device at the Shuttle Landing Facility on Friday. Columbia
will be mounted atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 on Sept. 24 and departure
is currently slated for Sept. 25. An overnight stop at Luke Air Force Base
is currently scheduled to accommodate refueling requirements for the
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Current plans have Columbia arriving in
Palmdale, CA on Sept. 26. Because the orbiter can not be flown through
precipitation of any kind, ferry flight plans are contingent upon weather
conditions in the flight path.
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