Orbiter Processing Facility, Part 2

It's time to continue across the hallway from last week and visit OPF bay 2. This is where we are working on Endeavour to get it ready for a launch in August. Since the outside of the building looks like OPF 1 I think we'll go right inside to have a look around.

First, we walked to the back of the building just like we did in OPF 1. The large platforms are closed around the back so you can't really see anything.


When you walk under the platforms what seems like a low ceiling is actually the orbiter directly above your head. This picture shows the back wheels. The black stuff is tiles on the belly of the ship. When most visitors get a tour of the OPF this is all they can see - the underside of the vehicle.

To see more of the orbiter you have to go up onto the work platforms. The ship is big and fits tightly, so you can only see pieces at a time.

The hole in the picture below is where one of the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) gets plugged into the orbiter. Each vehicle has 3 of them and uses the engines to get the shuttle into space. If you watch a launch on TV and they take a shot up close at ignition, you will see the 3 bell-shaped SSMEs light first, followed a few seconds later by the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs).


Walking around the platforms you can also see things like the payload bay, the tail, the nose, the windows, and the top of the wings.






I also took Myca past the entrance to the white room. The hole in the back is the hatch to get into Endeavour.

On my way out I thanked the guys at the operations desk for letting me take a look around and snapped a picture of the countdown until Endeavour rolls over to the VAB. The sign says OV-105. OV stands for "Orbiter Vehicle" and 105 is the number assigned to Endeavour. Discovery is 103 and Atlantis is 104.

Then one of the guys at the ops desk asked if there was a special reason for walking around that night. I showed him Myca and told him about my project. He radioed somebody and few minutes later I was walking down the hall to get a bunny suit. Myca and I were going inside Endeavour.

Our guide, a very knowledgable man named Rich, spent about an hour talking with us and explaining everything from the launch computers to how the crew makes their food in space. We even got to help him check some work the technicians had just finished. It was really neat.

The hatch lets you in to the lower part of the crew area, called the middeck, and the ladders provide access to the flight deck, which is where the cockpit is. For a vehicle that seems so big it amazes me how little space seven astronauts have to live in while they're in orbit.

Here's Myca hanging out in Endeavour's "kitchen". It's no more than a corner of the middeck.

"Upstairs" in the cockpit she got to sit in the commander's seat. The commander is the leader of the crew and the one who actually flies the shuttle during the mission. The pilot has the job of assisting the commander, much like the co-pilot on an airplane.

We also checked out the controls used while in space for things like docking with the International Space Station (ISS).

This is looking down into the middeck from the flight deck. The ladder isn't needed in space because the astronauts can float between the two areas.

Back on the middeck is the tunnel that lets astronauts into the shuttle payload bay. For missions to the ISS there is a docking adapter connected on the other side that lets them move between the orbiter and the space station.

When the visit was done we took one more picture of Myca in the white room.

Rich also gave me a marker so I could put our names on the wall with others who have been inside the vehicle. The names range from astronauts and their family members to movie stars to employees who work on the vehicle.



Thanks for this visit go to Doug, Kevin, Rich, Russ, and a few people who talked with me as we wandered but whose names I never caught. They made this a much better stop than I had ever imagined.

EDIT: I have been asked if I can give a better explanation of the first two pictures and where the shuttle actually is in them.

The tricky thing with the OPF is that when the shuttle is in there, you can't really see it. The white structure is fixed in place and encloses the vehicle.

The first picture shows the only part of the platforms that move, which lets us roll the orbiter in and out of the bay. Imagine how an alligator's mouth would open if he were laying on his side instead of his belly. That's how these work; each half opens outward. This is what one of the halves looks like in the open position:

Since I don't work directly on the vehicle the only time I have been close to the stands while open with an orbiter inside was KSC family day last year. You should be able to recognize the tail and the holes for the three main engines.

Photo: TJ M.

The second picture today was a shot of the enclosure from the front.

Overall the frame isn't much to look at, but it is pretty impressive when you consider that somebody had to design all of the equipment we use. Workstands are an important part of that - one I never gave thought to before I started at KSC. It's only in the few years since I hired on that I appreciate just how much goes into this program.

So hopefully that helped clear things up a bit. If not, let me know and I'll see if I can come up with a better way to explain. :)

Orbiter Processing Facility, Part 1

In case you haven't heard, we have decided to keep fixing the tank that got hit by the hail storm. Launch is now NET (No Earlier Than) June 8th, 2007. It looks like Myca will have to wait a little longer to see her first one.

About two months ago I wrote about watching the rollover of Atlantis from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This week I took Myca back to that area for a closer look at OPF 1 and 2, pictured below from that morning. OPF 1 is the one on the left with the doors open, OPF 2 is the building that looks just like it toward the right.

This picture shows the doors to get in and out of OPF 1. You might have noticed there are no handles on them. This is because it's what we call a Controlled Area - one that we don't allow everybody working at the space center to go into. People with permission to go inside are given a special access card that they can swipe to make the door open.

When you first walk in there's a control desk where people sit who know all of the work that's being done on the vehicle at that time. There's nobody there right now because Atlantis is still over in the VAB.


The first time I went into an OPF I was surprised that the orbiter wasn't sitting out in the open. It is actually enclosed on all sides by a large structure that lets technicians get to all of the systems they have to check. This is from the back of the OPF looking to where the nose of the orbiter is when it's parked.

And this is from the nose area looking toward the door the orbiter uses. Part of the white structure closes around the back of the vehicle when it is there, surrounding it by platforms on all four sides. We need access there so we can work on parts like the tail and engines

We also have to do things like change the tires, so we can't have the orbiter resting on its wheels like a car parked in a garage. The yellow posts in the picture below are the jacks that hold it up.

How do we get it up there? We use these:

There is one under each wheel that rises to pick it up to the right height. We can then attach the orbiter to the jacks and lower them back into the floor.

Like the other areas where we need to get into the vehicle, we also have a white room.


And here's Myca in the empty space under where the orbiter would usually be. The white room is above her head.

Wow, I had a lot more to talk about for an empty OPF than I thought. I'm going to make this a two part trip and pick up with our visit to Endeavour in OPF 2 another time. Thanks this week go to Joe and Rick, who I met randomly as I walked around. I learned several things I didn't know about life in Orbiter Processing and enjoyed talking with both of them while I was there.

See you next time.

Loose Ends

A few weeks ago my uncle emailed me to let me know that this website made the monthly newsletter for Ichabod Crane Primary School, which Emma attends. Welcome to all of you who have joined us as a result of that publication. I'm glad to see you following along with us.

Before I left for Virginia I was taken to see the hail damage to the External Tank (ET). Unfortunately cameras were not allowed so I don't have any pictures to share. I think the most amazing thing to me is how you look at one side of the tank and it's dinged up badly, but when you walk around to the other there's little sign of damage. The left side got the worst of it because the storm blew from west to east. There were also a few little dents in odd places.

I do not work on the ET and am not an expert on it, but seeing it up close made me a little sad. Fixing everything is going to take time and I really wanted us to fly soon. The most important thing is making sure the vehicle is as safe as possible for our astronauts, though. We don't want anything to happen to them.

The new ET arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday. I was off for family reasons so I couldn't get Myca out there. If you'd like to see a few pictures of the barge arriving I recommend the KSC Multimedia Archive. The site is always up to date with pictures of the latest things going on at the space center, and they can follow things much better than I can because they have people they pay to photograph the events. My pictures generally come out well, but I'm just playing in comparison.

My apologies for not having something more exciting to share this time around. The past two weeks have been tough to work with, so Myca's biggest adventure was getting moved to a new wall when I rearranged my cubicle. She seems to like it, but it's not really worth posting pictures of. I'll find something better for the next update.

Until then...