Starting Over

Now that Atlantis is safely out at Pad 39-A we can start putting together the pieces for the next shuttle. This week I took Myca to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to see what the different parts of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) look like before they get stacked up.

The VAB is probably the one building at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) that everybody recognizes. We have been using it to stack up our rockets before rolling them to the launchpad since the Apollo Program, and will do the same thing there for the Constellation Program. It was a little too windy to take Myca's picture outside of the building, but here it is:

You can see the new paint job on the flag and the NASA logo, or as we call it, the meatball. In case you couldn't tell from the picture, the building is huge. At 525 ft. it is half the size of the tallest buildings in the world, but is the 3rd largest by volume. What that means is if you filled the entire VAB with something - ping pong balls, for example - there are only two buildings in the whole world that could hold the same amount and not be filled up. That's pretty impressive.

The VAB has 4 compartments - 2 on each side of the building - that we call high bays. The large area in the middle is called the transfer aisle. The first day Myca and I visited the VAB the Right Aft Booster (RAB), or bottom segment on the right side, was waiting in the transfer aisle. This is the part the flame actually comes out of when it launches.

Here you can see the segment on the stand it was on when they moved it into the building. The darker area between the two white walls is the high bay.

Anything yellow is what we call Ground Support Equipment or GSE. The yellow thing on top of the segment is the piece we attach to it so we can pick it up and move it with the cranes pictured below. The yellow one on the right moves between high bays 1 and 2, and the yellow one on the left moves between high bays 3 and 4. It's a long way up.


Here's Myca with the RAB:

There are 4 pieces to each booster. Usually they put in one piece on the left side, the one on the right side, then repeat. These two pieces are the last two that get put on.

When we went back the second day they were working on the Left Aft Center (LAC). It's basically a big white cylinder filled with propellant. The solid fuel we use in it looks and feels a lot like the pink eraser at the end of a pencil. Myca looks big in this picture because we're so high up and far away, but if you look closely you can see the people working on the segment and how small they are compared to it.

One more way you can tell how large the VAB is: this is big stuff we work on and somehow it still looks small when sitting in the middle of the building. There is just as much space behind me as can be seen in this picture, an even more off camera.


Thanks go to Richard for walking around with me and helping with some of the pictures. There will be no update next week because I am off of work until June 4th for my sister's wedding. Myca will be coming with me so she can see Emma. While I am away they will be holding the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) to decide if we get to launch Atlantis on June 8th. Here's hoping I return to good news. :)

Let's Try This Again

Well, Atlantis is back on the pad now so we can try to launch again. Isn't she beautiful?


Right now we're shooting for June 8th. Keep your fingers crossed for us that the weather cooperates and we don't get anymore hail.

The majorty of my "free" time this week was spent walking other people around at the pad. Unfortunately that means Myca had to wait back at the office. I don't have any pictures of her to add, but I do have a few of our repaired tank that I thought I would share.

This is from the top floor the elevators go to. It still looks beat up even if it is "fixed"...

This is what one of those little spots looks like close up. You can see how they filled in the part where the hail hit.

And the last picture I'm going to share is one I thought was sort of neat. I took it on the top level of the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) looking back at Pad B.

That's all I have for this week. Again, sorry for not having any Myca pictures. I will be sure to get her out somewhere next week. Take care until then.

Current Events

This week something pretty cool happened here at KSC. The Thunderbirds did a flyby of the industrial area (where my building is) and the LC-39 area (where the VAB is). I wish I could say I saw it, but I wasn't in when it happened. Myca was on center though, so I'm sure she could hear them as they zoomed by.

The Thunderbirds were on site so they could take pictures for the World Space Expo that will take place at KSC in November. Some great ones have been going around the center in an email, so I thought I would share them here. I'm going to give photo credit to NASA since I don't know who actually took them.




You may have also seen the news last week that Wally Schirra passed away. He was one of the Mercury 7 - the first people who became astronauts and went into space. Imagine what that would be like. Let's say somebody came to you and said they want to pack you into a tiny capsule on a large explosive that nobody has ridden in before. They hope will get you into space for a short time and also hope it will bring you back. What would you say? Would you be to scared to take the chance, or would you risk your life for what could be the most incredible thing you ever get to do?

That isn't to say being an astronaut now doesn't take courage - it certainly does - or that spaceflight is routine, but there are so many things you don't know when you are one of the first. The astronauts who get to fly on the new vehicles in a few years will experience the same thing.

After the news came out I wanted to take Myca over to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, or what we refer to as "capeside", to see the Mercury 7 memorial. I have not been able to do that yet, but I do have a picture I took of it a while back so you can see what it looks like.

As soon as I can get Myca capeside I will post the pictures here. I think it is important to remember how the space program started and the courage and sense of adventure it takes to do something new. When I look at kids Emma's age I know it will be one of them who gets to be the first human to walk on Mars. Who knows, maybe it will even be Emma. And then she can take Myca out while I wait for the pictures. Wouldn't that be something?