Emma's Astronaut goes to KSC

Before the Scrub...

2007-12-09T22:38:00.000-05:00

Since I began working at KSC I have slowly come up with a mental list of things I want to do at some point during my time there. Some have been pretty easy to cross off even if I didn't expect them to be. Others I'm fairly sure won't ever happen, but I still hope.

The first launch I saw from KSC was at night. I was still a college student, and I remember looking over the river as we drove and being able to see the launch pad lit up from miles away. When we got to our viewing site it was the only thing I had eyes for; everything else disappeared.

Considering that first experience, it's probably no surprise that taking pictures of the shuttle on the pad under the bright xenon lights made it onto my "To Do at KSC" list. This has not been as easy to cross off as I would have thought. Timing becomes very important.

Wednesday night RSS rollback was at 8pm for Thursday's launch attempt. This is when the Rotating Service Structure is moved out of the way and no longer covers the orbiter. It gives me a window of a couple hours to take pictures while I still have access to the pad, and being after sundown meant the shuttle would be lit up during that window. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

When I drove back to work that night I couldn't see the bright glow I remembered from my first launch. I stopped at my building and climbed the stairs on the outside to look in the direction of the pad and make sure it was worth driving the extra 7 or so miles to get there.

Yes, under those lights you really can see it from that far away. This picture was taken from roof level of the O&C with a good zoom lens. Atlantis is all you can see.

I'm sure I was glowing as bright as the shuttle when the security guard waved me through the badge checkpoint. I had finally made it

I went inside the fence as close as they would let me go and walked around the perimeter road to get a side view. I saw the crew guests taking pictures from where their busses had stopped to let them out. The skies were clear, but most of the stars were invisble in the brilliant lights pointed at the shuttle. Aside from the occaisional announcement over the area warning system it was quiet. It is a moment I think I will always remember.

Thanks for this set of pictures go to Haden in Security. Somebody reported the random person walking down the road taking pictures (me) and he was kind enough not to write me up or delete everything on my camera after telling me to go back. There's also a good lesson here: When asking permission for something, make sure you're actually getting it from the right people.

A Few Minutes on the Outside

2007-10-27T11:09:00.001-05:00

A majority of the posts I have written over the past year have been focused on looking at what KSC does from the inside. I would like to wander away from that for a couple minutes to talk about you - the people outside the gates.

As I mentioned in the last entry, I was not able to watch the launch of STS-120 from the space center. My flight for Houston departed at 2:00pm. There was no way I could watch from Kennedy and still make it to Orlando on time. If you have never visited for a launch you will have to trust me when I say that traffic leaving the Titusville/Cocoa Beach/Merritt Island/Port Canaveral area after liftoff is terrible. There are actually people at KSC who will take launch days off just to avoid it.

My plan was to arrive at the airport just before launch and watch from the roof of the parking garage before going inside to catch my flight. It wasn't what I wanted, but I had no other choice. The entire drive felt like a race. If I lost, I'd miss the launch completely. If I won, the prize was a few minutes standing alone on a hot roof wishing I was back at KSC. I wasn't very excited about either outcome.

It was close, but I won. Imagine my surprise when I reached the top level of the garage and discovered clusters of people scattered against the railings and standing outside cars with radios tuned into the launch commentary.

They didn’t clap and cheer at liftoff like the Kennedy crowd does, but their presence on the rooftops sent me a very clear message. You, the people outside the gates, still care about what we do. Despite our failures you will still press pause on your day to watch 7 people realize their dreams at 25,800 miles an hour. Or, as I discovered days later in Houston, you'll still wait in the cold just to watch the International Space Station pass overhead on a clear night. In a world as rushed as ours that's very encouraging to me. Knowing people care about the missions we've dedicated our lives to makes a big difference. Everybody I shared this story with during our day of lunar meetings smiled too.

I don't know who you were standing on the rooftops with me. I don't know if it was your first launch or just your most recent. But whoever and wherever you are, thank you. It is because of you that I will remember STS-120 as a launch that inspired me; not because I again enjoyed the privileges my badge grants me, but because I lived momentarily as if they had been taken away. It turns out that 50 miles west of the launch site is exactly where I needed to be.

God speed, Discovery.

Closing Up to Finish Launch Preps

2007-10-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday Discovery was rolled out to Pad 39-A to do the final preparations for launch later this month. The target date for the next blast off is Tuesday, October 23rd, around 11:30am. I have to leave for Houston that day, so unfortunately this will be the first launch I will miss since I started working at the Cape almost 3.5 years ago. Is it wrong if I hope they have to delay it a week?

Anyway, I was very surprised when I got into work on Monday and found that they had not moved the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) into place over the orbiter yet. I immediately went to look for one of our new contractors, Phil, so I could get him out to the Pad before the move took place. That first glimpse you get of the shuttle from up close is truly awe-inspiring and I didn't want him to have to wait for the next process flow to see it. As we drove past the security check point I told him that showing my badge and having the guard say "Okay, go ahead" still hasn't gotten old.

I knew we were rushing the clock, I just didn't know how much. They already had the clears (areas you can't go into unless you're essential for the operation) set up. The move began just after I got a few shots of Phil with the vehicle behind him. The pictures for this entry will enlarge a bit bigger than usual if you click on them. They're not full size, but they're still pretty nice.

Here's Discovery looking like she's ready to leap into the sky without her crew.

This is where they drive the RSS from. It's a little car at the base of the structure.

I was surprised to see people riding the RSS as they moved it into place. I guess I've always been so focused on the vehicle that I never looked away to notice. That guy standing by the doors to the Payload Changeout Room (PCR) - aka the white thing in the upper center of the picture - must be very brave.

This one I really liked because of the people standing in the foreground. I think it gives a great overview of the whole operation and some terrific perspective on the size of the "toys" we play with at KSC. I was closer to the people than the vehicle and they are still dwarfed.

I also took Phil over to the VAB at the end of the week. They're busy stacking boosters for the STS-122 mission that will launch in early December. It was nice to walk around a bit and remember what the rest of the space center is doing while I'm off on travel, which I am doing a lot of lately. Most importantly, I love sharing this stuff with people who have never seen it before. The grin on Phil's face was priceless. I would still bring everybody in to wander with me if I could.

Pictures from the Desert

2007-09-23T16:11:00.000-05:00

As the title suggests, I'm going to keep the words at a minimum this time around. The trip to Arizona to drop in on the Desert RATS 2007 activities was cool; they are working on some awesome stuff for us to use when we go back to the moon. Everybody on the team was wonderful, the scenery was beautiful, and they even let me drive one of the moon cars. It was also a great place to break in my new camera a little more. Myca spent the day in the safety of the tent. Unfortunately I did not have a good chance for a photo op with her, but she enjoyed the trip as well. These are the kinds of things we got to see:

There were a number of photographers out there during our visit. NASA TV and the NASA Digital Learning Network both had tents set up, and later in the afternoon the team was paid a visit by the guys with NASA Edge. So, it was busy around the test site, but it was fun. We also went out for a look at where they did similar testing for the Apollo program. There may not be trees or blue skies, but outings like this are what will make sure our next visit to the Moon is successful. My role may be small, but I am privileged to have it.

Leaving for the Desert

2007-09-11T21:07:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow morning I will be visiting the Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) field activity taking place in Cinder Lake, Arizona. This NASA team goes into the desert for two weeks every September to test robots, space suits, communication technologies and other equipment somewhere that's more like space. Our visit is on media day this year, so there will be some neat tests going on for the reporters that come out to visit.

The Desert RATS team is also doing a webcast tomorrow on the NASA Digital Learning Network for students across the country. I won't be on camera since I'm just there to watch too, but if you can tune in definitely check it out.

Here are some pictures from when I got to visit in 2005. The dirt everywhere is orange because we were pretending to be on Mars that year. It's the closest I think I'll ever get to that planet.

I am very excited to see the things this group is working on for our return to the Moon and to spend a day bouncing around in the grey dirt with them. It's going to be awesome!

About the Silence

2007-08-27T23:32:00.001-05:00

It has been almost two months since my last post and, as is to be expected, I have been asked if I am going to keep this site up. The short answer is that I would like to.

Adding content has not been far from my mind, it just became lower priority when compared with work, final exams and term papers. A few failed attempts at getting new pictures also did not help. I borrowed our division camera for the last launch and the shots came out terrible. I missed landing because of meetings. I tried to take Myca out to the boat dock and it was closed off. Fortunately it has been summer vacation, so the break was probably well timed.

Another challenge is that Myca has seen many of the major things on center. There are a few other places I can think of that might be cool to take her, but eventually I will run out of them. The question then becomes whether I stop updating the site entirely or do something different with it.

I have very few pictures from Houston because my visit to JSC was so short. I considered posting a couple even though Myca was not in them. I will also be spending a day in Arizona with the Desert RATS next month and I hope to bring her for a photo opportunity there.

My question to those of you visiting the site is this: what do you want to see? A major driver for this page was to share, and it helps to share what others are interested in.

That said, I am going to end this post with a picture I took in the parking lot of the O&C when I left work tonight. The moon is almost full and the overall effect after a few camera tweaks is pretty cool. I love the feel of Kennedy Space Center at night. I think this is the first picture I've taken that even comes close to capturing it.

I will be back with some sort of update in about a week. Take care until then.

Back From Mars

2007-07-03T22:08:00.000-05:00

Well, not quite, but we are home from our trip to California to visit NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena.

JPL is best known for the robotic missions it sends to explore other planets. The Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which have been in the news many times since they landed in 2004, belong to them. The first thing I noticed when we got to the center was how different it is from ours. Kennedy is flat and very spread out across a swamp. JPL is packed together on the side of a mountain and you can walk everywhere.

I think that's why they have nicer animals running around than we do. I'll take deer over alligators any day.

I was sent to JPL to meet people I am working with on some projects for Constellation. I mentioned one of them in my first post. The other project is a computer program that will let us test our missions to the moon before we actually go there. It's very cool stuff, but I was happy we didn't spend our whole visit in a computer room. The JPL guys were nice enough to walk us around so we could see some of the other neat things there.

So what's cool to see at JPL? Well, this guy here is an exact copy of the Mars Rovers. Before they send any new code to Spirit and Opportunity they test it out on him. I forgot to ask if he has a name.

They also took us to their Spacecraft Assembly Facililty (SAF). This is where they build the robots they're going to send into space. There wasn't much inside when we walked through because they're just starting a new spacecraft. We were told the pieces there now are for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

There are a few labs we visited that had robots in them as well. I got to drive one, and to see some of the early versions of the Mars rovers. Too bad we stopped there when I didn't have my camera with me.

Last stop was the Mars Yard. This is an area covered in red dirt and rocks of all sizes to simulate Mars. They drive rovers around in here to test how they will work after they land.

It's also the one place I went back to for that special picture when I had some free time. Myca has now been on Mars. :)

The trip to JPL went very quickly. The shuttle was supposed to come back from California the same day we did, but we got here first. I wasn't at work early enough to see it land, but I did drive past the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) on my way home. It was a last minute thing and I don't usually bring Myca home with me, so she was back in the office when I snapped this picture of Atlantis and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) in the Mate/Demate Device (MDD). It was pretty impressive to see like that.

Thanks this week go to Mike for sending me to a very cool new place, and to Hari and Steve for showing me around when I got there. Unfortunately there may not be an update next week because I'm being sent to Houston for a big meeting. It's going to be a busy month...

We Were So Close...

2007-06-23T08:36:00.000-05:00

After Atlantis launched the signs around KSC changed. The ones out on Thursday and Friday this week were just as exciting as the ones on June 8th.

I had won the drawing for one of my group's seats on the bus so I could go out to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and watch Atlantis come home after a successful mission. Myca and I were all set to go.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the picture below, the weather was not on our side. It was taken on the NASA causeway looking toward the Vehichle Assembly Building (VAB). The SLF would be behind the VAB, a bit further north and slightly west. They don't like that many clouds around when they need to bring an Orbiter home.

They ended up deciding that the weather was better at the other landing site in California. The change in location meant Myca and I had to watch the landing the same way as everybody else at Kennedy: on TV.

So, since I don't have any cool "Atlantis is Home" pictures, here are a few from the Atlas V launch last week.

Thanks this week go to David for letting me borrow his bus pass for my picture. I was going to get mine from HQ before boarding the bus and since landing got moved I never made it. Thanks also go to IT-C for use of their camera and vehicle for the Atlas Launch, and to Bill and Wyck for putting up with my childish excitement as the rocket went up.

Next week I am being sent out to JPL, so there will probably not be an update. If I get any cool pictures while I'm in California I might be able to share, I just can't promise Myca will be making an appearance. We'll see. Take care until next time.

Liftoff!

2007-06-10T07:59:00.001-05:00

In case you missed it somehow, Friday night we finally launched Atlantis. The weather was perfect and we got her off the ground right on time. Myca came with me as I rode with a bus of launch guests, so we got to watch from the Banana Creek Viewing site outside of the Apollo Saturn V Building. It's the same area the astronauts' guests watch from, and is one of the closest places you can be to the launch.

Here's Myca on the bus ride out to Orlando to pick up our guests.

We made it to the viewing site about 3.5 hours before launch. Here she is with one of the countdown clocks in front of the bleachers. I also took a picture of the launchpad from where we were standing. After this we walked around a little.

The Saturn V building is a cool stop on the tour they do when you go to the KSC Visitor Complex. One of the rockets from the Apollo program that we didn't get to fly is hanging from the celing so you can walk around underneath it. It is very impressive.

I also snapped Myca's picture with the crew module and service module, with an old astronaut van, and with one of the moon cars.

She also met another astronaut, Greg H. Johnson, who was outside working the launch and was kind enough to take a picture. He will be going up on STS-123 next year. I realized later I probably shouldn't have asked for a picture since I was supposed to be working, but I was so caught up in the excitement of everything I wasn't thinking straight. Hopefully the nice people in public affairs will forgive me.

And then there's the launch...

I also found a great video on YouTube that somebody took of the launch from the same place where we watched. That's exactly what it's like - what you see and what you hear right down to the people clapping and cheering. I am so thankful I get to be part of it.

STS-117 is scheduled to be in orbit for 11 days. The mission will be shown on NASA TV, and I recommend tuning in to see them stretch out the solar panels I was talking about when we toured the Payload Changout Room (PCR) at the Pad. If your TV doesn't have the NASA channel you can watch on the web.

Here's to a successful mission. Godspeed Atlantis and crew!

Starting Over

2007-05-27T20:34:00.001-05:00

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

2007-05-19T15:19:00.001-05:00

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

2007-05-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

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?

Orbiter Processing Facility, Part 2

2007-04-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-15T16:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

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...

Exploring Closer to Home

2007-03-24T22:47:00.001-05:00

This week I'm going to share a little about the Operations and Checkout building (O&C), which is where Myca and I live during normal working hours. The O&C is located in what we call "The KSC Industrial Area" between Headquarters (HQ) and the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), and is a 10-15 minute drive from some of the other places we have visited.

The lobby is much smaller than the one we saw over in the Launch Control Center (LCC), but there are still a few cool things to look at.

This is a model of the Mars Rovers made out of Lego.

And I guess these birds have something to do with a weather satellite.

If you walk straight back you'll find the Mission Briefing Room, or MBR. This is where they hold some of the big reviews before countdown begins to decide if we're ready to launch. Myca wanted to know what it looked like from the podium.

When you go out of the MBR and turn left there is a set of double doors that lead to the back half of the building. This is where the high bay is located.

The O&C High Bay has been used for testing many spacecraft before launch, including Gemini capsules, Lunar Modules and Command Modules for the Apollo program, Skylab, and Spacelab Modules for the shuttle program. Recently Lockheed Martin decided they will use the building for their work on Orion, the new crew exploration vehicle.

Right now the high bay is empty. All of the old workstands have been removed so that new ones can be built for the new program.

One of the only things still there are the altitude chambers, which are used to test how the spacecraft will perform outside of Earth's atmosphere. The picture with Myca in it came out blurry, so here are the chambers by themselves.

Up on the 3rd floor we have an observation area where you can look out into the high bay. When there's activity I imagine it gives a great view.

Also on the 3rd floor is...

Unfortunately it's not someplace I can just walk into, but maybe one day Myca will get a peek inside. Instead I took her to the elevator and out the door like a real astronaut on their way to the launch pad.

Notice the mission stickers along the door frame.

She even found her own parking spot.

So the next time you see pictures of astronauts in their orange suits waving to people as they walk outside, that's our building they're leaving. Pretty cool, huh?

I may not get a chance to update next week because I am going to Virgina for a conference. If I have a chance to take Myca out I will be sure to post, otherwise I'll see you in two weeks with the next part of our adventure. Take care until then.

A Patch of Paradise - The KSC Beach House

2007-03-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

This week I took Myca with me to a three day meeting for one of my projects. Normally that would not be very exciting, but what made this special was that we held it at the one and only KSC Beach House.

What little information I can find says the beach house was built in 1962 and was called the Astronaut Training and Rehabilitation Building. It's far away from most everything at Kennedy Space Center and is right on the ocean tucked between rocket launch pads. Old pictures show the two story building as a dull grey color, but after it was damaged during the hurricanes of 2004 the whole thing had to be remodeled. It's now bright yellow.

The building has a large deck with a great view of the ocean, several rocket pads and the shuttle launch pads.

The beach house is still used by the astronauts around launch time, but the rest of the year it's used as a conference center for employees to have classes and meetings. The inside is decorated to look beachy or Floridian. It's cute, and I have not found an uncomfortable couch in the place.

One of the neat things they have in the beach house is a pair of glass cases. Inside are empty bottles from the alcohol of choice (wine, champagne, whiskey, etc.) each crew drank in celebration of their upcoming mission. Most have mission stickers on them and several are signed by crew members.

The best part of being out at the beach house is when you get to go out and walk on the beach. It's one of the few strips of coastline in Florida you can look up or down and not see a condo anywhere. It's fantastic!

Myca and I also made a new friend on this trip. His name is Terrell (pronounced TAIR-ull).

That about sums up the beach house. Thanks this week go to Bill for picking a great location for our meeting, and for both spotting and naming the tortoise. It's always nice to have a friend to play with.

Sign Here...

2007-03-10T21:22:00.001-05:00

I have a short detour from the planned stop this week, but I think it's pretty cool. For every shuttle that goes up a large banner is made that the employess sign or write messages on to show their support for the mission. Sometimes they're carried in front of the orbiter when it rolls from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) or hung on the Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP) when it rolls from the VAB to the Pad. I have also seen them hanging where the astronauts walk out on launch day.

This week was the first time I have ever walked into a building and found the banner there for people to sign.

Yes, I did put my name on it. More importantly, I put Myca's on there too:

This week's planned stop was Kennedy Space Center's annual All-American Picnic. This is an event we do every spring where everybody on the space center can bring their families for a day of music, games, demonstrations and food. This year my group was responsible for planning the whole thing and they gave me the best job out there: Astronaut support.

Our base for the day was the back part of what we called the "Virtual Astronaut Trailer".

People visiting the picnic could go in the front of the trailer and play with a computer game where you got to be an astronaut walking or driving around Mars.

When we weren't at the base we were managing things over at the astronaut autograph tent.

The Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center (JSC) sent me three wonderful people to support this event. I introduced all of them to Myca, and at the end of their visit they even let me take her picture with them.

Thanks this week to go Eric , Megan and Janice for making the trip to come to the picnic and being so great to work with. It was a fun event to be part of and we had a great time with them.

Things Don't Always Go As Planned

2007-03-03T17:51:00.000-05:00

By now you have probably heard that we're not launching in two weeks because of a hail storm that hit KSC. The funny thing about this storm is that it only hit part of the space center. My building and the ones around it didn't get any of the weather that hit the pad.

The picture below is from one of the TV cameras we have pointing at the External Tank (ET). All of the white spots are damage from the storm. The tank looks sick. :(

Photo: NASA

And this is some of the hail that fell during the storm. I'm told many of the stones were about the size of a golf ball. The coin in the picture is a nickel to give some idea of the actual size. If you want to know what makes hail, a simple answer is here.

Photo: ?

The shuttle is rolling back to the VAB this weekend. We'll know more about how bad the damage is in a few days, and if we can fix it hopefully we will fly in April.

Friday afternoon the power went out in my building as we were eating lunch. It turns out the whole area lost power and we were sent home because it was going to be a while before they could fix the problem. I hadn't taken Myca out during the week and now that we were all being told to leave I didn't want to poke around too much, so I decided to enjoy my free time and go to the beach. Now Myca has also seen the ocean.

I know it's not a stop at KSC, but I think this week's lesson is to make the most of whatever comes up because it all works out sooner or later. It was nice to have a free afternoon and it was a beauitful day to be outside. I can't complain.

Thanks this week go to Teresa for sending me the hail pictures. Next week's update will probably be late because I have to work at the KSC picnic all day Saturday. Hopefully it will be with good news about the ET and more cool pictures from the space program. Until then...

Back to the Pad

2007-02-24T14:53:00.000-05:00

I was sitting at my desk Wednesday morning when the phone rang. It was a guy I know who works for the Space Station group.

"So what're you doing this afternoon?"
"Have a couple meetings, why?"
"I was going to head over to the pad..."
"Hmm. I might be able to get out of them. Let me check and call you back?"
"Okay, sure."

A few minutes later I called him back.

"Alright, they'll let me go."
"Cool, pick you up at 1?"
"Awesome."

I didn't have to look for my field trip with Myca this week. It found me. Pad 39-A it was.

There are a number of things out at the pad necessary to launch the shuttle, the most obvious being the metal structure that sits on top of it. This has two basic parts. The tall straight one is called the Fixed Service Structure, or FSS, and the shorter wide part is the Rotating Service Structure (RSS).

All of the platforms and pieces that attach to the shuttle are connected to the FSS. The two elevators in it only go to the 255 ft. level, but there are stairs we can take to get all the way to the top. The long white thing that sticks up is part of our Lightning Supression System. This is very important because KSC is in the lightning capital of the United States and if lighting strikes we don't want it to hit our vehicle. The last time this happened was when Atlantis flew for STS-115 in September 2006. Thankfully our lighting rod worked.

Photo: NASA

The RSS is the part we saw moving last week. It has platforms that let us do work on the orbiter and holds the Payload Changeout Room (PCR). "Payload" is the word we use for anything other than the vehicle or the astronauts that we are launching into space. It could be a satellite, a container of supplies or, like this mission, a piece of the International Space Station. (ISS).

Part of the PCR is what we call a cleanroom, which means we control the air and particles inside of it. I had to wear a bunny suit and stand in an air shower (a little room that blasted me with air to blow any dust away) before I could go in. Unfortunately they didn't have a bunny suit that could fit Myca, so she had to wait outside.

Photo: Jeremy P.

The payload going up in March is the S3/S4 truss segment. These are the pieces with solar panels that help power the space station. The panels are folded up inside the two long gold boxes. After the truss is attached to the space station they will come down 90 degrees to make a straight line with the circle in the middle and will then stretch out to unfold the panels. I recommend watching NASA TV on Flight Day 5; seeing it happen is better than any description I could give.

One of the things I love about going to the pad is the view. The day we went out was beautiful and you could see pad 39-B clearly against the blue sky.

I do not recommend a trip up there to anybody who doesn't like heights. Not only are you over 250ft. off the ground, but what you stand on is not solid. Every floor at the pad is more like walking on a giant sewer grate and you can see straight through to the ground. I am over 100 ft. higher than the cars in this picture, and what you can't see is the flame trench (big hole for the flames at launch) that I am directly over.

You can also look up and see any people at every level above you.

If there is one place everybody visiting the pad for the first time wants to peek at, it's the white room. This is where the astronauts get into the shuttle before launch. It's not very large, and is more like a box leaning against the shuttle that is connected to the pad by a long walkway.

At the same level as the white room we have slide wire baskets. If something goes wrong and the astronauts have to get away from the shuttle quickly they get in the baskets and fly down the wire to a place where they can be safe.

The best part of the visit came when I took Myca to see the white room for the first time. Here we are before going down the walkway:

Photo: Jeremy P.

There's not much to see in the white room other than the hole you crawl through to get into the shuttle. The only way to tell which vehicle you're looking into is the covering that says "Atlantis" on the open door. If I remember correctly the yellow tubing carries air into the orbiter. There's somebody in the white room at all times who controls who and what goes in and out of the vehicle. She said we could go up to the door and take a picture.

Photo: Jeremy P.

This is where it got interesting. One of the guys inside the shuttle poked his head out and asked if Myca was Flat Stanley. I told him it was something like that, but not quite; the the astronaut was getting a tour for my cousin up in New York. He then asked the woman monitoring the white room for permission to bring Myca and my camera inside. I was ecstatic. She was about to experience something many people working at the space center never get to.

This week Myca didn't just go inside her first space shuttle, she went into the one at the pad waiting to launch. And where did they take her picture? The seat Commander Rick Sturckow will sit in as his crew blasts off on the STS-117 mission. How cool is that?

Photo: 1st shift SCO, Feb-21-07

Thanks this week go to Jeremy for inviting me out and taking pictures, Mike and Matt for putting up with me being a tourist, Tony for his help with the basket pictures, Mike, Scott and Bob for letting me out of their meetings, and two wonderful people in the white room whose names I forgot to ask for in the middle of my excitement. This is going to be a hard week to top.

Atlantis on the Move, Take 2!

2007-02-17T14:07:00.000-05:00

After the excitement last week Atlantis spent 8 days in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) getting connected to the other shuttle pieces. Thursday morning it was time for another big event: rollout to the launch pad. All of our launches now will be from Pad 39-A, which means the shuttle has to be moved about 3.4 miles. The hazy picture below is from the roof of the VAB. It shows the pad and the road the shuttle takes to get to it.

Photo: Sam M.

Rollout takes a long time because we only move the shuttle at around 1 mile per hour. If you started riding your bike at First Motion (the time the shuttle begins moving) you would probably get to the pad first and still have to wait a while for it catch up. Since it goes so slow Myca and I took our time getting out there to see it.

We drove out half an hour after first motion. The shuttle had moved far enough away from the VAB that you could see it clearly from up the road several miles away.

A few minutes later we were in the VAB parking lot as the shuttle looked like it was sitting between some trees. We took a picture and walked closer to find a crowd of other people who had come out to watch.

We also walked around a little to find other views of the shuttle in motion.

The "road" the shuttle takes to the pad is called the Crawlerway. The rocks covering it get crushed under the weight of the vehicle and its carrier as they move down it. I can't imagine 20 million pounds well enough to come up with a good comparison, but one thing I know for sure is that I wouldn't want to be one of those rocks. In this picture you can see the difference between the ones it ran over and the ones it didn't as it came out of the VAB.

Myca and I then went across the street toward the Kennedy Space Center Press site. On the way we passed the ET boat.

The Press site is what you see on TV a lot because it's where the big countdown clock is. The clock is off because we're not close enough to launch right now, but it should light up again 3-4 days before liftoff.

Atlantis took around 7 hours to get to the launch pad. After it arrived Myca and I went out with one of my coworkers for a look.

The big grey thing on the left side is the Rotating Service Structure, or RSS. It covers the shuttle while it's on the pad before launch. The few hours we were there are the only time the shuttle can be seen like this until they move the RSS again before launch.

We stayed out until it got dark and watched as they moved the RSS over the shuttle. It was awesome to see it all lit up like that.

I'll do a better walk around of the pad another week, but I wanted to put up some good pictures of Myca with the whole shuttle out there. Thanks this week go to Tony for walking around with me, and for his help with some of the pictures. Saturday seems to be my update day, so I'll be back next weekend with more pictures as Myca and I explore the Kennedy Space Center. See you then!

Atlantis on the Move!

2007-02-09T22:41:00.001-05:00

One of the major events that takes place before a launch is called rollover. This is when the orbiter flying the next mission is moved from its home in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Inside the VAB the orbiter is picked up and attached to the other shuttle pieces before being moved to the launch pad.

Rollover of Atlantis for the March launch was this week and Emma's Astronaut was there. We met a friend of mine at Kennedy Space Center around 5:45 on Wednesday morning to go watch together. First Motion – the time when the vehicle begins moving – was scheduled for 6am. It was still dark, it was cold for Florida, and there were very few people around.

This is a shot of Atlantis inside the OPF before it began moving. The three large red circles are covers for the engines. I tried to get a picture of the astronaut with this in the background, but it was still too dark.

NASA's website says that first motion wasn't until 6:19am. Within half an hour the sun was rising,

and Atlantis was out of the OPF.

We watched the rollover from the side of the road Atlantis had to travel between the OPF and VAB. After they backed it out, they drove it right past us.

Photo: Mike G.

During all of this many people saw Emma's astronaut and asked me what I was doing. Everybody I explained the project to thought it was a great idea and several offered to help. One also asked if she had a name. I've decided to call her Myca, which is short for “My Cousin's Astronaut". NASA uses a lot of acronyms. Sooner or later I was going to be infected too.

Unfortunately Atlantis didn't stop moving just because I stopped to talk, so I missed the rest of the rollover. My friend Mike followed it without me and got a great picture of Atlantis outside of the VAB.

Photo: Mike G.

Later that night I took Myca back to the VAB to see Atlantis waiting for lift. This is when we pick up the orbiter, flip it, and lift it into place to be connected to the other pieces of the shuttle. Mike came with me again and we got there just as they finished flipping Atlantis to the vertical position.

Photo: Mike G.

Next we went up to the 5^th floor to get a little closer.

Photo: Mike G.

Then we waited a few hours for the lift to start. During that time we went back to the External Tank (ET) holding cells to look at the pieces it would be attached to. The orange part is the same ET from the first stop. The two white pieces are the solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. When put together like this we call the whole thing the stack. The large concrete strip running through the middle of the picture is the walkway the orbiter has to be lifted over before it can get attached. I would guess it's between 150 and 200 ft. high.

There wasn't much light where we were, so I couldn't get a good picture of Myca with the stack in the background. I was also afraid of dropping her from 267ft. up. I decided it was better to leave her someplace safe before we went back up for the lift. While I was doing that, Mike was on the ground floor as they started to raise Atlantis.

Photo: Mike G.

We rushed back to the elevator to get on the ET holding cells and watched Atlantis slowly rise up in front of us. It was an amazing sight.

After the orbiter is raised it is moved over the stack. At this point it is still at an angle, and must be twisted so it fits right when it is lowered.

This is where the orbiter stopped before I left. After 18 hours at the space center I was very tired and ready to go home.

Thanks this week go to Mike for his help with the pictures, to Bill for getting us back to the ET cells, and to Lyle and Christy for talking with us as we waited for the lift. It was a long day, but it was definitely worth it.

Atlantis is now attached to the stack and being worked on before rollout next week. I don't know when that is scheduled for, but I plan to have Myca there as well.

A Time to Remember

2007-02-01T19:12:00.000-05:00

Of all the places I want to take Emma's Astronaut, today's stop is probably the most accessible to the general public. Some would say it's also the most important.

Though exciting, adventurous and inspiring, space flight is not easy. Sometimes things go wrong and, sadly, sometimes people die because they did. Historically this is a tough week for NASA. On January 27, 1967 we lost three astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire. On January 28, 1986 we lost seven more when Challenger exploded just over a minute after launch. On February 1, 2003 - exactly 4 years ago today - we lost another seven when Columbia disintegrated on its way home to the Kennedy Space Center.

The Visitor's Complex at KSC is home to a memorial for all 17 of those astronauts, and for others who lost their lives serving the US space program. It's not a happy stop, but I could think of no other that was more appropriate this week. I ignored the rain that started as I left work this afternoon and went anyway.

The Space Mirror Memorial faces the road, so you actually approach it from behind.

The lights on the back make it look like the names carved into the front of the wall are glowing. The last time I had seen the memorial it was full of people there for a ceremony, but today it was empty, wet, and a little cold.

The group of names at the top of the picture are for the STS-107 Columbia Astronauts. The other large group is for the STS-51-L Challenger crew, and the smaller one near the signs is for Apollo 1. The signs and wreaths were placed next to the wall on the anniversaries of Columbia and Apollo.

And here's Emma's astronaut a bit wet from the rain. I would have preferred she didn't cover up so much of the wall, but it was the best I could do being out there by myself.

Some people say that we shouldn't explore space because it's too dangerous. The men and women listed on this wall disagreed. They didn't just believe exploring space was worth risking a human life, they believed it enough to risk their own. How many of us can say that about anything we do?

Thanks today go to a Visitor's Complex employee named Beverly, who was kind enough to give me a plastic bag to protect Emma's Astronaut from getting wetter as I walked to my car.

Thanks also go to Stephen the security guard. When I got to the Visitor's Complex the ticket booths were closed and the entry doors were locked, so I snuck in through the exit door where he was standing. I showed him my badge and told him I just wanted to stop at the wall for a minute if he'd let me. He didn't remember who I was when I thanked him as I left, but today's visit would not have been possible without him.

Launch Control

2007-01-27T16:13:00.000-05:00

One of the major things Kennedy Space Center does is launch vehicles into orbit. For the shuttle this is done from a building called the Launch Control Center, or LCC. I didn't have a good picture of the outside of the building, so the model below will have to do.

Emma's Astronaut and I entered through the main lobby in the LCC. After a launch this room is full of people celebrating a successful start of the latest NASA mission and enjoying a KSC tradition: the after launch beans and cornbread. Nobody I have asked has ever been able to tell me how it started, so I was very happy to find the answer here.

This is Emma's Astronaut in the lobby next to the model I used for my LCC picture. The LCC is the small white building to the right. The big one is the VAB, which I'll talk more about on another stop.

Along the north wall of the lobby are plaques for all of the NASA missions. Each has the mission patch in the middle and the launch and landing dates underneath.

There's also a great mural running along the south wall.

One of the other cool things scattered around the building are the whiteboards. For every launch the astronauts' kids are given a large whiteboard where they can draw pictrures and leave messages for their parents going into orbit. Later they get framed and hung up somewhere to remember the mission. This hallway on the 4th floor of the LCC is covered with them.

The LCC has 4 rooms that can be used to launch a vehicle into space. We call these the firing rooms. Right now one is under construction so it can be used for the new rockets NASA is building, but the other three are being used to watch and talk with the orbiters: Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavour. This is Emma's Astronaut outside of Firing Room #3.

Inside there are computers everywhere, with one station for each part of the shuttle that has to be watched. This picture is from the very back of Firing Room #3 looking toward the station (or console) for Flight Control.

Next we walked across the hall to Firing Room #4, which was recently remodeled. This is the room they have used for the last few launches and will be using again for STS-117 in March.

Emma's Astronaut says "Flight Control is Go."

And we have lift-off!

Checking out the STS-117 Tank

2007-01-18T20:02:00.000-05:00

Until this week Emma's astronaut has been on the wall in my office waiting for her tour to begin.

It took longer than I would have liked, but she finally made her first trip out to explore. Today's Destination: The ET Holding Cell.

The ET, or External Tank, is the big orange part of the shuttle that holds all of the fuel for the engines at launch. After the tank is empty it disconnects from the orbiter and burns up while falling back to the ocean. The ET is built in Louisiana and delivered to Kennedy Space Center by boat.

When the tank gets to KSC we take it off the boat and move it into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It seems tiny sitting in the VAB, so it's easy not to realize how large it is. Even I forget until I'm standing right next to it. To compare it to the biggst thing I can think of right now, the ET is around 5 elephants long (154 feet), 2.5 elephants tall (28 feet), and 3.5 elephants in weight when it's empty (58,800 pounds).

After the tank is inside the VAB we pick it up and put it in a holding area until it's time to attach it to the rest of the shuttle. The foam is very fragile, so the tank is safer there than if we left it in the middle of the building. We can also do any work needed to get it ready for launch. Without a tank in it, the holding area looks something like this:

This cell very high up - over 250 feet if you're on top. The building is big enough that you don't really notice. Unless you look down at the floor...

Right now there is a tank in one of the holding cells that will be used for the launch in March. They are supposed to move it tomorrow morning to connect it to the rest of the shuttle and I wanted to see it before it went. We started at the top and worked our way down so we could see all of it.

At the lowest level we had our picture taken under the ET.

Photo: Bill W.

I was a little scared standing directly under it, so I'm glad it didn't fall. We definitely would have been squashed.

Thanks go to my friend Bill in the VAB for his help making this tour stop possible. Where is Emma's Astronaut going next? I haven't decided yet. It could be anywhere.

Introduction

2007-01-15T17:01:00.000-05:00

As the description at the top of the page says, the purpose of this blog is to document the places at the Kennedy Space Center where I take an astronaut that my cousin Emma gave me the last time I went home to visit my family. I was so excited about an opportunity to show of "my" center that I wanted to share it with as many people as I could and the idea for the blog was born.

Before I start the "tour" I figure I should answer some of the questions I get most often about myself and my experiences when talking to people. If there's anything else you want to know - either about me or the pictures I post - feel free to ask.

How long have you been at KSC? What do you do there?
I started with NASA in June of 2004 after graduating from Florida Tech with a degree in Computer Science. I'm currently working on modeling and simulation for Constellation, the program that's going to take us back to the moon and to Mars. One of my major projects right now is based on game technology, so I usually just tell people I play video games for NASA.

Did you always want to work for NASA?
Honestly, no. As a kid I thought space stuff was cool - things like watching Apollo 13 in awe, digging up anything I could find on Mars Pathfinder, and hours of stargazing come to mind - but I never once considered that I could be part of it. It was something neat that somebody far away did, not me. I think that's why I like the idea of this project so much. Hopefully it brings the space program a little closer to a few people.

So how did you end up at NASA then?
The grace of God, I think. It's a really great story, but the short version doesn't do it justice.

Do you like it there?
I love it. I have the privilege of working with some fantastic people at one of the coolest places in the world and I'm learning a ton. I still look for the VAB (the big tall building in the movies) every morning on the drive in, and often leave excited about coming back the next day. Some tell me I'll grow out of that, but we'll see.

Do you want to be an astronaut?
For a very long time the answer to that question was no. I was grounded by fear and I knew that. My whole perspective changed one afternoon as I sat in Discovery as it sat at the pad about two weeks before launch. I lay in the seat and I began to wonder what the cockpit was like at launch. I also realized that if something went wrong at that moment I might not survive, but the overwhelming thought was, "But what a way to go...". Suddenly the uniqueness of the opportunity far outweighed the risks in my mind.

Am I going to adjust my career plan to be an astronaut? Doubtful. But if somebody came to me and said, "Hey Bec, we need to send somebody up. Will you go?" I certainly wouldn't turn them down.

That picture of [x] is awesome. Do you have a larger version?
Yep. All pictures here are taken by me unless otherwise stated, so if you see one you'd like a copy of let me know.

When are you going to visit [q]?
Honestly, I have no idea. I'm sort of making this tour up as I go. If there's somewhere specific you think would be a good place for Emma's Astronaut to visit leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.

When is your next update?
Right now my goal is to take Emma's Astronaut to see something new every week. If for some reason I can't (travel, weather, scheduling, etc.) I will try to come up with something else related to space or NASA to post in place of the week's stop. Sound good?

Alright then, away we go. In 3...2...1...