Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Atlantis Mission Status...

STS-115 Mission Status Center

Below is a picture of Atlantis heading back to the launchpad.

Shuttle Altantis Status

Today, efforts for rolling back shuttle atlantis were halted when the shuttle was one mile from the VAB. So Atlantis is back at the launch pad. Depending how tropical storm Ernesto makes out, we could be looking to resuming the launch countdown and launching on September 6th or 7th. We have suspended operations tomorrow...(meaning i get to sleep in and not go to work) and we resume work on Thursday. Let's cross our fingers for a launch next week.

-Damaris

Monday, August 21, 2006

Go STS-115!!!




I think this has been the longest i have not written. I completed my 2 graduate courses and got A's. (yey) Tomorrow I register for another course.

Here are some pictures of Space Shuttle Atlantis at the launch pad. The launch is scheduled for Sunday Aug. 27th at 4:30pm. I really hope that the weather will permit us to launch. Today it was rainy in the afternoon I just hope the weather doesn't follow the pattern as it was with STS-121.

Lately at work i have been working on some process improvements and performing thermal blanket inspections with some co-workers on Space Shuttle Discovery. If you recall from STS-114, there was a thermal blanket patch whose stitches became detached next to Commander Eileen Collin's window. We are basically inspecting all the blankets to look for missing stitches exceeding the criteria or for fabric degradation. On top of the blanket inspections, a lot of paper is being kicked out for repairing degraded previous tile repairs. It's amazing how busy everyone is at work.

I am leaving the day after launch to go out to Houston to support JSC during the imagery inspection. This is when the team looks at the high-res pictures taken from the international space station to determine if there are any damages to the thermal protection system (tiles, thermal blankets, RCC).

Man, and what do you guys think about the 3 new planets? Crazy huh? There goes the rhyme I went by to memorize my planets when i was younger: My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Here's an attempt to a new one from a website I read: Many Verses, Each May Change, Just Stick Under New Planet Called UB313

Hope everyone has a good week!!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Shuttle Atlantis STS-115

Rollout to the launch pad of shuttle atlantis was delayed due to weather issues out here. Aside from that, we are still looking at Aug 27th, 2006 launch! I've been working long hours lately and we've been very busy at work with all three orbiters.