Space Shuttle Endeavour Moves to Pad A

Now that space shuttle Atlantis was transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building, it made way for space shuttle Endeavour to move to pad A.

Atlantis in the VAB awaiting STS-125

Early this morning space shuttle Atlantis was transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Atlantis will be waiting for it's next flight early next year. This week I am on 2nd shift. So I am basically helping out on the night shift with any processing issues for Discovery. In early November we should have a better idea on whether Atlantis or Discovery will be the shuttle to launch February.

Crawler on its way to pick up Atlantis!

As I was headed to Pad B to work a contamination issue, I saw the crawler heading to Pad A. The crawler will be picking up Atlantis and taking it to the VAB. This should be around Monday or Tuesday of next week. Endeavour will then be transferred to Pad A for a November 14 launch!!!!

A view from Pad B.

Ares/Orion Lightning Protection System

Yesterday afternoon I went to pad 39B to help work an issue with Endeavour, which is currently scheduled for launch (STS-126) on November 14.

Pad 39B is undergoing modifications to support the Constellation Program's Ares I rockets. One of the major additions to the pad is the lightning protection system which is designed to reduce the probability of a direct lightning strike to the vehicle and associated launch equipment during processing and other pre-flight activities.

The three steel towers are going to be 595 feet (181.4 meters) in height and after talking with some of the guys out at the pad, they said a gigantic crane is going to be shipped over to KSC around November to help stack the tower segments. The crane is going to be so huge that it is being shipped disassembled. Estimated completion date is March of 2010.

The is an artist's conception of the final construction of the three towers.


Click here for an animation of the lightning protection system.

Walking back to the car, I stopped to take an overall picture of the pad and to my left...was this guy....

Celebrating NASA's 50th year Anniversary

So I've returned from Houston to premote NASA's 50th Year Anniversary on behalf of the Coalition for Space Exploration.

I had such a great time conversing with Commander Gene Cernan! I mean, what an honor to be sitting next to a man who actually walked on the moon.

We sat through about 30 live live and live-to-tape television and radio broadcasts by stations around the United States. The whole experience was more than inspiring to me! I also had time to got visit Texas A&M University to give a talk to students about the orbiter's Thermal Protection Systems. I hadn't been back to Texas A&M since 2005 and so much has changed! I kinda miss my old college town. :)

Here are a couple of links to some videos that were uploaded by some t.v. stations.

WJZ (Baltimore, Maryland): http://video.aol.com/video-detail/coffee-with-eugene-cernan-and-damaris-sarria/983467250/?icid=VIDLRVNWS08

KOVR (Sacramento, California): http://www.truveo.com/Gene-Cernan-Damaris-Sarria/id/1929086897

CNN.com Interview: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/10/01/dcl.cernan.man.on.moon.cnn?iref=2

NewsRadio740 KTRH (Houston, Texas) - http://www.ktrh.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=newscasts.xml Look for live interview from Wednesday, October 1, 2008.

KIVI (Denver, Colorado) and KWGN (Boise, Idaho): http://media.vmsnews.com/MonitoringReports/100108/900403/S001533028/

San Diego 6 (San Diego, California): http://www.sandiego6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?articleID=516740

KUSA (Denver, Colorado)http://www.9news.com/life/programming/shows/mornings/article.aspx?storyid=100845&catid=229&GID=Ze80yzx6M8UT4D1tY+XN6emKumXU/VVr55FEtxiU9uo%3D

KVUE (Austin, Texas): http://www.kvue.com/video/?z=y&nvid=288243