Weather is clearing up for us and the astronauts just passed by the building I work in to be on their way to the pad!
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I started this blog to document the actions I am taking in trying to become an astronaut. It's my ultimate goal, my dream. Every week or so I post a new update to recap the week or add interesting pictures. I hope you enjoy the site and remember to follow your dreams no matter what others may think of them.
About Damaris
- Damaris Sarria Toepel
- Somerville, MA, United States
- Welcome to my blog! I grew up in California and later attended Texas A&M University to earn a Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering. I also hold a Master's degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I previously worked at Kennedy Space Center for Boeing on the Space Shuttle Orbiter's Thermal Protection System. I transitioned to an engineering position with the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA. I applied for the 2009 astronaut candidate program, but unfortunately did not get a call back. I applied again in early 2011 so fingers crossed! I currently am working on continuing my advanced education, involvement with space advocacy, and continuing to do all that I love in life!
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13 comments:
This is the 6'th attempt. I sure hope the weather stays clear for the launch. It would be so cool to see another successful launch after SpaceX falcon 1.
I'm watching the Spaceflightnow webcast, and there you are again. That's how I found you. Good luck, thanks for sharing, and thanks for setting a great example for my daughter, Clara, who's 5 years old.
Happy Moon Day next week!
Damaris, watching the feed on Nasa.gov public channel, it looked like a successful launch!
question to you though, attached to the main engines, there are small white 'pods' if you will, that let off some sort of white gas. what are these and what is the gas? is it some sort of anti icing gas?
Well she went up, but there was an awful lot of debris strikes on the External Tank camera. You got your work cut out for you on this launch!
Hard to believe NASA once had 0 tolerance for shedding. Now tile hits are normal. Wonder if anyone still cares about O-rings.
Successful launch. Finally.
Damaris,
Do you know anything about this article? It states that Obama Administration told NASA to explorer new ways to reach the moon other than Ares problem?
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2009/07/farewell_ares_1.html
Don't answer it if your going to get into trouble!
Damaris,
From what I noticed of the past launches and today's it looks like the longer the shuttle stays on the launch pad the more debris falls on it during launch. I think there's a pattern here.
What do you think?
Yohan, I am very familiar with this. This is where the whole Augustine panel comes in to play. They are reviewing the planned human space flight activities, looking for alternatives, and making sure we're going about it in a safe, "affordable", and sustainable way.
The Augustine panel will bring their recommendations to the White House in August.
Check out a very informative website NASA has put together specifically related to the panel. It includes briefings from the meetings and where public meetings will be held...
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/home/index.html
You guys are right about those debris hits...we'll definitely be busy evaluating those when I head out for Houston tomorrow!!
Yohan, I know there are a lot of factors that play in to ET foam debris but I don't think is has to do with it physically being outdoors for an extended period of time. It's typical for foam to shed off during ascent, but we'd have to look at the trajectory models of foam insulation debris and factors that effect the trajectory as well.
Thanks for the Augustine link. I'm learning a lot from the website. I never knew this was going on. There is a lot of material here and am going to enjoy reading them.
I just though about something regarding these delayed launches and came up with a proposal. I'm sure someone already thought about it. Just thought that I bring it up here.
If you had fuel depots stationed around the planet then the space shuttle does not need to wait for the stupid 5 minute window to rendezvous with ISS or miss launches due to bad weather.
When there is a clear sky just take off and head towards one of the fuel depots, park yourself, fuel the shuttle and then rendezvous with ISS.
:)
Yes, Yohan, that would be the best way to go, clearly. We should build these fuel depots - who knows how many - who cares? Let's just build them. Then, if the Shuttle can't launch, we'll roll back from the Pad, de-stack, put the Orbiter on the trusty SCA and fly her to one of these depots. That would only take a week, tops. Oh, but the ET! Yeah, I hope your depots are near water, otherwise we might have a bit of a problem there. Not to worry, though, because at least we can tear down the SRB's and get them there sort of quickly, comparatively. Then there's that whole matter of the MLP, though, and the firing room and so forth. Ah, no biggie, I'm sure. Once we've got all that lined up, we have to have something like a VAB to put it all back together again - oh, but a building like that shouldn't be too hard to replicate. Yes. YES! I see it now! We can go through Yohan's amazingly low-cost and time-effectice solution to insure that we're always launching on time. Inconvenient delays be damned along with the torpedoes, it's full speed ahead! Yohan... I am sure the similarity to Lohan and Zohan is not coincidental. Why hasn't the NASA hired you on as a consultant, with reaching wisdom such as this???
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