HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hollis@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re : Atlantis
Date: 7 Sep 92 13:34:49 EST
Organization: NASA, Kennedy Space Center

Greetings and Salutations:

The following is being reposted:

From: Darrell Holloway
To:   All
Subj: Space News From July 20 A

Henry Spencer recently mentioned in a message to ALL:

HS> Atlantis is the orbiter tentatively picked to get a Russian docking sys
HS> for missions to Mir.  The system would be installed while Atlantis is a
HS> Palmdale for its mid-life overhaul, scheduled to start after the Tether
HS> Satellite mission.  (The overhaul will include the usual set of upgrade
HS> including better computers and the drag chute, plus extended-duration
HS> mods, as well.)

In actuallity Atlantis is NOT going to Palmdale for a mid-life
overhaul.  Every 5 or 6 flights each orbiter is now being scheduled
for an OMDP (Orbiter Maintenance Down Period) during which major
modifications and structural inspections are scheduled which otherwise
could not conveniently be completed in normal between flight
turn-arounds.  In addition some of the more extensive periodic testing
is also scheduled for this period which otherwise would have resulted in
turn-around delays.  Columbia was the first orbiter to undergo this
OMDP (accomplished at Palmdale), followed by Discovery (accomplished
at KSC).  Endeavor is scheduled for it's first OMDP following it's 5th
flight.  Subsequent OMDP's will be conducted on all orbiters at like
intervals of 5-6 flights.

Just wanted to make that clarification in case someone got the idea
that Atlantis was having a mid-life crisis... :).

                                                  Darrell Holloway

-- 
-----------------------------------------------
Ken Hollis  INTERNET: HOLLIS@TITAN.KSC.NASA.GOV
            SPAN/HEPnet: KSCP00::HOLLIS

Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
From: gcreager@deneb.uucp (Gerald J. Creager [I-NET])
Subject: Re: More madness
Summary: I'll pass some of this on!
Organization: Software Technology Branch - NASA/Johnson Space Center
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 19:23:27 GMT

In article <00960A66.1ED64820@THEORY.PHYS.VIRGINIA.EDU> cole@THEORY.phys.virginia.edu writes:
>>Devil's advocate--would you like to be on TV during your entire work day?
>>Would you mind if I video taped your mistakes for later playback?  I would
>>also like to see more live video from the shuttle, but I also think that
>>the astronauts deserve to be able to work without being on camera all the
>>time.
>>
>So instead we watch the flight controllers in Houston and scientists in 
>Huntsville...don't they deserve to work without being on camera all the time?
>What about the Apollo astronauts who were constantly falling down and ripping
>cables out of experiments on the moon...should we not have seen that?
>Besides, my work day isn't costing the taxpayers 100 million dollars a day.
>Shuttle TV is designed to be taxpayer PR.  My only complaint is that Huntsville,
>unlike JSC, exercises rather random and arbitrary editorial control and
>will often yank the picture away just when something interesting is going on.

For the record, as one of those scientists there this time, I'd rather NOT be
on-camera frequently.  But we don't get much choice.

Before video is taken inside the Orbiter or Spacelab, the crew is asked. 
Video is not ever taken within the vehicle without their concurrance... so if
they approve being on TV for their whole work day, it's their call. 

When we have a chance for vieo, I'd personally rather be looking at something
from space:  Science video, Payload Bay cameras, module TV or cabin TV, than
flight controllers or scientists, but there are some pretty good reasons for
not having continuous downlink.

1.  We might not have K-band coverage thru TDRSS.  If we cannot see TDRSS, and
aren't over a configured ground station (and it's not trivial to get them
configured always) then we don't do TV.

2.  TV has to compete for the K-band bandwidth.  If there is a lot of data
coming down on K-band as telemetry, that has a sufficiently high priority, TV
is not sent.

3.  Some of the expeiments are sensitive (fiscally, medically or politically)
and may not be suitable for downlink.

4.  The crew may have perosnal (or professional) reasons for denying in-cabin
TV.

5.  The Flight Director may not want to downlink TV right now.

6.  INCO may be working with a balky TV camera.

So, it's not as simple as one might think.  As far as the Huntsville TV folks
are concerned, I can relay the concern about the amount of viewing time spent
looking at the Investigator Teams and POCC Cadre to them.

Gerry Creager
Co- Principal Investigator, Fluid Therapy System
From: dumoulin@titan.ksc.nasa.gov (Jim Dumoulin)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: KSC vs Andrew
Date: 6 Sep 92 14:34:05 EST
Organization: NASA, Kennedy Space Center

In article <1992Sep6.050157.3758@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, umteghts@ccu.umanitoba.ca (david teghtsoonian) writes:
> In <1992Sep3.214625.3304@titan.ksc.nasa.gov> waterman@titan.ksc.nasa.gov writes:
> 
>>When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida all four orbiters where at KSC.
>>OV-105 (Endeavour) was in the VAB. The other three were tucked
>>away inside OPF bays.
>>The OPF bays probably would have survived realativly unharmed.
>>The VAB more than likely would have sustained damage.
> 
> 
>   Uh, I happened to visit KSC 3 days after Andrew and there was quite
> definately a shuttle parked on 39B with the service structure clamped
> around it. Was it moved to the pad only after Andrew had safely passed?
> Is the Shuttle/Service Structure/Launch Pad designed to handle hurricane
> force winds? Or do they pull the plugs and move it back to the VAB if
> a hurricane threatens? (wouldn't this take at least a day?)
> -Curt

   The shuttle rolled out to the pad on Tuesday 8/25/92.  The rollout
 started at 3:25am and was at the pad by 10:00am.  Final electrical
 connections were completed by Thursday.  This was the day AFTER 
 hurricane Andrew hit southern Florida.  KSC's hurricane plan moves
 a shuttle back to the VAB when a hurricane threatens.  

 The launch pad (without the Shuttle) is mostly steel girders with
 everything tied down to support the sound pressure loads of a shuttle
 launch.  With the exception of the Payload Changeout Room (PCR) there
 isn't much "broadside" exposed area to get caught by the wind.  The
 VAB, however has a considerable broadside profile.  The VAB was
 designed by URSAM (Urbahn, Roberts, Seelye and Moran) to withstand
 winds of 200 kilometers per hour (120 miles/hr) with a side sway of
 only 15 centimeters in winds up to 100 kilometers/hr.  This number
 was crucial because of the distances between internal support platforms
 and the Saturn V vehicle.  Higher winds would require withdrawing
 access platforms away from the vehicle. (reference SP-4204 Moonport -
 A history of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations).  

 A previous poster suggested that due to KSC's location it was considered
 "immune" to hurricanes.  This is not the case.  In September of 1964,
 when many of the Apollo facilites at the cape were under construction,
 Hurricanes CLEO and DORA hit the cape.   A KSC engineer rode out the
 storm in the launch control center at complex 37.  He recorded winds
 of 112.6 kilometers per hour.

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Jim Dumoulin                      INTERNET: DUMOULIN@TITAN.KSC.NASA.GOV
   NASA / Payload Operations      SPAN/HEPnet: KSCP00::DUMOULIN
   Kennedy Space Center
   Florida, USA  32899
From: keith a. grimm
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: re: NASA Select madness
Date: 15 Sep 92 12:58:34 GMT
Reply-To: grimm@aio.jsc.nasa.gov
Organization: nasa-jsc

In article <0096086D.CA66F180@SAMSON.PHYS.VIRGINIA.EDU> cole@SAMSON.phys.virginia.edu writes:
>Wouldn't it be great if the geniuses who run NASA Select 
>would occasionally let us see some live video instead
>of these countless replays repeated over and over?  And
>to top it off they scramble the live feed from White Sands
>and justify with a highly dubious claim of the need to
>privacy.  I think the killer bees and fire ants are finally
>inside the MOCR.
>
>L.C. Smith
>Earlysville, Va.
What and watch mission control for hours on end???  There is not constant live 
feed from the orbiter so a little replay of something exciting is not so bad.  
Besides you should feel lucky to get NASA Select at all. My brilliant cable 
company chooses to put it on cable channel 38 which is in the band that the 
slightly older "cable ready" equipment cannot receive.  They move it around all
the time.  You would think living across the bridge from JSC they would be more
attuned to the customer.  So feel lucky you get it at all.  Besides those reruns
are better than any on prime time.

K. A. Grimm
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
From: wheeler@ucbeh.san.uc.edu
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Where can shuttle be seen?
Date: 13 Sep 92 04:29:14 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati

Since the orbit for this shuttle mission is inclined 57 degrees,
it passes over many more people than most missions.  It would be
very helpful if someone would predict the times/locations from
which the shuttle might be seen.

I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio (39.10N, 84.51W), but I'm not primarily
interested for myself.  I'm involved in a world-wide
telecommunications project for kids between the ages of 10 and
15.  I'd like to help some of them see the shuttle.

                          Peace,  Dan

<<  Daniel D. Wheeler          Internet:  Dan.Wheeler@UC.Edu  >>
<<  University of Cincinnati     Bitnet:  wheeler@ucbeh       >>
From: michael@vk2bea.UUCP (Michael G. Katzmann)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: To view or not to view ...
Date: 4 Sep 92 15:21:54 GMT
Reply-To: michael@vk2bea.UUCP (Michael G. Katzmann)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Broadcast Sports Technology, Crofton. Maryland.

In article <2AA3F8C2.16642@ics.uci.edu> cdibble@bonnie.ics.uci.edu (Clifford Thomas Dibble) writes:
>How far away is the viewing area from the shuttle's launch pad?
>Is it worth going all the way to Florida to view a launch? I'd
>appreciate any travel tips or advice. Thanks in advance.
>

I saw the first post Challenger flight. I parked off the side of the
main road just south of KSC. (I think it was the Bee Line but I may
have just used it to get onto that road). It was well worth seeing.
You just can't believe how bright that flame is! Its like a huge blow
torch.

Take along a 2 metre amateur radio or a VHF receiver . The KSC 
amateurs retransmit the NASA Launch control-to-shuttle comms. 
from Merrit island.

Believe me its alot more fun (and less frustrating during holds) when
you know whats going on.

-- 
Michael Katzmann	  >	Broadcast Sports Technology Inc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~	 <	Crofton, Maryland. U.S.A
Amateur Radio Stations:   >
NV3Z / VK2BEA / G4NYV	 <	opel!vk2bea!michael@uunet.uu.net
From: tes@nomad.uucp (Thomas E. Smith [LORAL])
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Lansat images??
Date: 9 Sep 1992 02:42:16 GMT
Organization: Software Technology Branch - NASA/Johnson Space Center


I'm looking for an ftp site where I can find lansat images for the whole
(or at least most of) Earth. Does anyone know where I can find one?
Thanks in advance...

                                                      Tom the Smith
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
From: seaholm@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (steven.p.seaholm)
Subject: Re: To view or not to view ...
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 14:32:36 GMT
Summary: Southern observation

> How far away is the viewing area from the shuttle's launch pad?

Where exactly is the launch pad relative to the Space Center?  Is
in the Northern part, Southern part, or Central?

I went to see a launch last year around Thanksgiving.  The launch
had been delayed a couple of times and my wife and I were heading
down to Bradenton (just south of Tampa) to visit her parents.
Thanks to this news group, I knew the launch was scheduled some
time when we were down there.  I checked with the locals for the
exact time.  They said it wasn't worth the trip, because you could
see it from there.  Wow! All the way across the state?  It must be
something up close!

We headed out early to get a good spot and beat the traffic.
There was no traffic until we got into Cocoa Beach.  We went to
the famous RonJon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach to kill some time and
then we headed to the beach.  Cocoa Beach is south of the Cape, so
we decided to head North and see how far we could get.  It was a
real nice walk.  We took our shoes off and walked along the ocean
until we couldn't go any farther.  I was quite romantic.  Still
not that many people.

We could see some launch pads from where we were.  With my
telephoto lens I could see pretty well.  I didn't see any shuttle,
so it must have been another pad, but the other must be close by.
There was a small hill that obstructed the view.  It must be over
there.  While we were waiting, we saw the Disney cruise ship go
by.  I wonder what it was like to watch from there?!

Night time fell as we listened to the radio.  There was another
delay, but only a half hour.  The tension started to build!  The
radio played some music as more and more people came to the beach.
Suddenly the music stopped, and they said there was 60 seconds to
launch.  They counted down 5-4-3-2-1-Lift off.  Silently the
horizon started glowing and you could see the tip of the shuttle
over the hill. Then the flame lit up the whole area.  That sucker
was about 3 or 4 times as long as the shuttle itself.  Then the
sound hit us.  It was low, low rumble, undescribable.  Cameras
were clicking, people were murmuring as the shuttle grew higher
and higher.  The craft started curving slowly out into that starry
ski.  Disappearing into the distance until it was a small as one
of the stars itself.  It took about a 20-30 minutes to get out of
sight.

When we were sitting in the traffic, we decided that would come
back and do it again some day.  I don't think you can get the full
affect on TV, but can see the shuttle better.  It was pretty
awesome.  Especially when the shuttle disappeared into the stars.
You can't see that on TV.

Steve Seaholm
com.att.ihlpe.sps
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
From: hollis@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re : OMDP & Palmdale...
Date: 14 Sep 92 15:38:49 EST
Organization: NASA, Kennedy Space Center

Greetings and Salutations:

From: kentm@aix.rpi.edu
>Why is Atlantis taking so much longer than Discovery for its OMDP? I noticed
>on Ken's manifest that Atlantis is not scheduled to return to the flight
>rotation for another year-and-a-half.  Discovery was in and out in 10 months.

Mostly because it is going to be processed at Palmdale and not KSC.  I suspect
that a small part of the extra time might be (to be kind) accounted for by the
MIR docking mod, but nowhere near the extra time needed.

First the OMS (Orbital Maneuvering System) pods on the aft and the FRCS
(Forward Reaction Control System) must be removed, while the three main
engines (SSME ( Space Shuttle Main Engines)) would have had to be removed
anyway.  This takes times.  The orbiter then has to be prepped to ferry out to
California, flown out, then taken to Palmdale.  Not a small amount of time. 
Realize that the orbiter has to be reloaded and offloaded to get it back to KSC.

The modifications are made by Rockwell at Palmdale by technicians that, for the
most part if not completely, are not as experienced as the technicians at KSC. 
Some, if not most, of the work is far below the level of the work done at KSC.

After OV-104 gets back, there is a week or two of "smoke tests" attempting to
power up the vehicle.  These are not REALLY smoke tests, but attempts to power
up the orbiter until emergency powerdown must be initiated to power back down. 
Data is then retrieved to see how far the power up sequence got, and what
equipment didn't come up correctly.  The wiring is then tracked down to see
what connector / electronics box didn't come up right.  Examples are of a
connector on OV-102 (when it went thru OMDP at Palmdale) where all the pins had
been left dangling except the couple of pins that were hooked in for that
particular test at Palmdale that needed to be mated.  Of course the fact that
those pins left out of the connector might be needed for other purposes
apparently didn't impinge on the conscience of the Rockwell tech...

The numbers are estimates (as far as I can tell) of what in reality it will
take to get an orbiter to Rockwell, back & ready for flight.  You really don't
want to hear all of the horror stories I have heard...

-- 
-----------------------------------------------
Ken Hollis  INTERNET: HOLLIS@TITAN.KSC.NASA.GOV
            SPAN/HEPnet: KSCP00::HOLLIS
From: jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: is this the 50th space shuttle launch?
Date: 13 Sep 92 19:55:54 GMT
Reply-To: jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty)
Organization: Robotic Midwives, Ltd.

In article <phfrom.283@nyx.uni-konstanz.de> phfrom@nyx.uni-konstanz.de (Hartmut Frommert) writes:
>
>This is not so unusual: Also Gemini 7 was launched before Gemini 6 in Dec 65.

Yes, but the *tried* to launch GT-6 ahead of GT-7. 

GT-6 was originally an Agena rendezvous mission that was aborted
at T+1 seconds due to an umbilical that came out early (auto shutdown
after engine start). It took nerves of steel on the part of Tom
Stafford not to hit the ejection button while sitting on top of
all those hpergolic propellants!

They recycled the mission as GT-6A and made it part of the long
duration GT-7 mission where they rendevoused, but (of course)
didn't dock.

- Jack


=============================================================================
||Jack Hagerty, Robotic Midwives, Ltd.                 jack@rml.com        ||
||Livermore, CA		           NOTE! New, improved address! ^^^        ||
||(510) 455-1143	            (old ones will still work)             ||
||-------------------------------------------------------------------------||
||  "I, like all men, have never grown up. Other men lie and say they      ||
||    have. I refuse to lie. I try to be a creative child, using my        ||
||    immaturity in such ways as benefit my society rather than harm it."  ||
||                           - Ray Bradbury, _Yestermorrow_                ||
=============================================================================
From: morpheus@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Morpheus Nosferatu)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: is this the 50th space shuttle launch?
Date: 11 Sep 92 16:58:50 GMT
Organization: Netherworld Dreamscape

In article <BuDHzK.6q8@unx.sas.com> sasdhb@lizard.unx.sas.com (Doug Brann)
writes:
>This is the 50th shuttle mission.  The STS numbers do not match the number
>of missions.  The numbers are assigned when the mission is planned and due
>to delays and schedule changes the STS numbers became out of order.  For 
>example STS-50 was the Columbia Microgravity Lab a couple of months back and
>was the 48th shuttle mission. The Voyager's were not launched in order either.

Out of curiosity, was the Challenger's final launch counted as a mission,
since it did not make it to orbit?  I find it difficult to consider that
to have actually been a mission to add to the count, since it was never
carried out.

On a more general note, would any aborted launch be counted as a "mission,"
or would it be considered a delay of the mission?
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
From: hollis@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re : Launch pad location...
Date: 15 Sep 92 13:42:24 EST
Organization: NASA, Kennedy Space Center

Greetings and Salutations:

From: seaholm@cbnewsj.cb.att.com
>Where exactly is the launch pad relative to the Space Center?  Is
>in the Northern part, Southern part, or Central?

Launch pad 39A & 39B are just about due east (Pad 39A) and north east of the
VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) about 3+ miles away.  The VAB is usually easily
spotted as it is the only large white square bulding with a American flag on
the side and a bicentennial star.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------
Ken Hollis  INTERNET: HOLLIS@TITAN.KSC.NASA.GOV
            SPAN/HEPnet: KSCP00::HOLLIS

Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
From: yukyuk@beta.lanl.gov (Craig B. Huffnagle)
Subject: Re: Ok, what would I expect from going to see sts-47?
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:06:09 GMT

In article <6675@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> jarrell@vtserf.cc.vt.edu (Ron Jarrell) writes:
> [...stuff deleted...]
>
>However, we have no real clue what to expect.  How close would we
>reasonably expect to be able to get, starting "cold" as it were the day
>before the launch.. How much could we see from disney world, if we
>stayed here? What's the traffic like?  
>
>I'd hate to devote a day to driving only to find the closest I'm
>going to get is 30 miles away on the expressway..
>
>	

From Disney World, you can expect to see the smoke plume as the Shuttle
launches.  You can also expect to feel the sonic boom a little later
as it traverses across Florida.  I have seen many launches from my
home in Orlando and they are spectacular.

BUT, you can not describe the incredible sight that can be seen from
just about anywhere within 10 miles of the launch pad.  And, even
a view from the expressway is better than that from Orlando.  I
highly recommend driving out Colonial Drive (Highway 50) to Titusville
and out to the viewing areas for the Cape.  You will even pass the
free Space Museum on the way.  I'm not exactly positive of the route
to the public viewing area but I'm sure it is obvious once you get
over past Titusville.

I wish I were home in Florida right now to view a Shuttle launch.  I
haven't seen a live launch since the Challenger incident and it's just
not the same on TV!

Happy viewing.

- Craig


-- 
-----
Craig Huffnagle     			yukyuk@yuck.lanl.gov
"Shaah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt!" - Wayne Campbell
Think of a disclaimer, it applies.