Post by plutronus on Sept 21, 2012 18:38:27 GMT -6
Hi All,
The Space Shuttle Endeavor is going to land at LAX International in about ten minutes (12:01 pm, Sept 21, 2012), here in Los Angeles (when I began writing this, its now evening, as I finishing this, so the time-line is a bit disjointed, ok?). Its been flying (mounted on top of the OVP1 B747 carrier aircraft) all over California. Yesterday they landed (Thursday) in Palmdale, a good friend of mine who lives out there, drove over and watched it land. The Endeavor went home for a night. They landed at Edward's AFB to (NASA Dryden Center) to refuel, and it spent the night. That's the facility where Rockwell constructed the orbiter. They took off at 8am, flew down along the coast to San Diego, flew back up the coast over-flying Malibu, Santa Monica, El Segundo, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, turned around flying back over the Los Angeles National Forest, out over North Hollywood, Burbank, Pasadena (over flew the Jet Propulsion Labs and CalTech), down to Anaheim, over flying Disneyland and then returned back towards LA. It is now over flying the Hawthorne, Inglewood area, giving everyone a good view of national engineering prowess.
Its a magnificent beautiful bird. The Space Shuttle is believed to be the most complex machine made by Humans, its truly an amazing machine.
Unfortunately, they did not over fly my neighborhood, even though much of those machines were engineered and-or manufactured by Rockwell facilities located within five minutes of where my Gf and I live. My Gf worked on the Space Shuttle Main Engines in Quality at Rockwell facility for over 20 yrs. The director of the American Space Station lives across the street from us, he was one of the main scientists who developed the Space-Shuttle systems. Everyone here in our area is miffed about this NASA over-sight. Not to mention, that in Hawthorne area of Los Angeles, the city has CUT DOWN over 400 of people's trees, so that they can transport the Space Shuttle to Exposition Science and Technology Park through the streets, rather than take down the traffic signals as the wings are 78 feet across, while the streets are 56 feet wide. They may have had no choice? To soothe the folks angers, the city has promised (we know how good their promises are), to plant four trees for every tree they cut down. Of course it will take another 20 ~ 30 years for those trees to grow back, that is if if the city actually keeps their promise. The Space Shuttle will be put on permanent display (250 years) in Exposition Park mounted on an Main-Engine Tank and two mock SRBs in the vertical position, as though the shuttle is being launched. Right now, the Space Shuttle is parked inside the United Airlines maintenance hanger at LA International Airport. Later, I'll post a few photos I took of the shuttle on my big-screen TV (some of the best shots available), as the event was covered live on NBC-Ch 4, they televised live without commercial interruptions since 7:30 am until the transfer ceremony at LAX was completed after landing here in LA California. It was a big deal here, hundreds of thousands of people came out to see the Space Shuttle. Los Angelinos have a tear in our eyes over this, one of our beloved Space Shuttles have come home.
I had opportunity to do contract work on the space-shuttle, via six different programs. Myself and my two business partners, we designed and constructed an in-flight, real-time Space-Shuttle Main Engine turbo-pump performance monitoring system. I designed the telemetry data-decommutator subsystem (using a modified Perkin-Elmer 3250 supercomputer and a CSPI Array Processor to do the heavy number crunching). My partners and I also wrote the BIOC device drivers and the operational mission monitor analysis software for the Rockwell SSME facility analysis system. The mission telemetry was down-linked from the National Space Transportation Laboratory Mission Flight Data Microwave Network which was piped to all of the Orbitor prime contractors who participated in the Space Shuttle program.
In January, 1986, my business-partner and I had been working around the clock at the Rockwell facility integrating the SSME telemetry system. It was complicated work, Lance was writing the BIOC, I was doing the electronics and integration and Bob was doing the math. We were attempting to have the system operational in time for the STS-51L Space-Shuttle launch planned in a few weeks time. I hadn't been home at all for nearly a week, I was catching cat-naps at the facility and I had finally fallen into deep sleep behind the racks. I was lying on the floor, one of the Rockwell engineers had kindly placed a moon blanket over me. I was lying on my face on the metal criss-cross false-floor on which the supercomputer was located and through which all the inter-rack cables and power-cords were routed, the stuff under the floor. All of it interconnecting to the six or eight racks of components of my system.
So, I'm snoozing back there, slobbering all over myself and I'm awakened to my partner, 'hey, wake up, wake-up, we got visitors...the astronauts are here!' So I get up, a bit groggy, I run my fingers through my hair, tuck my shirt into my waistband and I step out from behind the rack, and there, with several Rocketdyne senior-managers, are three NASA astronauts, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, and Judy Resnick (very cute). So the Rocketdyne guys introduce Lance & I, we the subcontractors fabricating the SSME Turbo-pump analysis system, that the astronauts had flown down from Kennedy to see. We chatted awhile, but I started noticing that they were all glancing at me, at my face, and after few moments, Judy Resnick leaned over and whispered to me, (I was trying avoid her as I had not showered in over a week), she is leaning forward, and I'm leaning back, and then a grin she grabbed me on the shoulder to stop my motion, and she said, "Maybe you should go into the bathroom and freshen up?!" I thought, 'Oh my God! My fly is open!", I was so embarrassed...I went to the bathroom, <whew>, 'thank God, its not my fly!', but my face looked as though I had been sleeping on a waffle-iron, heh heh. I washed my face with cold water and things started looking more normal, but I did it quickly, as I didn't want to miss any time of the visit. When I came out, Mike Smith and Dick Scobee were chatting with my partner Lance about stuff, and I ended up having a one on one with Judy Resnick. She was a very smart gal, a Ph.D. type, she had worked for Xerox prior to joining the Astronaut Corp. She was interested in the technical details of our software, how the system worked. When they left, Judy gave to me her NASA Space Shuttle ball-park cap she was wearing. It has a silver stitched NASA emblem along with a Space-Shuttle on the front panel. I wore it almost until it was threads. I still have it, its one of my treasures. I have had many folks over the years offer me money for it, as only astronauts have these ball-park hats. Very few non-astronauts have them.
Sometime earlier than when we were working the NSTL SSME telemetry contract period, we had been working on a Rockwell DEW contract. I saw vision. I saw a large white boat in a black glass sea. I saw a white glove hand, reach up and pulled back on the throttle, of what looked like the throttle handle on my Dad's 32ft PlayMate II SeaRay cabin cruiser. Just as the throttle was being pulled, I saw what looked like a vertical stabilizer on a DC 7 airplane, it was all white too. I saw it explode into flames, and then I awakened from the dream. A year passed, I forgot about the vision.
On Jan 28th, 1986, I was at home, I awakened with a start, I knew what the dream meant...it was the space-shuttle!! I jumped up, flipped on the TV, and there, the Space Shuttle Challenger had just cleared the launch tower, with Judy Resnick, Mike Smith, Dick Scobie, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, the seven astronauts were arcing toward the blackness of space, "Challenger, you are go with throttle up", "Roger Houston, go with throttle up", at 73 seconds, the Challenger blew up.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51L
It was a mind blower, for everyone in our company and for my two business partners, myself, and all the Rockwell/Rocketdyne people we worked with. For us, my partners and I, we had met those astronauts, ate lunch with them, while we worked within Rockwell/NASA family of contractors, day in day out for nearly three years on various contracts.
It was a mind-blower for me.
Instant loss of innocence, it was like losing members of our family, along with with a deep sense of National loss. Personally, I've never allowed myself to feel, to become so attached to something like that again, because it hurt so much. Watching the Endeavor Space Shuttle come to Los Angeles, brought back all those memories, for both my Gf and I. It was a big deal for us.
plutronus
The Space Shuttle Endeavor is going to land at LAX International in about ten minutes (12:01 pm, Sept 21, 2012), here in Los Angeles (when I began writing this, its now evening, as I finishing this, so the time-line is a bit disjointed, ok?). Its been flying (mounted on top of the OVP1 B747 carrier aircraft) all over California. Yesterday they landed (Thursday) in Palmdale, a good friend of mine who lives out there, drove over and watched it land. The Endeavor went home for a night. They landed at Edward's AFB to (NASA Dryden Center) to refuel, and it spent the night. That's the facility where Rockwell constructed the orbiter. They took off at 8am, flew down along the coast to San Diego, flew back up the coast over-flying Malibu, Santa Monica, El Segundo, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, turned around flying back over the Los Angeles National Forest, out over North Hollywood, Burbank, Pasadena (over flew the Jet Propulsion Labs and CalTech), down to Anaheim, over flying Disneyland and then returned back towards LA. It is now over flying the Hawthorne, Inglewood area, giving everyone a good view of national engineering prowess.
Its a magnificent beautiful bird. The Space Shuttle is believed to be the most complex machine made by Humans, its truly an amazing machine.
Unfortunately, they did not over fly my neighborhood, even though much of those machines were engineered and-or manufactured by Rockwell facilities located within five minutes of where my Gf and I live. My Gf worked on the Space Shuttle Main Engines in Quality at Rockwell facility for over 20 yrs. The director of the American Space Station lives across the street from us, he was one of the main scientists who developed the Space-Shuttle systems. Everyone here in our area is miffed about this NASA over-sight. Not to mention, that in Hawthorne area of Los Angeles, the city has CUT DOWN over 400 of people's trees, so that they can transport the Space Shuttle to Exposition Science and Technology Park through the streets, rather than take down the traffic signals as the wings are 78 feet across, while the streets are 56 feet wide. They may have had no choice? To soothe the folks angers, the city has promised (we know how good their promises are), to plant four trees for every tree they cut down. Of course it will take another 20 ~ 30 years for those trees to grow back, that is if if the city actually keeps their promise. The Space Shuttle will be put on permanent display (250 years) in Exposition Park mounted on an Main-Engine Tank and two mock SRBs in the vertical position, as though the shuttle is being launched. Right now, the Space Shuttle is parked inside the United Airlines maintenance hanger at LA International Airport. Later, I'll post a few photos I took of the shuttle on my big-screen TV (some of the best shots available), as the event was covered live on NBC-Ch 4, they televised live without commercial interruptions since 7:30 am until the transfer ceremony at LAX was completed after landing here in LA California. It was a big deal here, hundreds of thousands of people came out to see the Space Shuttle. Los Angelinos have a tear in our eyes over this, one of our beloved Space Shuttles have come home.
I had opportunity to do contract work on the space-shuttle, via six different programs. Myself and my two business partners, we designed and constructed an in-flight, real-time Space-Shuttle Main Engine turbo-pump performance monitoring system. I designed the telemetry data-decommutator subsystem (using a modified Perkin-Elmer 3250 supercomputer and a CSPI Array Processor to do the heavy number crunching). My partners and I also wrote the BIOC device drivers and the operational mission monitor analysis software for the Rockwell SSME facility analysis system. The mission telemetry was down-linked from the National Space Transportation Laboratory Mission Flight Data Microwave Network which was piped to all of the Orbitor prime contractors who participated in the Space Shuttle program.
In January, 1986, my business-partner and I had been working around the clock at the Rockwell facility integrating the SSME telemetry system. It was complicated work, Lance was writing the BIOC, I was doing the electronics and integration and Bob was doing the math. We were attempting to have the system operational in time for the STS-51L Space-Shuttle launch planned in a few weeks time. I hadn't been home at all for nearly a week, I was catching cat-naps at the facility and I had finally fallen into deep sleep behind the racks. I was lying on the floor, one of the Rockwell engineers had kindly placed a moon blanket over me. I was lying on my face on the metal criss-cross false-floor on which the supercomputer was located and through which all the inter-rack cables and power-cords were routed, the stuff under the floor. All of it interconnecting to the six or eight racks of components of my system.
So, I'm snoozing back there, slobbering all over myself and I'm awakened to my partner, 'hey, wake up, wake-up, we got visitors...the astronauts are here!' So I get up, a bit groggy, I run my fingers through my hair, tuck my shirt into my waistband and I step out from behind the rack, and there, with several Rocketdyne senior-managers, are three NASA astronauts, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, and Judy Resnick (very cute). So the Rocketdyne guys introduce Lance & I, we the subcontractors fabricating the SSME Turbo-pump analysis system, that the astronauts had flown down from Kennedy to see. We chatted awhile, but I started noticing that they were all glancing at me, at my face, and after few moments, Judy Resnick leaned over and whispered to me, (I was trying avoid her as I had not showered in over a week), she is leaning forward, and I'm leaning back, and then a grin she grabbed me on the shoulder to stop my motion, and she said, "Maybe you should go into the bathroom and freshen up?!" I thought, 'Oh my God! My fly is open!", I was so embarrassed...I went to the bathroom, <whew>, 'thank God, its not my fly!', but my face looked as though I had been sleeping on a waffle-iron, heh heh. I washed my face with cold water and things started looking more normal, but I did it quickly, as I didn't want to miss any time of the visit. When I came out, Mike Smith and Dick Scobee were chatting with my partner Lance about stuff, and I ended up having a one on one with Judy Resnick. She was a very smart gal, a Ph.D. type, she had worked for Xerox prior to joining the Astronaut Corp. She was interested in the technical details of our software, how the system worked. When they left, Judy gave to me her NASA Space Shuttle ball-park cap she was wearing. It has a silver stitched NASA emblem along with a Space-Shuttle on the front panel. I wore it almost until it was threads. I still have it, its one of my treasures. I have had many folks over the years offer me money for it, as only astronauts have these ball-park hats. Very few non-astronauts have them.
Sometime earlier than when we were working the NSTL SSME telemetry contract period, we had been working on a Rockwell DEW contract. I saw vision. I saw a large white boat in a black glass sea. I saw a white glove hand, reach up and pulled back on the throttle, of what looked like the throttle handle on my Dad's 32ft PlayMate II SeaRay cabin cruiser. Just as the throttle was being pulled, I saw what looked like a vertical stabilizer on a DC 7 airplane, it was all white too. I saw it explode into flames, and then I awakened from the dream. A year passed, I forgot about the vision.
On Jan 28th, 1986, I was at home, I awakened with a start, I knew what the dream meant...it was the space-shuttle!! I jumped up, flipped on the TV, and there, the Space Shuttle Challenger had just cleared the launch tower, with Judy Resnick, Mike Smith, Dick Scobie, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, the seven astronauts were arcing toward the blackness of space, "Challenger, you are go with throttle up", "Roger Houston, go with throttle up", at 73 seconds, the Challenger blew up.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51L
It was a mind blower, for everyone in our company and for my two business partners, myself, and all the Rockwell/Rocketdyne people we worked with. For us, my partners and I, we had met those astronauts, ate lunch with them, while we worked within Rockwell/NASA family of contractors, day in day out for nearly three years on various contracts.
It was a mind-blower for me.
Instant loss of innocence, it was like losing members of our family, along with with a deep sense of National loss. Personally, I've never allowed myself to feel, to become so attached to something like that again, because it hurt so much. Watching the Endeavor Space Shuttle come to Los Angeles, brought back all those memories, for both my Gf and I. It was a big deal for us.
plutronus