Discovery Tour: a teaser

More later. A HUGE Thanks to everyone at KSC Media who made the tour possible, and all the people who have maintained Space Shuttle Discovery though her years and miles.

Weather or not?

 
Here at 0800 as usual. Low clouds, scattered rain, a bit of wind. Through the clouds you can occasionally get a glimpse of the Shuttle Training Aircraft taking it around after a practice approach to landing.











The good news (keep your fingers crossed) is that it appears the storm track is pushing north.

The Arrival.

I'm glad I was able to catch my breath yesterday and get orientated, today things started to Get Serious.

Waiting at the Press Site were at least 2 very hungry Osprey babies. Too bad they couldn't eat the mosquitoes that were feasting on me as I got this photo. I'm still hurting from the chunks they took out of me. .

 
More media arrived, and the prime activity was hanging out, trading gossip, telling stories, waiting, and trying to scrounge information. In the old days of real journalists shooters could make a decent living taking photographs. Now everyone's got a digital camera and photoshop, they can shoot hundreds of images and odds are they're going to get a decent one out of them, and they can upload them to the internet instantly. There's still room for the artists, but it's a niche market.

Finally the word came: get outside and line up, the STS-134 families and crew will be arriving soon, everyone on the bus.

But first....

I was surprised at the security. These guys were deadly serious. One person reached for their bag before the sweep was done and was very promptly, loudly, and seriously warned to get away from their bag. NOW. When we checked in for our badges we were told that there were no seconds chances, break a rule and lose your badge. Period. No discussion. But when you thought about it, it makes sense. Billions of dollars of hardware, millions of dollars of training. These men are truly "National Assets".

But all that was quickly past and on the way to the Shuttle Landing Facility...

 
We passed the huge Mate/Demate device where the Shuttle is removed from the 747 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, in Nasa-speak). The next time Discovery and Atlantis see this is when they're shipped off to museums. sigh....

Once at the SLF we (everyone) waited....

First came a couple chartered jets with the families, and Rep. Gifford was not on board. I respect privacy so no images of the families will be on here. But they were almost all dressed in cool dark blue shirts that said "Endeavour" in some kind of sparkly material.

While we were waiting veteran astronaut Jerry Ross stopped by to chat. Very gracious man, we talked for a bit about flying airplanes and risk. He was intrigued by a hang gliding story I told and said one of his regrets was that he wanted to do it but did not feel comfortable with the risk/reward. He told me about his one and only time trying downhill skiing in return. We both agreed that we've lived charmed lives, and that was enough reward.

The howl of T-38s overhead announced the astronauts arrival.

After passing overhead they flew over the Cape and Endeavour, then landed and taxied in for a few remarks.

Scott Kelly was there to greet his brother Mark

and even other astronauts wanted pictures.

Let's wave to our families

And thank everyone at KSC for getting Endeavour ready for flight.

By the way, the security never let up.

The crew of STS-134.

Bedtime. Tomorrow is a day I've been looking forward to ever since I was approved for my pass. We get to see Pad 39B, which is being taken apart. It was to be rebuilt for the Ares I and V rockets but with their cancellation it's future is now unknown. We also get to see the SLF a bit better, then..... an upclose tour of Space Shuttle Discovery, which is being "safed" before she's shipped off to the Air & Space Museum at Dulles.


One last image. I don't care who you are or in what paint scheme you put it in, the T-38 is just a sexy airplane.

I wish I was doing that. The original story.

One fine, hot summer afternoon a J-3 Cub was flying the pattern at a quiet country airfield. The CFI was getting quite bothered with the student's inability to hold pattern altitude in the thermals and was getting impatient, at times having to take over the controls. Just then he saw a twin Cessna 5,000 feet above him and thought, "Another 1,000 hours of this and I qualify for that twin charter job! Ahhh...... to be a real pilot...going somewhere!"

The Cessna 402 was already late and the boss told him this charter was for one of the company's premier clients. He'd already set MCT and the cylinders didn't like it in the heat of this summer day. He was at 6,000 feet and the winds were now a 20-knot headwind. Today was the 6th day straight flying and he was pretty damned tired. Maybe if he got to 10,000 feet, the wind might die off....geeezzzz, those cylinder temps! He looked out the window momentarily and saw a 737 leaving a contrail at 33,000 feet in the serene blue sky. "Oh man," he thought, "My interview is next month. I hope I don't blow it! Outta G/A, nice jet job, above the weather..no snotty passengers to wait for....ahhhhhhhhhhh".

The Boeing 737 bucked and weaved in the CAT at FL330 and ATC advised the captain that lower levels were not available due to traffic. The Captain, who was only recently advised that his destination was below RVR minimums, had slowed to LRC to try and hold off a possible inflight diversion, and arrange an ETA that would hopefully ensure the fog had lifted to CAT II minima. The Company negotiations broke down yesterday and it looked as if everyone was going to take a damn pay cut. The F/O's will be particularly hard hit as their pay wasn't anything to speak of anyway.

Finally deciding on a speed compromise between LRC and turbulence penetration, the Captain looked up and saw the Concorde at Mach 2. Tapping his F/O's shoulder as the 737 took another bashing, he said, "Now THAT's what we should be on..huge pay packet........super fast..not too many routes....not too many sectors...above the CAT. Yep! What a life!"

FL590 was not what he wanted anyway and considered FL570. Already the TAT was creeping up again and either they would have to descend or slow down.
That damn rear fuel transfer pump was becoming unreliable and the F/E had said moments ago that the radiation meter was not reading numbers that he'd like to see. The Concorde descended to FL570 but the radiation was still quite high even though the NOTAM indicated hunky-dorey below FL610. Fuel flow was up and the transfer pump was intermittent. Evening turned into night as they passed over the Atlantic. Looking up, the F/O could see a tiny white dot moving against the backdrop of a myriad of stars. "Hey Captain", he called as he pointed. "Must be the Shuttle". The Captain looked for a moment and agreed. Quietly, he thought how a Shuttle mission, whilst complicated, must be the "be all and end all" in aviation. Above the crap, no radiation problems, no damn fuel transfer problems...ahhhhhhhh. Must be a great way to earn a quid.

Discovery was into its 27th orbit and perigee was 200 feet out from nominated rendezvous altitude with the COMSAT. The robot arm was virtually OTS and a walk may become necessary. The 200 feet predicted error would necessitate a corrective burn and Discovery needed that fuel if a walk was to be required. Houston continually asked what the Commander wanted to do, but the advise they proffered wasn't much help. The Commander had already been 12 hours on station sorting out the problem and just wanted ten damn minutes to himself to take a leak. Just then, a mission
specialist, who had tilted the telescope down to the surface for a minute or two, called the Commander to the scope. "Have a look at this, sir, isn't this the kind of flying you said you wanted to do after you finish up with NASA?"

The Commander peered through the telescope and cried "Ohhhhhhhhh yeah! Now THAT'S flying! Man, that's what it's all about. Geeezz, I'd give my left nut just to be doing THAT down there!"

What the Discovery Commander was looking at was the J-3 Cub flying the pattern at a quiet country airfield on a nice bright sunny afternoon.

I wish I was doing that.....

Some of us are fortunate to be touched by a passion, but few are able to pursue it. Dance, music, sports, writing, somehow a light shines on us at an early age and we spend the rest of our lives chasing it. Some never catch it again. Others get close, and a fortunate few are able to make their dreams become reality.


It’s hard to explain what it meant to grow up being fascinated by flight. I’ve been accused of having my head in the clouds, and it caused me a lot of heartache and hard work growing up. But somehow it paid off, I got very lucky, and I now fly for a living, traveling to places I only dreamed about.


And yet…..

There’s an old story that’s been passed around for years that starts out with a student pilot shooting landings who looks up and sees a pilot in a twin and goes “Gee, that looks like fun, I wish I was doing that…” and the story continues up to the astronaut in orbit looking back down on the earth through a telescope and sees the student pilot shooting landings and he goes “Gee, that looks like fun, I wish I was….” In the documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon”, Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean said “I thought I had the best job in the world, from the day I entered flight training, until I looked on TV one day and Al Shepard goes up in a rocket. He's gone higher than I've ever gone, and faster than I've ever gone, and most importantly, he's made more noise doing it. He's even on TV doing it. How do I get that job?”

Of course, being a child with an incurable case of Aviation growing up in the 1960s meant following the Space Program, and I fondly remember being…. well… obsessed could be the only word to describe it. When STS-1 launched on 12 April 1981 I was huddled in my room at 4am west coast time with my little black and white tv and the volume turned on very low, and my dad quietly came in to watch it with me.


As the years went by I never made it to space, and the closest I came to a launch pad was taking the Kennedy Space Center tour bus before STS-125 launched for the final Hubble Space Telescope repair. With the closing of the Shuttle program a wild idea took hold of me.

For years I’ve been writing stories for fun and sending them to my friends about flying and other things I was involved in. Occasionally I’d send one in to a magazine and collect a rejection slip but a few years ago a fortunate coincidence took place when a former flying student became the editor of Fly RC magazine and I began reviewing radio controlled airplanes for him. One thing led to another, and last year I had two articles published in Fly Past Magazine in England. Finally getting published was a long held dream, but it also made me realize that while I enjoyed writing, I had only a casual talent for it and I’ve chosen not to pursue it any further.

BUT….

Thanks to Thayer Syme of Maplegate Media and Fly RC magazine, I now have a published record. To make a long story short, I applied for Press Credentials for the STS-134 launch, and to my surprise was granted them.


After finishing a trip to Shanghai I hitched a ride on a flight to Orlando, and pulled into my luxurious Motel 6 around 1am. I sure have gotten used to the luxury hotels we stay at as international airline pilots, but left to my own devices I prefer something a bit cheaper. (I even turned down the free upgrade to a SUV from the rent a car company, a compact is fine with me.) In a couple days this Motel 6 room will go for $200+ during the launch.

The morning started out with a trip to the fine ladies at the Media Badging Office, where I thought for sure I would be exposed and denied credentials. But lo and behold…. To the historic names of legendary space reporters including Cronkite, Bergman, Caidin, Morse, Neal add a new name: Kessinger.

I had originally just intended the day to be a scouting trip to find out where things were, but arriving at the media center I found things were already beginning to stir. A mixture of events highlight this mission: the winding down of the Shuttle program, Endeavor’s last flight, the attempted assassination of STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly’s wife Rep. Gabriel Giffords and her ability to attend the launch, and the announced visit of President Obama have all created a surge of interest.

At the media center I laid low but kept my head up. When I saw people being assigned desk spots I made a quiet inquiry and ended up with a spot in the back row. The day went by and people drifted in and out, by the end of the day a small group had formed back by my seat and I was able to pick up some great tips. Of course, no plan survives first action, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

The press site is where the iconic Launch Clock and flag is.

With nothing much going on, I spent the day sightseeing. Here's the barge the External Tanks were shipped in  from Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.

The only place to purchase souvenirs is at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex. There's a fee to get in, and the yearly pass is not much more than a daily pass. They've got a decent facility but if you're a space geek there's nothing new.

I take that back, there is one unique item. This is the White Room swing arm from the old Saturn era Launch Umbilical Tower. It's all that's left of those huge structures which were scrapped in the 90s.

There's a decent "rocket garden"

And the Gemini 9 capsule flown by Stafford and Cernan.

Ice cream...

and not one but TWO Imax theaters. 

There's also a mockup of the STS stack, understandably laid down for easier viewing. You can also walking the "orbiter" and look inside the payload bay and cockpit.

The past- a Mercury era firing room is also there. Nothing indicated if it was a mockup or the real thing.

and the future, an Orion mockup. Time will tell if the real vehicle ever flys.

There's also a poignant area for reflection. The Astronaut Memorial Mirror

In the souviner store you can buy all manners of stuff

Forgotten already? Discovery t-shirts on markdown.

I don't know if this is hopeful or not. This lad is in a room full of space memorabilia but was more fascinated by the Star Wars book.

Until the launch, the Ospreys in the nest by the VAB are unbothered except for a pesky photographer.