I Remember California: Title for Title October 12, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Science, Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, I Remember California, Museums & Archives, Space Shuttle
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California Science Center
Yesterday, we rose early and braved the traffic, driving almost two hours to the California Science Center because that museum will be the new, permanent home of space shuttle Endeavour. Earlier this year, we saw Endeavour on the launch pad. We were at Kennedy Space Center for its last not-launch and its last launch, which was the first shuttle launch we witnessed in person (all our posts in the Endeavour series are listed HERE). After Atlantis took to the skies, we toured Endeavour as it was being de-processed in the Orbiter Processing Facility. On Tuesday, the title for this orbiter was transferred from NASA to the California Science Center, and we wanted to be present for #EndeavourLA. Who knew that, like your car, a spacecraft would have a title? View it here: Transfer Order.
Four years ago, this was exactly the kind of event that we were hoping to experience when we discussed moving to Southern California. We first discussed the possibility of coming to Chapman University and Orange in December 2007, during a holiday car ride in downstate Illinois (a ride we will take again tomorrow as we make our way to Homecoming at Knox College). Aviation nerds that we are, we were already well acquainted with rich aviation history of Southern California. Howard Hughes’s HK-1, the Spruce Goose, made it’s only flight in nearby Long Beach Harbor (for Spruce Goose curator’s guest blog, click HERE and more Lofty goose HERE). Douglas Aviation’s game-changing DC-3 was designed, built, and first flew from Santa Monica. And the speed of sound was first broken by an aircraft in the nearby Mojave Desert (the 64th anniversary of this event is in two days, on October 14th).
STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly
Even so, we never dreamed that we would be involved in a pursuit of this scope. We certainly hadn’t considered writing this blog together, and we had no plans to watch in person the space shuttle’s final launches. In fact, even this time last week, we fully expected that today’s post would be the third part of our series on the MCAS Miramar Air Show (parts 1 and 2 are HERE and HERE). We have some unfinished business to address about our history with air shows and how it led to our collaborative endeavors. We also have two more posts about writing as a couple in the pipeline. We had plenty about which to write without this week’s trek into L.A. But as ever, chance has intervened, Doug made a quick call to get us on the media list for #EndeavourLA, and here we are. When does a project take on a life of its own? How does it reach a place where, almost daily, new tidbits feed into it?
Used Shuttle Tires
Shortly after we arrived at the California Science Center yesterday, we headed into the main hall. In front of the stage were six used shuttle tires, from Atlantis, Columbia, and Discovery, complements of Dryden Flight Research Center. We also recognized a friendly journalist face. Rob Pearlman of collectSPACE is covering each orbiter as it makes its way to its museum home, and we reintroduced ourselves. As we found at Kennedy Space Center, journalists tend to share information in a give and take. He told us about the group press interview with the astronauts, and later we gave him a tidbit.
June Lockhart & Mark Kelly
Upstairs, the VIP party was wrapping up, June Lockhart from Lost in Space was chatting with people, and four STS-134 astronauts were soon shuffled over to a table where they answered questions for the press. This was the first time we’d seen the last Endeavour crew since the astronaut walkout before sunrise on May 16, 2011. Mark Kelly, Greg Johnson, Mike Fincke, and Andy Feustal looked great (Roberto Vittori—or Ricky Bobby, as Mike Fincke called him—and Greg Chamitoff couldn’t make the event). (More Lofty notions about the STS-134 crew HERE.) Afterward, we walked down the stairs with Mike Fincke, close enough to touch his shoulder, while Greg Johnson joked around on the escalator beside.
STS-134: Kelly, Johnson, Fincke, Feustal
What did we learn yesterday? On the space shuttle, M&Ms are worth fighting for, but, as Greg Johnson said, “You don’t have Diet Coke like I’m addicted to here on Earth.” He was also pleased with the effects of zero gravity on astronauts’ height and pointed out that he and his fellow crew could use a few inches but had shrunk right back down upon return. Greg Johnson became an astronaut because, in his words, “When I was seven years old, […] I watched Neil Armstrong step on the Moon.”
Mike Fincke
Mike Fincke knew he wanted to be an astronaut when he was three years old. He assured the crowd, including the school children from the science center’s elementary school, that NASA has just hired a group of astronauts. He’s told his own daughter, “Both boys and girls can be astronauts.” Both in the press briefing upstairs and in the Q&A in the main hall, he emphasized that the space shuttle program had opened spaceflight to a range of people. “It doesn’t matter the color of your skin or how much money your parents have.” That said, “It’s a technical field” so science, engineering, and math matter. Based on STS-134 and his earlier stint on the International Space Station, he also pointed out, “We need our toes, our big toes specially, to push off” and move around the shuttle or ISS. “Imagine you feel like your normal self,” he said of being in the zero gravity of space, “except you can fly.”
Mark Kelly & Greg Johnson
Enthusiasm, science and math education, and toes. That’s what’s required to be an astronaut. As we watched the astronauts watching their own home movie of STS-134, we were reminded that astronauts are a special type and also just like the rest of us. They were captivated by the video footage of their journey, sometimes whispering in each other’s ears or pointing at a corner of the screen. “We had fun morning to night,” Andy Feustal said (and morning and night come around more quickly in orbit). Anna pointed at the screen herself, pointed at herself on the screen in the astronaut walkout segment, though we couldn’t actually make ourselves out in that predawn crowd from May. The home movies of these four astronauts are our home movies too, not just for the two of us at Lofty Ambitions but for our generation.
Signing over the Title
Maybe we’re already becoming nostalgic about the space shuttle and about Endeavour in particular, which Mark Kelly pointed out was made from spare parts to replace Challenger. He joked. “I think having a reusable spacecraft is only slightly more expensive” than those built for one-time use. This reusable spacecraft won’t be reused again. It will go on display next fall, if all goes well, and then later will be moved to a second, permanent display in the vertical position to be exhibited as if ready for launch, with its solid rocket boosters and orange fuel tank. But that’s years off; engineers are still working on how to make sure the vertical display will maintain the orbiter’s structural integrity for at least 250 years.
Jeffrey Rudolph, new shuttle owner
The STS-134 crew believes the California Science Center will be a good home for Endeavour, in part because of the millions of people who will eventually see it in person. They don’t want the orbiter significantly altered or Hollywooded-up. Jeffrey Rudolph, CEO and President of the science center (and Monday’s video interview HERE) agrees, pointing out that the engineer who gave him his tour of Endeavour at KSC (that’s Lofty Ambitions guest blogger Kim Guodace HERE) told him this is her baby he’s getting.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
That’s not to say that there won’t be a big homecoming party next fall. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that Endeavour would arrive on a B-747 that would circle the city three times before landing. Then, a parade from LAX to the museum. James T. Butts, Inglewood mayor for just seven months now, couldn’t be happier that the parade route goes through his town. His father worked on the X-15 at North American Aviation, and he’s long admired the journey “to boldly go where men cannot survive without special equipment.”
Space Shuttle Program: $209,000,000,000
Orbiter, Shuttle Endeavour, OV-105: $1,980,674,785.00
Our Lofty Memories: Priceless (not without cost, but still, pretty darn priceless)
Interview: Mike Good August 22, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration, Video Interviews.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Space Shuttle
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We interviewed Astronaut Mike Good when we were at Kennedy Space Center to see space shuttle Endeavvour launch for the last time. He’s from Ohio, and we earned graduate degrees from Ohio University, so that’s where our conversation begins.
Mike Good has flown 3,000 hours in more than 30 different aircraft. What was left? The space shuttle, on which he served twice. Good was part of the fifth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, STS-125, a 12-day mission during which the telescope spent six days in the shuttle’s cargo bay. His second mission was STS-132, Atlantis‘s penultimate flight. On that trip, the shuttle docked with the International Space Station for seven days, and Good took two spacewalks. When we spoke with Mike Good, it had been exactly a year since he was in orbit.
Enjoy the video interview below. Check back every second and fourth Monday for video interviews, and click on the “video interviews” menu tab to browse the ones we’ve already posted. And Lofty Ambitions has a YouTube channel!
Endeavour Launch Photos May 20, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Countdown to the Cape, Space Shuttle
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Endeavour Launches, 16 May 2011, Kennedy Space Center
Launch Pad 39A, Empty
A Launch to Remember (Conclusion!) May 17, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Information, Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Space Shuttle
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The past few days have been amazing! We’ve learned a lot, and we’ve had fun. That’s not to say that “A Launch to Remember” was easy for us. In fact, we’ve been running ourselves pretty ragged.
Anna at Atlantis Rollover on May 17, 2011
Two cross-country trips in two weeks without missing any classes was a bit of a feat for Anna. And the lack of sleep and twelve-hour workdays may be taking its toll on both of us. We were up by 2:00a.m on Monday to see the launch; we woke at 5a.m. today to see Atlantis roll over from the Orbital Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and then we did the “Then and Now” tour of launch pads at Cape Canaveral; and we’ll drag ourselves out of bed at 2:00a.m. tomorrow morning with hopes of seeing Atlantis ”lift to mate” to the fuel assembly in the VAB. In fact, our last day (tomorrow) may be our busiest, with an interview scheduled before we take our flight home so that Anna can meet with her graduate students in the evening.
Doug at Atlantis Rollover on May 17, 2011
Just because it’s hard work, of course, doesn’t mean “A Launch to Remember” has not been thoroughly enjoyable at every stage. We know we’re lucky to have this opportunity. Maybe that’s why we’re expending as much effort as we can muster. We know this trip is not going to last beyond tomorrow. We know the space shuttle program will end soon too.
This concludes “A Launch to Remember” because Endeavour launched, and we saw our first space shuttle launch. Now, it’s the beginning of the end of Atlantis, too. Below, see our Table of Contents for this series (CLICK to view the individual posts):
Part 1: We Get Media Credentials
Part 2: A Space Shuttle Tile in Our Hands and the Leatherby Libraries Collection
Part 3: Arrival at the Space Coast
Part 4: Launch Is Looking Good
Part 5: About the STS-134 Crew, especially Mike Fincke
Part 6: STS-134 Crew Walkout & President Obama’s Visit to KSC
Part 7: PHOTOS of Space Coast Wildlife (Alligator!)
Part 9: On Leaving the Space Coast
Part 10: On Being a Couple of Journalists and VIDEOS of Us on NASA-TV
Part 11: Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
Part 12: Rotating Service Structure Rollback PHOTOS
Part 13: STS-134 Crew Walkout PHOTOS and more
Part 14: VIDEO of Endeavour Launch
Part 15: This POst (TOC)
A Launch to Remember (Part 14: Launch Video!) May 16, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Space Shuttle
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GO, ENDEAVOUR! LAUNCH IS A GO! And Lofty Ambitions is there to see it!
A Launch to Remember (Part 13) May 16, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Collaboration, Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Nobel Prize, Space Shuttle
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STS-134 CREW WALKOUT at 5:11a.m. on May 16, 2011
STS-134 Crew on May 16, 2011
We arrived at the KSC News Center at just after 3a.m. this morning. Within an hour, we had gone through the dog-sniffing security and were on the bus to the astronaut walkout, where we waited about an hour for the STS-134 crew to emerge.
STS-134 Crew Departs for Launch Pad 39A
The STS-134 mission is commanded by Mark Kelly, about whom we’ve written before. Kelly’s wife, Representative Gabrielle Giffords, is not among the Members of Congress listed among those attending today’s expected launch. California Representative Jim Costa is among the five Members of Congress who plan to view the launch here at KSC, and other VIPs include Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins (one of our favorite astronauts!), Irish Embassy official Catherine O’Connor, and Nobel Laureate and Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS, we’ll have a post on that soon) Principal Investigator Sam Ting.
Left to Right: Mike Fincke, Greg Johnson, Mark Kelly
The crew ate before they suited up. Mark Kelly, Greg Johnson, and Mike Fincke had lobster, though Kelly opted for a spinach salad and pear instead of a baked potato and salad. Roberto Vittori and Andrew Feustal, whose relatives (parents, perhaps) were in front of us in line at the KSC gift shop yesterday, feasted on pasta. Vittori’s was cooked al-dente and served with bread and extra virgin olive oil, whereas Feustal opted for pasta primavera with chicken strips. Greg Chamitoff had a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich with salt and vinegar chips, Greek nonfat yogurt, and a banana. We also grabbed a bite: bagels and Diet Coke, with oranges and snack bars planned for later this morning.
Left to Right: Roberto Vittori, Mike Fincke, Greg Johnson
The crew looked especially happy this time out and into the Astrovan. They didn’t linger as long as the last time, the recent not-launch when they knew the engineers were working a problem. As we compose this post, the crew has been strapped into the orbiter, the orbiter access hatch is now closed, and the astronauts are checking various systems, including communications with Johnson Space Center in Houston.
EVA Glove on Anna's Hand
The sun has now come up over the horizon behind Endeavour, and the News Center is buzzing. Anna tried on the glove of the EVA suit used for spacewalks that’s on display for press. We hope to do a couple of interviews with astronauts in a couple of hours. And we’re hoping that the cloud cover blows off. No matter how this goes, we’ll update again later. In the meantime, our final photo in this post features the first seven astronauts chosen by NASA for the Mercury program.
The Original 7 Plus One
A Launch to Remember (Part 12) May 15, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Space Shuttle
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ARRIVAL IN TITUSVILLE
ROLLBACK OF THE ROTATING SERVICE STRUCTURE
Go Endeavour!
White Room and Crew Compartment Waiting!
It’s bedtime now! We have to be back at the KSC News Center at 3:30a.m.! If everything remains on schedule, we’ll see the STS-134 crew in their orange flight suits at 5:11a.m. Then, they’ll make their short drive in the Astrovan to launch pad 39A, where Endeavour awaits. Mechanical problems are in the back of our minds because of our past two not-launch experiences, but it’s the wind that’s the tangible concern for the launch right now. That said, Endeavour looked great on the launch pad and seems ready to go.
A Launch to Remember (Part 11) May 14, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Science, Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Nobel Prize, Physics, Space Shuttle
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We made our way from California to Florida once again. We’ll head to Kennedy Space Center on Sunday morning. In the meantime, here’s what’s caught our attention.
THE ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER
Even now, comfortably residing in the aft section of space shuttle Endeavour’s bay is a sixteen-ton, three-meter-square instrument that represents a laundry list of significant commitments: 16 years from drawing board to delivery; 600 scientists, engineers, and technicians from 56 institutions and 16 countries to design and build it; and $1.5B (yep, that’s billions) of cash to fund it. And that price tag doesn’t include the $500M cost of launching the instrument into space and connecting it up on its new home, the International Space Station (ISS). This extraordinary expenditure of scientific and financial capital is labeled with a descriptive moniker: Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, commonly referred to as AMS. More precisely, this machine is AMS-02, having been preceded by a ten-day proof-of-concept flown by the STS-91 mission on the space shuttle Discovery in 1998.
So, why the big money, the multinational collaboration, and the long-term investment? The AMS is the brainchild of Nobel laureate Sam Ting, a particle physicist at MIT. The fact that the AMS will spend its working life affixed to the ISS is the result of a marriage of convenience, perhaps necessity (as it’s sometimes difficult to tease the two apart), between Dr. Ting and former NASA chief Dan Golden. In 1991, Dan Golden was desperately seeking scientific legitimacy for the ISS. At the same time, Dr. Ting was looking for the best possible spot in the world for his device to access unadulterated, so-called primary, cosmic rays. When hunting cosmic rays, it doesn’t get much better than 200 miles above the earth’s atmosphere. If you also happen to need to transfer a significant amount of data to physicists so they can analyze it, the ISS is a pretty good place to be. In fact, it not only provides support for communicating data, it also provides power and navigation. If you’re building an AMS to orbit the Earth, the ISS simplifies the project enough that it becomes much more possible.
We’ll have a future post about cosmic rays and their role in science, once the AMS is up in orbit and working. For now, suffice it to say that cosmic rays can be used to glean a significant amount of information about the universe’s past, its current makeup, and quite possibly its future evolution. In other words, if the AMS gets very lucky, it could revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
On a more workaday level, the AMS was designed to sift through the streams of cosmic rays that will pass through its multiple layers of detectors. The AMS will be looking for hints about one of the great cosmological mysteries: why the universe is predominantly comprised of matter. The logical outcome of the Big Bang Theory is that matter and antimatter should have been created in equal amounts. If this is the case, where did all of the antimatter go? The AMS hopes to find out.
Another question that the AMS will attempt to answer is perhaps an even greater mystery than the disappearance of—or our lack of ability thus far to detect—antimatter. Cosmologists, astronomers, and astrophysicists are confronted by the fact that what we can see in the universe—the visible matter in the universe—accounts for less that 5% of the matter that MUST be present in the universe if we explain it gravitationally. Simply put, from what we can observe, there simply isn’t enough matter to account for the rate at which the universe is expanding. Most current theories that attempt to explain this apparent contradiction do so by invoking dark matter and dark energy. Sam Ting and the hundreds of other scientists on the AMS project are hopeful that clues as to the nature of dark matter will be revealed by the project.
STS-134 Arrives at KSC AGAIN
To accomplish this—to give scientists a chance to find dark matter—the AMS had to be a formidable piece of technology. At its heart is a 1250-Gauss permanent magnet that will curve the path of charged particles that make up cosmic rays. Particles that bend one way are ordinary matter, whereas those that are bent in the opposite direction are antimatter. The AMS has 300,000 data channels to transmit information about the particles passing through it. The dry run in 1998 had nearly 100M cosmic ray events in 103 hours, so they’re expecting a lot of data. We’re at the Space Coast hoping they start getting that data from space in about a week.
A Launch to Remember (Part 10) May 11, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Collaboration, Space Exploration, Writing.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Space Shuttle
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The launch of Endeavour is now scheduled for Monday, May 16—this coming Monday! We want to be there, in case it actually launches. We want to be there because we’re part of the press corps for STS-134. Doug has media credentials for the first time, in hopes of gathering material for Knox Magazine. Anna has media credentials, as she did for the not-launch of Discovery in November. Our article based on that trip to Florida last year appears in the new issue of Chapman Magazine.
We want to be there so much that, unless NASA finds a problem before Saturday, we’re heading back to the Cape. Yes, we’re going back! We’ve written before about being a writing couple, about doing writing together and working on our separate projects as a couple. STS-134 has made us a couple of writers in a new way.
The morning after we landed in Orlando, we headed over to the Badging Office at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Then, we flashed our badges and IDs at the gate and proceeded to the Press Center, across the street from the looming Vehicle Assembly Building where the shuttle is mounted to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters before making its way to the launch pad on the crawler.
Even though it was launch day, the Press Center was relatively quiet when we first arrived. Still, the television cameras and trucks made it clear that this launch was getting far more media attention than any in recent memory. The main building is set up classroom style, with long desks facing the counter behind which the press officers sit, stand, and answer phones. The flags of countries participating in the International Space Station hang overhead. When we requested a desk, we were assigned to a shared desk in the press annex building.
Doug and STS-133 Astronaut Michael Barratt
We had missed the rollback of the Rotating Service Structure the night before, and the sign-up sheet for the astronaut walkout was already full, with 150 names. We jotted our names on the overflow sheet, just in case. And we signed up for a few astronaut interviews, including one with Michael Barratt (see HERE). The launch was still hours away at 3:47p.m.
By 7a.m., other journalists began streaming in, huddling in small groups, checking Twitter, asking questions, and creating a palpable buzz. Jay Barbree from NBC, who has been covering the space age since Sputnik, made appearances all weekend. And a young whippersnapper was at the astronaut walkout (yes, we waved to the STS-134 in their orange launch suits!), piecing together shots for his segment on CBS Sunday Morning. Reporters from Houston’s NPR station, an Arizona television affiliate, a website in New Zealand, Florida newspapers, and science magazines like Physics Today were in the mix too.
The press people behind the counter handled the hubbub in stride. They answer whatever question is lobbed their way. In fact, at one point, they worked our question about how many launches have been delayed, and Allard Beutel explained to us the difference between a scrub—which is a delay announced after tanking—and a delay. Candrea Thomas helped coordinate a phone interview for us (more on that interview in a future post). The press officers, however, don’t answer questions they aren’t asked. They don’t volunteer information.
STS-134 Crew Walkout
That works pretty well because the journalists ask a lot of questions and also share information. We have come to see journalists (though perhaps not photographers, who are a different sort) as collaborative. A pack? A flock? A herd? Sure, some probably keep secrets, and others have more in-depth knowledge than the rest of us need. But for the most part, word—about the time of the next press briefing, the president’s motorcade, the location of the food truck—gets around the Press Center quickly. Maybe journalists are generous folk who realize the person at the next desk is underpaid too. Maybe the old pros recognize that there are first-timers who need a little orientation, if only so as to not hold the whole group back. Or maybe the press knows that secrets can’t be kept for long; once they file the story or post that tweet, they want to do a favor for the person at the next desk, in hopes that what goes around comes around.
Those who have been through this situation before have an ease about them, but they are still anxious not to miss anything. Anyone might hold a potentially interesting or important tidbit. Friendships don’t seem to grow at the Press Center, but camaraderie forms. Before one press briefing, we talked with the reporter from KOLD and the writer for Physics Today. The television news guy had never been to KSC before. The science writer had been holed up in the Press Center on nine (yes, 9!) previous occasions without ever seeing the space shuttle get off the ground.
When the scrub was announced, we all felt a little buzz—the scrub was a news story to get out—and a lot of disappointment. We hadn’t planned to leave for a few days, but the rest of the press had to decide whether to stay until Monday or go. In the first moments, most resigned themselves to leaving and started making escape plans for that afternoon. But within a couple of hours, many convinced themselves and their editors of staying. They wandered in and out all weekend, until Sunday’s press briefing (where we asked questions!) announced a longer and indefinite delay. The next day, the Press Center was almost empty.
We wonder how many of the same journalists will return for Endeavour’s launch, now scheduled for Monday. The media credentials—the mission badge—are good for STS-134, no matter when it launches. Thomas Jefferson touted the importance of the press for democracy and for individual improvement. But we’ve heard nothing about Representative Gabrielle Giffords attending for the second attempt, so that will likely limit the wider appeal of the story and editors’ willingness to pay for airfare, lodging, and a rental car. Weather at Cape Canaveral on Monday doesn’t look fantastic, with isolated thunderstorms predicted, and one never knows what else could delay the launch again. Some press will be there, of course, but many more news organizations will hold out for the last launch, which is scheduled for this summer. The date for that one is up in the air because of Endeavour’s delays. It’s really difficult to predict when news will happen, and that’s why we’re packing our bags.
A Launch to Remember (Part 9) May 3, 2011
Posted by Lofty Ambitions in Information, Space Exploration.Tags: A Launch to Remember, Space Shuttle
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Doug and STS-133 Astronaut Michael Barratt
While we’ll likely have another post or two in this “A Launch to Remember” series when Endeavour actually launches, we leave Florida today to head home to Southern California. Besides, the NASA shuttle management team met yesterday and decided that May 10 is now the earliest possible launch date. The latest news from Kennedy Space Center: “The date [May 10] is success oriented based on preliminary schedules to replace a faulty Load Control Assembly (LCA) box in the orbiter’s aft compartment.” That means that the swap-out of the LCA box must go smoothly, they must prove that the problem is in the old box, and they must not discover a problem elsewhere as they test the nine systems to which the new box will be connected. To launch on May 10, everything must go exactly right.
STS-134 Crew Patch
This morning, we have an interview scheduled with Stephanie Stilson, the NASA manager who is overseeing the process from each shuttle’s last landing to their transportation to the museums where they will go on permanent display. We’re working several angles of the larger space shuttle story, and we’re thinking about what that might bring to Lofty Ambitions.
After today, though, we’ll take a break from our series. In fact, tomorrow’s regular post will be about radioactivity and the ways we think about risk. In the meantime, here is an overview of what we’ve covered in “A Launch to Remember.” Just CLICK on the PART to read that post.
PART 1 (April 22): Lofty Ambitions is awarded media credentials thanks to Chapman Magazine and Knox Magazine.
PART 2 (April 25): Lofty Ambitions examines the space shuttle tile that the Leatherby Libraries archives recently acquired; Doug is overseeing the acquisition of NASA artifacts there.
PART 3 (Thursday night & Friday morning): We arrive at the Space Coast, discover some things have changed in Titusville, try to adjust to the time difference, and wake at 5a.m.
PART 4 (Friday morning): At this point, launch is a go for the afternoon, the external tank is being filled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and we’re pretty excited.
PART 5 (Friday afternoon): Lofty Ambitions focuses on the STS-134 crew, particularly Commander Mark Kelly (also see posts HERE and HERE) and Mission Specialist Mike Fincke, a new favorite of ours.
PART 6 (Friday afternoon): In person from just yards away, we see the astronaut crew in their orange launch suits as they head to the Pad 39A. After the launch is scrubbed, we catch a glimpse of the president’s motorcade; he says if the launch is Monday, he can’t return for it because he has plans (we now know what those plans were).
PART 7 (Sunday morning): Lofty Ambitions features the creatures of the space coast, including an alligator.
PART 8 (Sunday afternoon): We each ask questions at the Launch Status Briefing on NASA-TV, find out exactly what’s holding up the launch, and that it’ll take time to fix.
PART 9 (Tuesday morning): On Monday, Lofty Ambitions featured guest blogger Bill Taber, who also wrote about space exploration. Part 9 is the post you are reading.
For our earlier series “Countdown to the Cape,” about our trip to see Discovery‘s not-launch, see posts from October 27, 2010, through November 7, 2010.
