Gogar's trip to NASA w/ lots of pics.

[Gogar]

I was going to post some pics in my "trade for tickets" thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=384173

But there's a whole bunch of really cool ones, and I thought that maybe it deserved a thread of its own. I'll post a few in that thread as well, but the majority in this one.

Anyway, a few friends work at NASA and were able to get permission to do a few cool things for us yesterday. I've actually done this tour before, but yesterday was extra special because there is a lot of activity over at NASA lately.

IMO its "once in a lifetime" kinda stuff, and I feel guilty I've been able to do it twice. But please enjoy. Some of my 'facts' may be a little blurry, but I'm trying to keep them straight. If someone can correct me, that's great!

If you've done the "stock" NASA-KSC tour, you know it's pretty cool. One big standout structure is the "Vehicle Assembly" Building, which is the largest 'cubic footage' free-standing structure in the world. It's the building where they mate the Space Shuttle orbiters to the Solid Rocket Booster engines and the big orange fuel tank.



Usually, you continue on a side road to the visitor's center where you can see the ENORMOUS Saturn 5 rockets and some moon landers, etc., but we took a turn and ended up here:



Hmm. That's a funny looking garage door, for sure.

Go inside, leave all your cell-phones, car remotes, etc. with the guy at the front desk. Then walk through this door on the right, please.

Hmm. What's this?





"Wow, that seems like a pretty big airplane."
"That's not an airplane, son."
Look up.



This is the underside of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which is being prepped for its mission on March 13.



Please don't touch anything. You can touch this, though:





Our hosts showed us the various pieces of material we would be seeing during this part of the tour. Pretty cool.

Here's "Buddy", showing us the front landing gear:



The tires on the space shuttles are filled with 100% nitrogen, at 450 psi. Not quite the kind of "nitrogen" they're talking about at the gas station.

[Rick Lee]

BRAVO!!!!!! More!

[BRPORSCHE]

Awesome!

[Rick Lee]

Jeremy, were you singing the Rush song "Countdown" when you took these?

[Gogar]

Right now, the entire weight of the shuttle is supported by 4 big-ass bottle-jacks.



Standing underneath is really a trip. It is interesting to know that EACH and EVERY heat-tile is numbered and tracked throughout it's life - when it was installed, how many trips it's been on, whether or not it's been repaired. When they need to replace a tile, they can look up the number and recreate the exact shape of tile and just bring it in and replace it.



This bolt is where the big orange fuel tank attaches to the orbiter. Inside there is an explosive charge which will destroy the bolt and release the tank somewhere over the indian ocean during flight.



Then, up a set of stairs to the Front Windows.



It's pretty funny that the metal covers say "Remove before Flight." There are 4 windows up front, for takeoff and landing only, and 3 or 4 on the top of the shuttle, for use in orbit, when it's 'upside down', figuratively.

Around the right side of the shuttle:



It is very interesting that the "white" part of the shuttle is by comparison rather flimsy, and basically thermal blankets stretched over the frame of the shuttle. They only need to withstand about 700 degrees F, so are 'slightly' less critical, I guess.

For example, these yellow "backbones" are attached to the bay doors when the shuttle is in the garage, because if you even try to open them in a 'gravity' situation, they will collapse on themselves. These 'backbones' provide support so the doors can be opened and closed in the garage.



Around the back right, to the engines:



and some engine plumbing:



I can't remember the "why" about the flourescent colors, but I think it has something to do with the LARGE problem you would have if you combined the two liquefied gases in the different-colored lines.

Horsepower: It's an addiction.

[gassy]

Very cool--thanks for sharing!

[Gogar]

And now, around to the "Driver's Side" Door. In Space-Shuttle lingo, it's called the "White Room". Everywhere in this garage there are little pieces of fly-paper on the floor, to collect the dust from your feet. To get into the "White Room", you have to go through a sealed "Air Shower", an experience which is not unlike the "Sniffer" at the airport. Here's the Endeavour "White Room":



Everyone who gets to enter the "White Room" signs the wall. I signed right next to the 2008 Thunderbirds, which I thought was an honor in itself.



These "walls" will supposedly be donated to the Smithsonian when the shuttle program (supposedly) ends in 2010.

ORIGINALLY, our friend had arranged for us to actually SIT in the cockpit of Endeavour, but today since it was powered up and getting some tests done, we were not allowed inside. No problem here. I think we're pretty damn lucky anyway.

This guy is a good visual example of why we weren't allowed any farther today;



Off to the left side:



On the left side of each shuttle there are BIG black heat tiles on the leading edge of each wing. Buddy explained to us that "tile 109" was the tile that failed on Columbia, and caused the left wing to basically cook from the inside out. Kind of sobering.

Random:



NASA don't mess. All Snap-On.



The one thing that is really cool about the Shuttle hanger is the ENORMOUS series of scaffoldings that completely encase the shuttle while it's in the hangar, to make work easier. You can see the left-center P&W engine in the middle, right to the left of the 'seam' of the scaffolding. For a idea of scale, see the picture up higher where we were standing next to that engine.



When they're ready to get the shuttle out, the scaffoldings retract on a series of railroad tracks.



Then they open up the hangar door. The tall skinny part is of course for the tail of the shuttle.



Then they lower the 4 HUGE 500,000 lb capacity bottle jacks, and tow it out backwards. Pretty awesome.

[IROC]

Very cool. I worked on that stuff for years and have been those same places. Obviously, that big "garage" is the OPF (Orbiter Processing Facility). Did you guys get to go into the VAB? One of the times I was in there, I looked up and got so disoriented I almost fell down. The pad is a cool place to go also.

It always amazed me how small the front tires are on the Shuttle.

I was the lead design guy on the white structure spanning the payload bay in this picture (look ma, no keel!!!):

[Gogar]

Well, cool. That would have been a pretty fantastic tour right there, I guess. But hey, let's go down this road real quick.



Wow, those dirt tracks sure are huge. What are they for?

Well, they're for this, son.





The space shuttle Atlantis is on the launchpad right now, scheduled for launch on February 7. I don't think it was originally scheduled to be on the launchpad right now, but lucky for us.

The Launch pad has a series of scaffoldings that operate much the same as in the hangar. The HUGE scaffold operates on a central pivot point.



That opens up when the shuttle/rocket assembly is driven up to the launchpad. Then, slowly, on a series of railroad tracks, it engulfs the shuttle, so access can be had to all of the important areas of the shuttle.

It's in there somewhere:


What are these 7 cables for? Guy wires? Support?





No. Actually, there are 7 wires. One for each astronaut. In case of EXTREME emergency, the astronauts haul-ass out of the shuttle, down this hallway:



And into these "Emergency Baskets."





The astronauts jump in the basket, push the button, and zip down the cables INDIANA JONES style into a catcher's-mitt looking net, almost a quarter mile away. Then, they jump out of the basket, haul ass to a really tiny underground bunker, and pray like hell.

If you ask me, though, Astronaut #7 is screwed because his "Basket" is the furthest from the bunker. Sorry, buddy.

[Gogar]

That's cool, Mike! We went into the VAB last time. You're totally right. It's a - big - big - place.

[baldman]

Awesome pics Jeremy... and a freaky coincidence. I have my MP3 player on "random" and as I was looking through this thread "Blue Sky" started playing.

[charleskieffner]

wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy cool jeremy!

we used to machine the threads for the exploding bolts you showed in your picture!

what a field trip for you guys!

now the question.......................when do you plan on having the BHTM tour of space!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That is completely awesome that you got to see (and photograph) that up so close. Absolutely amazing!

I used to live on the space coast (Melbourne, specifically) and saw launches and landings all the time. Never ceased to amaze and fascinate me. I actually know a lot about the shuttle (I kind of used to be a geek about that stuff as a kid and actually volunteered at the Museum of Science in Boston for a few years giving talks to the public about the space program and how different rockets and technologies worked).

I figured all that stuff would be locked down tighter than a drum. Amazing experience! Thanks for sharing!

[Gogar]

The floors of the Launchpad are designated by their distance in feet from the ground. Here we are on floor 195:



195 is the level the astronauts travel to to get in the "drivers door" of the shuttle.
It's really eerie riding up that elevator, it's very fast, and groans and makes funny noises. Then, out the elevator and down the little "Plank" , or hallway to the shuttle.



And then, the same "white room", but turned sideways, on the actual Atlantis shuttle, on the launching pad. This is the last thing the astronauts see on earth before they take off.



Here's a look South from the door of the Shuttle, down to Cocoa beach, etc.



Then, down to Floor "95", which is the level right at the opening of all the engines.



You're kiddin' me. NOPE.

Here's one of those Pratt and Whitney Engines with the cover off, as I look up into it while I'm UNDERNEATH the space shuttle as it sits on the launch pad.

(Sorry, I just like typing it cause I don't really believe it.)



What's this huge water tank for?



Well, one of the many 'Physics' problems on the launch pad is Acoustic Pressure. The pressure and noise coming out of the rocket engines could conceivably destroy the shuttle, the launch pad, and everything around the "engine side' of the shuttle. So, they use WATER and spray it into the area surrounding the engines during takeoff, to disrupt all of the acoustic energy (and some of the heat energy, I bet) coming out of the engines.

The water tank empties in a matter of SECONDS during take off, and the water is pumped through these GIANT "Sprinkler Heads", basically, to absorb -or- diffuse the problematic energy.



Industrial-strength RAIN-BIRD.

[motion]

WOW!!!! Your story and pics have inspired me to do something like this in my lifetime. It is so humbling to realize that people just like me (only much smarter) have created something like this. Thanks!!!

[IROC]

Originally Posted by Gogar

Well, one of the many 'Physics' problems on the launch pad is Acoustic Pressure. The pressure and noise coming out of the rocket engines could conceivably destroy the shuttle, the launch pad, and everything around the "engine side' of the shuttle. So, they use WATER and spray it into the area surrounding the engines during takeoff, to disrupt all of the acoustic energy (and some of the heat energy, I bet) coming out of the engines.

The water tank empties in a matter of SECONDS during take off, and the water is pumped through these GIANT "Sprinkler Heads", basically, to absorb -or- diffuse the problematic energy.

Yep. On some of the early launches, IIRC, before they had this in place, the acoustic noise actually flipped over some rail cars and other trailers that they had stored on the back side of the pad (under where the emergency escape baskets are).

[Gogar]

Okay, off the scaffold and around the back:

On the extreme East: Hydrogen.



On the extreme West, Oxygen.



Understandably, they don't want 'em messing with each other until absolutely necessary.

On the North side of the launch pad is the entrance to the "Flame Trench."



The Trench is . . well, a trench on ground level (level 0) that is dug under the launch pad. It directs the rockets' energy in a singular direction, away from the launchpad.

Unfortunately, one of the "casualties" of the Flame Trench is this safety fence, about a quarter of a mile away from the launchpad. This fence is less than 1 year old.



We got to park our van right in the trench and walk up, UNDER THE SHUTTLE, and take a look around.





Look up, into the mouth of "THE BEAST.", I guess.



Here's our Host, Jack Fox, and his assistant, Giselle. Nice lady. Notice how the concrete is MELTED on the walls of the trench. Pretty neat.



Again, I must point out how impossible it is to realize the scale of this operation when you watch it on TV. Everything is ENORMOUS. It's quite fantastic.



All in all, I feel very honored to have had this opportunity, and I'm glad I had an opportunity to share it with you guys.



Thanks for looking. Please check out my other thread, where we will continue playing with cars and musical instruments with renewed humility,

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=384173

Gogar

[JavaBrewer]

Best thread I've ever encountered on Pelican. WOW!

[URY914]

Very VERY cool!.

[rattlsnak]

awesome.........