Aerospace peeps rollcall

[OGG]

Awesome show on tonight about the Orion Mars mission on Impossible Engineering on the Science channel. I can't imagine 9 months in a 15' diameter crew capsule, and that is just to get there!

I watched it. Twice!

That was really fascinating. Each parachute with a 12,600 Sq ft surface area, and there's 3 of them. That is incredible. I was hoping they might speak about how much room it takes to store that multi-stage parachute set up in the capsule. Even tightly packed, it has to be an awful lot of precious space.

It was an exciting show, I just hope the NASA budget allows the program to reach fruition.

 

[TomcatMF]

I really think they should drastically increase NASA's budget. It is one of the few government expenditures where we really get a return on the investment. Space exploration pushes forward so many technologies that have practical application here on Earth too.

 

[shoeless]

Few things in life are as impressive as a night shuttle launch as seen from the Canaveral-KSC causeway while eating chicken wingsView attachment 26521

Awesome, I wish I could've seen one of those, day or night. Came close a couple of times, but it never worked out.

Actually, my dad designed a circuit breaker for the Apollo spacecraft. There used to be a couple of them around the house when I was growing up, but none of the family can find any of them today :( It would've been nice to have it today, but us dumb kids (me & my brothers) probably lost them.

I have an old shuttle tile at home that I picked up along the way. It makes for a good soldering station.

 

[335clone]

Awesome, I wish I could've seen one of those, day or night. Came close a couple of times, but it never worked out.


I have an old shuttle tile at home that I picked up along the way. It makes for a good soldering station.

Those are amazing. Never got one to keep but we did an in-house tour of the tile facility. They would heat one up to red hot with a torch and then hand it to you. It's a strange sensation that goes against your better judgement.

 

[Tig]

Few things in life are as impressive as a night shuttle launch as seen from the Canaveral-KSC causeway while eating chicken wingsView attachment 26521

I always wanted to see a launch in person and would have if I won a Silver Snoopy award. My manager put me in for the award after preventing a costly delay of a shuttle launch by performing an emergency MED (Manual Entry Device) network server (It was mirrored and the backup server performed flawlessly) at T-minus 6 minutes, 34 seconds. They didn't like the fact that I did it without GC and Computer Sup's permission so it was denied.


The old Apollo era workers told me, as much as watching a shuttle launch thrilled them, nothing was as awesome as watching a Saturn V rocket liftoff. As it throttled up and launched, the concussion would hit you in the chest from miles away. :i:


A distant uncle on the Dietze side worked as an engineer/metallurgist in the Apollo era. He actually predicted the Apollo 1 tragedy. He was blackballed as a whistle blower and later moved to Alaska, inventing the first NDT pig to test the welds in the Alaskan pipeline., He then sold the company for what was then a whopping $1 million and retired.

 

[335clone]

The old Apollo era workers told me, as much as watching a shuttle launch thrilled them, nothing was as awesome as watching a Saturn V rocket liftoff. As it throttled up and launched, the concussion would hit you in the chest from miles away. :i:

I've said here before that my grandmother used to work in the NASA photo lab.

Also, a distant uncle on the Dietze side worked as an engineer/metallurgist in the Apollo era. He actually predicted the Apollo 1 tragedy. He was blackballed as a whistle blower and later moved to Alaska, inventing the first NDT pig to test the welds in the Alaskan pipeline., He then sold the company for what was then a whopping $1 million and retired.

In hindsight it seems like a no-brainer, but yeah it was bound to happen I guess. Still, NASA has a pretty damn good safety record, and I believe they learned many valuable lessons from the fire. Putting people aboard a bomb is inherently a dangerous proposition that should result in death at some point. The fact that we lost as few astronauts as we did speaks well of NASA and their contractors. It is a shame your uncle got blackballed, he sounds like a smart man. I think we both know how seriously NASA takes safety now. I have seen hundreds of people have to stop everything for hours or days until the root cause of an anomaly is found and verified before work can continue. Try telling a NASA inspector that you had a glitch but it went away and you are good to go.

As for the punch in the chest, shuttles did it pretty well too, but certainly there has been nothing like a Saturn V until the Orion launch vehicle. Early Shuttle launches were pretty brutal until they added the water deluge. There were many reports of damage to homes in Port Canaveral during those early days. Still it was kind of surreal watching the first seconds of a launch in silence. As it lifted higher than in the pic I posted, the sound and rumble would slowly build until it hit you in the face. I was lucky enough to watch 2 Shuttle launches besides our own while I was down in Fla, plus 3 Delta rocket launches from the Canaveral side.

 

[Tig]

I really think they should drastically increase NASA's budget. It is one of the few government expenditures where we really get a return on the investment. Space exploration pushes forward so many technologies that have practical application here on Earth too.

Just a few of the thousands of NASA spinoffs:

 

[shoeless]

I always wanted to see a launch in person and would have if I won a Silver Snoopy award. My manager put me in for the award after preventing a costly delay of a shuttle launch by performing an emergency MED (Manual Entry Device) network server (It was mirrored and the backup server performed flawlessly) at T-minus 6 minutes, 34 seconds. They didn't like the fact that I did it without GC and Computer Sup's permission so it was denied.

Yep, sounds like NASA. It was that type of executive management BS that made me leave. Well, that and the increasing frequency and severity with which they (NASA) continued screwing over their contractors, of which I was one.

The old Apollo era workers told me, as much as watching a shuttle launch thrilled them, nothing was as awesome as watching a Saturn V rocket liftoff. As it throttled up and launched, the concussion would hit you in the chest from miles away. :i:

I believe every word of that.

 

[shoeless]

I really think they should drastically increase NASA's budget. It is one of the few government expenditures where we really get a return on the investment. Space exploration pushes forward so many technologies that have practical application here on Earth too.

Agreed, but they have been using that argument for years with little results.

 

[Steverino]

Stories around here tell (most of old-timers are retired or passed) that the first time the Apollo F1s were cluster-fired on the stand it blew out windows ten miles away. We may see a similar effect if/when the SLS engines are cluster-fired again. It will be the first time it's been done since. Since I-10 runs through the Nasa Stennis Buffer Zone, work is being considered to build fences along the interstate to keep wildlife from freaking out and jumping out into traffic. No joke.

The first time I witnessed a SSME test firing it scared the bejesus out of me, even though I knew it was coming. That "p0p" you year when you light an oxygen-Acetylene torch is much the same, except a million times louder, punches you right in the chest. The hydrogen flare stacks radiated heat as if from the sun, even though they were a hundred yards away. I watched my first from the roof of the stand's TCC. I'll never forget it. Night firings were even more awesome.

 

[Steverino]

I always wanted to see a launch in person and would have if I won a Silver Snoopy award. My manager put me in for the award after preventing a costly delay of a shuttle launch by performing an emergency MED (Manual Entry Device) network server (It was mirrored and the backup server performed flawlessly) at T-minus 6 minutes, 34 seconds. They didn't like the fact that I did it without GC and Computer Sup's permission so it was denied.


The old Apollo era workers told me, as much as watching a shuttle launch thrilled them, nothing was as awesome as watching a Saturn V rocket liftoff. As it throttled up and launched, the concussion would hit you in the chest from miles away. :i:


A distant uncle on the Dietze side worked as an engineer/metallurgist in the Apollo era. He actually predicted the Apollo 1 tragedy. He was blackballed as a whistle blower and later moved to Alaska, inventing the first NDT pig to test the welds in the Alaskan pipeline., He then sold the company for what was then a whopping $1 million and retired.

I'll probably never get a Snoopy. If I do, it'll probably be soon, when there are no launches to see.

 

[BlockInlay]

I think you guys need to keep us informed of when launches and engine tests are happening and where. I missed a chance to be there for the last shuttle launch.

 

[Steverino]

I have a propulsion test calendar at work. It's usually for smaller engines, some from private companies.

Tests nowadays often wind up on YouTube. The public is invited to some, but not all of them. I'm sure that when we cluster fire the RS25 SLS engines (if we ever do) it'll be big news.

 

[Tig]

So I've been applying for several IT security positions in NASA, plus get this, the MCC Ground Controller (GC)/MCC Operations Team (OT) in Mission Control. When I worked there before, GC was my ultimate goal. I might not be 100% qualified, but I know the most senior GC so hopefully I'll have a shot.

I'd likely start at the bottom in Voice Services (VS), whose primary responsibilities are configuration, control, and monitoring of the Space-to-Ground Voice Equipment and Digital Voice Inter-Communications Equipment (DVICE).

This might be boring to some:

 

[mongooz]

So I've been applying for several IT security positions in NASA, plus get this, the MCC Ground Controller (GC)/MCC Operations Team (OT) in Mission Control. When I worked there before, GC was my ultimate goal. I might not be 100% qualified, but I know the most senior GC so hopefully I'll have a shot.

I'd likely start at the bottom in Voice Services (VS), whose primary responsibilities are configuration, control, and monitoring of the Space-to-Ground Voice Equipment and Digital Voice Inter-Communications Equipment (DVICE).

This might be boring to some:

very cool.
job mojo

oh....yea......almost forgot......

'ground control to major tom.........ground control to major tom......."

 

[BlockInlay]

VS, Go! Godspeed Tig

 

[Steverino]

This month marks Stennis' 50th year of rocket engine testing

http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/hancock-county/article72272787.html

Nasa invited us to a small "appreciation" party on Monday. In the center of the room was a long table with all sorts of memorabilia, old hardware, photos, books, news articles. One of the books on the table was about the SSC programs, and it was open to the chapter on our lab's involvement, and my father's name and his accomplishments to the Lab Services here at Stennis. I was so proud to see that. I don't know if someone did that on purpose or what, but it really made my day.

 

[TomcatMF]

Do you have any opening over there for a highly experienced electronic technician/support engineer?

 

[Steverino]

Do you have any opening over there for a highly experienced electronic technician/support engineer?

Not here at MSCL, but you never know out in the test complex. I'd hit up USA jobs, that's where I look.

But to be honest, with the slew of fixed price contracts coming through (combined with ridiculously low MS DOL wages) you'd probably laugh at any offers. People are taking huge pay cuts just to keep from being laid off, or not picked up.

 

[shoeless]

Not here at MSCL, but you never know out in the test complex. I'd hit up USA jobs, that's where I look.

But to be honest, with the slew of fixed price contracts coming through (combined with ridiculously low MS DOL wages) you'd probably laugh at any offers. People are taking huge pay cuts just to keep from being laid off, or not picked up.

Yep, unfortunately that's been going on at NASA for years. It's a shame.