I Think I Need a Shoehorn

Here are some more shots from yesterday’s tour of Endeavour. This post really should be put into my standard slideshow format, but when my hard drive died it took my /bin folder with it. I had /Applications and the important parts of /Documents backed up, but /bin is the poor cousin in the Mac hierarchy. So I don’t currently have the script to build a slideshow page. I’m sure it’s on some hard disk somewhere, but I don’t have it now. So you get ’em like this.

Let’s start outside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Look, it’s Cepi’s Angels!

Erin, Kathleen, and Becky in front of the VAB. We didn't go in there.

But nothing was happening in there, so we didn’t go in. Later this week they’ll be stacking Endeavour in there (attaching it to the external tank, and boosters). With any luck I’ll get to see that too.

Some of us weren’t wearing appropriate footwear, so it was provided for us. Clean room booties are the next fashion trend. You heard it hear first. It’s the zippers on the back that make the statement. You can’t see them, but they do. Seriously.

Nice, er, bootie.

And, a repeat of the shot I posted yesterday. That’s the three main engines and the wing flaps there. Really, all I can say is ZOMG.  This is not the shuttle that will fly the Hubble Servicing Mission 4; that will be done by Atlantis.  Endeavour will be on the other launch pad ready to dash into action should anything terrible happen to Atlantis where they can’t land and need to be rescued.  So Endeavour needs to be processed the same as Atlantis, just on a slightly later schedule.  Current launch date for the Hubble mission is October 10.

Will ya look at that! We found us a space shuttle!

So let’s begin our tour around the orbiter.  First, the port side landing gear.

It's got landing gear and everything.

Also check out the tiles overhead. Over 40,000 of them things on there, and they’re a lot more reliable than they used to be. Or so I’m told.  And they’re all unique.  You could fill all the holes in Albert Hall ten times over with those tiles!

The landing gear is pretty standard, except that it can’t retract hydraulically. So it would be very bad if they accidentally deployed it in space. Here’s the front gear. You can also see one of the two yellow jack stands holding up the forward end, as well as Becky looking far more mischievous than she really was. At least I think she wasn’t that mischievous.

What exactly has Becky done to the forward gear?

Here’s the forward section, or as the United Space Alliance folks call it, “the pointy end”. They can be so technical at times.

The pointy end

Speaking of the USA folks, the two of them who gave us the tour were amazing. The pride they have in this piece of supreme technology is palpable. Not that I would palpate such a thing.  In fact, I’m not showing the one of Becky apparently palpating the shuttle, because unless you look really close it looks like she is actually touching it. Which did not happen.

We also learned about the fun they have when the shuttle returns from a mission. Basically two of the ground crew go in when the astronaut crew comes out, and their job is to keep the systems working until the orbiter is returned to its hangar (properly called the Orbiter Processing Facility). It’s not a fun job. For starters, the crew living space is really small, and they’ve all been in there for a week with no fresh air, so, y’know, locker room.

Furthermore, the fuel cells are still producing power, so they have to keep them running, and with no space to radiate to, it gets very hot in there very fast.

And best of all, each OPF is a large building with an orbiter-shaped slot a few inches larger than an orbiter, so towing it in is a very slow business. The lucky pair of ground crew folks gets to spend upwards of 12 hours in a sweaty, stinky, steamy, not very large space. Fun fun fun.

Our tour guide

Here’s Good Ed, our tour guide. He’s not from United Space Alliance, but he seems to know all the shuttle hardware leads, and he’s been working Hubble for ages, so he knows an awful lot about the shuttle too.

And the obligatory group photos, one at the back of the bus, and one at the pointy end.

The gang at the aft end

and at the pointy end

Thanks, Dr. Ed! And thanks to the crew leads who gave the rest of the tour, but whose names I’ve forgotten. Best tour ever!