Munafo - Hendrie Honeymoon Day 3
Skip back to Tuesday or Wednesday, or ahead to Friday or Saturday. There are also wedding pictures!
Thursday Sep 11th — Kennedy Space Center
Today the orbiter Atlantis, with SRB and ET, are waiting on the pad 39-A for the STS-125 launch planned for October1. This is to be the final visit to Hubble, in its high-altitude orbit. Also today, the orbiter Endeavor was brought into the VAB (unseen in any of these pictures) and will be brought to pad 39-B for use as a rescue option for the STS-125 astronauts. The ordinary ISS-based rescue procedure is not available because of the high orbit1.
Looking at STS-125 from inside bus
This stop is halfway between pad 39-A and 39-B
A gravel road
This is where the crawlerway forks; pad 39-A is behind the viewer and pad 39-B is to the right; VAB in the distance1.
Rick looking at VAB
Partial cloud cover
Notice part of building is in the clouds, part in the sun
Apollo-Saturn launch control room
This is the actual original launch control equipment used during the Apollo program for the Saturn-V launches. It was re-wired to an automated control system that accurately reproduces the light and video displays at each station reproducing the sequence during the launch of the Apollo-8 mission.
The latest addition
This is a ride that accurately depicts the experience of the Shuttle astronauts from T - 40 seconds to about T + 3 minutes.
Rick and STS mockups
1 : A few NASA abbreviations:
ET: External Tank, the part I'm most proud of (if you want to know why, search for "SLWT 2195 2219 Munafo").
ISS: International Space Station
SRB: Solid Rocket Booster
STS: Space Transpotation System, the official name for the Space Shuttle.
VAB: Vehicle Assembly Building
.
Continue to Friday.
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2008 Oct 08.
s.27