Slot Pilot
New Member
If this belongs elsewhere, feel free to move it.. When responding to a question re: shuttle landing gear I said I'd tell the experience of being a VIP at a space shuttle launch and landing..
I'd been a "fan" of the space shuttle program since the very first launch, when I was 6 years old; collected models and had my very own 'space program' in the living room LOL I can remember exactly where I was when my 5th grade math teacher walked in after lunch on 1/28/86 and told us "the shuttle with the teacher on it exploded" Being interested in all kinds of flying, I've always been fascinated with the "piloting" of the ship. My mother took me to Florida when there was a launch scheduled on my 9th birthday, and by some stroke of luck, they launched on-time on that day! Wow.. what a birthday present!!
Fast-forward to 1997, and I've been keeping up with the flights as much as I possibly could; somewhere along the way I'd heard that it was possible to get a VIP guest pass to see a launch by writing to your Congressman. All members of Congress are allocated a certain number of launch passes for each flight, but of course rarely use them themselves. So I wrote to mine, explaining my passion for the space program and how it would mean so much, etc. For weeks I heard nothing, then came a reply from his secretary saying that I was on the guest list for STS-85 and would receive an invitation about 2 weeks prior to launch!! Needless to say, I was ecstatic - and checked the mail frequently LOL Right on time, exactly 2 weeks prior, came a small envelope in the mail from NASA, saying I was "coordially invited to attend the launch and landing of Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-85 mission" What you then do is RSVP, because if you don't, you're outta luck. So I did which then placed me on the official guest list at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). I got plane tixx, etc and 3 days prior to the planned launch on August 7th, got to Florida. I checked in at the guest center and received all kinds of information much like what the press gets. I was given tickets to attend the "L-1 Launch Briefing" (meaning launch minus 1 day a.k.a. the day before launch briefing) and most importantly to me, the VIP bus tour ticket.
When you're a VIP, you are 1 of probably about 2000 or so people attending the launch; there are friends of the crew, people that work for companies that contribute the the flight, etc, and of course the crew's families themselves. Needless to say, the crew families are easily identified, not so much because their VIP badges are a different color (allowing special access to some places only for them) but the tension on their faces, which is understandable; not many have a loved one about to be literally blasted off the face of the Earth.
The bus tour takes you to many of the places that the 'regular' tour goes, but there of course a few extras. They took us to the landing strip to show us that, and with lucky timing it happened to be when the Commander and Pilot of the mission were making practice dive-bomb approaches in the STA, or shuttle-training-aircraft, a highly modified Gulftream II jet. They go up to about 40,000 feet, then drop the main gear and throw the engines into reverse, causing it to drop at about 200' per second, which is not quite as dramatic a drop as the real thing but damn close. They make about 10 approaches every practice session, and well over 500 before every flight during the course of training. We watched one approach from the bus, then they took us to the launch pad.. we were able to go inside the pad perimeter fencing and got within about 1/4 mile of the vehicle. The Rotating Service Structure was still wrapped around Discovery, but you still got a great view of the External Tank and the Solid Rocket Boosters. We could get out and take pictures and so forth. During all this it turns out I was sitting next to the uncle of Pilot Kent Rominger, who was making his 3rd spaceflight.
Launch Day: the weather was typical for a summer Florida day: hot, humid, and on this day, very hazy. But no storms were forecast, the winds were within limits and all appeared to be "go" for launch at 10:41am. I got to KSC early in the morning and we were bussed to the Saturn V Center, which is only 3.5 miles from Pad A. 3.5 miles is the closest any spectators can be.. the safety zone so large because the shuttle at launch has more power than an atomic bomb. The press is at a viewing site next to the giagantic Vehicle Assembly Building, while the VIPs are at the Saturn V Center; the close-family of the crew (wives/husbands, children and parents only) are on the roof of the building so as to have extra privacy. Many astronauts travel to KSC to view launches and are more than happy to talk with anyone and everyone. I met Chris Hadfield, Pam Melroy, Rick Husband, Janice Voss and Scott Kelly. Google their names if you want info on their spaceflights. I will say though that Rick was one of the nicest people I've ever met and it saddened me so much when he died serving as Commander of STS-107 Columbia, lost on re-entry.
As launch drew nearer, people started to get their places on the bleachers, and when the official "go" was given for launch and the clock re-started at the T-9:00 mark, everyone was cheering and ready for the show! Attending a launch from any vantage point is remarkable because of the tension that EVERYONE feels.. this is the 'real deal' and I don't think anyone does NOT have a lump in their throat, and as the final minutes tick away and the National Anthem is played, you feel incredibly lucky to be where you are. About 2 minutes to go and the launch director instructed the crew to "close and lock your visors and initiate O2 flow" and since it was the pilot's birthday, told him to "have a happy birthday, and we're about to light your candles!" The last 90 seconds seem to take forever, but at T-31 they past the point of no return, meaning basically if something came up now, they certainly would'nt launch today. When you watch on TV, naturally the sound is obviously loud and seems to happen "in synch" with what you're watching. But 3+ miles away is a totally different experience. At T-10 seconds everyone starts counting down, and at T-6 the main engines light.. in silence but you see a dramatic red flash followed by the steam cloud (caused by 350,000 gallons of water being dumped on the launch platform to supress the sound, otherwise the acoustical vibration would literally shake the vehicle apart. 1/4 mile away the main engines have been recorded at over 180 decibels!) Everyone "oohs and aahs", then holds their breath..the main engines have ignited then been shut down on 5 occasions, as close as T-1 second. But on this day, no problems and at exactly 10:41am, the SRBs lit, sending fire and flame everywhere as they each burn 6 tons of propellant a second. Of course everyone was cheering wildly as Discovery lifted off beautifully, silently, literally leaping off the pad then executing the beautiful roll-maneuver to place it on course for their 57 degree orbital inclination. About 20 seconds later, the sound hits: like being slammed into a wall on this occasion. The reason I say "on this occasion" is all launches are a little different, somedays are louder than others, more intense than others, depending on the conditions. Well this was definitly a "loud" day.. you first hear a deafening roar followed by the crackling of the SRBs, which turns into a deep, almost scary, deep rumble, which turns into what feels like a drill going right down the center of your body. The ground shook, the siding on the Saturn V Center rattled along with the windows, and standing there I could literally feel my bones shaking. This amazing sensation lasted for about 30 seconds, then dwindled down slowly until silence again, interrupted by everyone cheering Discovery on as they were given a 'go' at throttle up. By now it was 10 miles high but the SRB smoke plume that's more than 700' long is easy to follow.. on some clear days the SRB separation is simply stunning; on this day some pesky clouds were in the way. After 8 min, 30 seconds, they're in orbit and we were all getting on the busses to be taken back to the Visitor's Center, all elated and charged up from the experience!!
When we were driving back on the bus, our tour guide asked how many were returning for the landing.. I was the only one to raise my hand. Which gave me an idea; since I knew that most only attend the launch and not the landing, I asked at the guest center if my mother could attend the landing with me. They said "sure, no problem at all". So now fast-forward a little over a week.. my Mom joined me to attend the landing of Discovery after a highly successful 10-day flight. Landing was set for August 18th at 7:14am. This was the only landing opportunity of the day (Normally they'd have had 2, but they were for-going the first one since they try to avoid night landings unless it's absolutely unavoidable) So we got up at 3:30am to get to KSC in time.. however some ground fog was forming and they were unsure whether or not they'd be able to return; once the de-orbit burn is done an hour before, they're commited, and have no go-around capability. Around 6am we heard Mission Control give the call: "Discovery, you're a no-go for the burn and we'll go to a 24-hr mission extension" We were disappointed of course, but went on the 'regular' tour which still got us pretty close to the Pad and could see Atlantis which had been rolled out the night before in preparation for a flight a month later. Also visited places in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge which is really something - see dolphins and alligators in the wild and eagles and so forth.
Next morning, 8/19/97, landing set for 7:07am, again, the only chance they had that day. Up at 3:30, back to KSC.. this time they seemed to be chatting more optimistically, and just before 6am came the call: "Discovery, you are a GO for the de-orbit burn!" Immediately we all got on the busses and were taken out to the landing strip. The bleachers are only about 1/4 mile off the runway, facing west. The runway is 15/33 and Discovery was going to land on runway 33 this morning. The bleachers aren't quite at mid-field, but for a 33-landing are about a mile down the runway from the point of touchdown. Their landing track brought them from the South Pacific, over Central America, in over Tampa, FL and into the KSC area, where Commander Curt Brown would take over control at about Mach 2.5 at 50,000 feet and manually guide Discovery around the Heading Alignment Cylinder to align w/runway 33. By the time we got to the runway, they were only about 20 minutes or so until touchdown. About 10 minutes before, the sky began to glow a little as sunrise was imminent. To the west, there wasn't a cloud, and 7 minutes to touchdown we heard they were at 110,000' travelling Mach 5 crossing over Tampa. Only 2 minutes later we spotted this tiny black dot in the sky, travelling at breakneck speed. But even at that altitude you can still make out the shape, and as they're dropping quickly it gets clearer and clearer. 5 minutes to touchdown and Cdr. Brown took over control and guided Discovery in a sweeping overhead turn out over the ocean and around to the right to align with runway 33. 3 minutes 22 seconds to touchdown and the whole-world seemed to shake with the double sonic-boom.. as Discovery turned around the HAC the sun caught it beautifully and illuminated it..once on final approach 12 miles downrange you get an incredible appreciation for the drop out of the sky. It really does look like a brick that's just sinking with no chance to possibly land out of it. But of course they do, and at 1500' Cdr. Brown brought the nose up in the flare maneuver, and with 19 seconds to go and 300' off the around, Plt. Rominger dropped the landing gear and Discovery sailed silently over the runway threshhold, until you could hear this WHOOSH of air.. any object travelling 230 mph creates quite a stir.. then a squeek-squeek as the main gear touched down, the drag-chute popped out, and only 10 seconds later the nose gear was touching down and they were rolling out, right infront of us, so close you felt you could almost reach out and touch it! A mile later they'd rolled to a stop, mission complete.. as we'd been told already, NASA hurries everyone out of there - the orbiter is full of toxic propellants and they want everyone gone from the area quickly. On the busride back, my mom told me that was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen in her life.
So that's the experience of being "up close and personal" for a launch and landing of the space shuttle.. sorry it's long but no detail can be left out lol
As an interesting 'post-script' to this.. Cdr. Curt Brown was making his 4th space flight and went on to command 2 more: the flight the following year that John Glenn returned to space, and the next year he commanded a critical servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope before retiring. In 2002 I was at an airshow at Nellis AFB, and they were doing some "Reno-style Air Racing" and the PA announcer was rambling on as I was walking around looking at stuff, and my ears perked up when he said the safety-pilot that'd be flying overhead during this would be a retired NASA Astronaut.. Curt Brown!! After, he and others were in a tent for pictures and autographs, but because the Thunderbirds were about to fly, no one was in there.. so I went an introduced myself to Curt, and he was very nice but as soon as I said I'd been at STS-85, he really perked up and was very interested in all that; he signed a couple of things and also was nice enough to pose for a picture with me
:nana2:
So there you have it.. if this belongs in the 'Lav' go ahead and move it.. and if anyone has the chance to attend a launch, whether from 3.5 miles or even from further away, don't ever pass it up.. words can't truly express the experience of being there first hand!
Info on the flight:
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-85/mission-sts-85.html
Photos from the official NASA file:
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-85/images/images.html
I'd been a "fan" of the space shuttle program since the very first launch, when I was 6 years old; collected models and had my very own 'space program' in the living room LOL I can remember exactly where I was when my 5th grade math teacher walked in after lunch on 1/28/86 and told us "the shuttle with the teacher on it exploded" Being interested in all kinds of flying, I've always been fascinated with the "piloting" of the ship. My mother took me to Florida when there was a launch scheduled on my 9th birthday, and by some stroke of luck, they launched on-time on that day! Wow.. what a birthday present!!
Fast-forward to 1997, and I've been keeping up with the flights as much as I possibly could; somewhere along the way I'd heard that it was possible to get a VIP guest pass to see a launch by writing to your Congressman. All members of Congress are allocated a certain number of launch passes for each flight, but of course rarely use them themselves. So I wrote to mine, explaining my passion for the space program and how it would mean so much, etc. For weeks I heard nothing, then came a reply from his secretary saying that I was on the guest list for STS-85 and would receive an invitation about 2 weeks prior to launch!! Needless to say, I was ecstatic - and checked the mail frequently LOL Right on time, exactly 2 weeks prior, came a small envelope in the mail from NASA, saying I was "coordially invited to attend the launch and landing of Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-85 mission" What you then do is RSVP, because if you don't, you're outta luck. So I did which then placed me on the official guest list at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). I got plane tixx, etc and 3 days prior to the planned launch on August 7th, got to Florida. I checked in at the guest center and received all kinds of information much like what the press gets. I was given tickets to attend the "L-1 Launch Briefing" (meaning launch minus 1 day a.k.a. the day before launch briefing) and most importantly to me, the VIP bus tour ticket.
When you're a VIP, you are 1 of probably about 2000 or so people attending the launch; there are friends of the crew, people that work for companies that contribute the the flight, etc, and of course the crew's families themselves. Needless to say, the crew families are easily identified, not so much because their VIP badges are a different color (allowing special access to some places only for them) but the tension on their faces, which is understandable; not many have a loved one about to be literally blasted off the face of the Earth.
The bus tour takes you to many of the places that the 'regular' tour goes, but there of course a few extras. They took us to the landing strip to show us that, and with lucky timing it happened to be when the Commander and Pilot of the mission were making practice dive-bomb approaches in the STA, or shuttle-training-aircraft, a highly modified Gulftream II jet. They go up to about 40,000 feet, then drop the main gear and throw the engines into reverse, causing it to drop at about 200' per second, which is not quite as dramatic a drop as the real thing but damn close. They make about 10 approaches every practice session, and well over 500 before every flight during the course of training. We watched one approach from the bus, then they took us to the launch pad.. we were able to go inside the pad perimeter fencing and got within about 1/4 mile of the vehicle. The Rotating Service Structure was still wrapped around Discovery, but you still got a great view of the External Tank and the Solid Rocket Boosters. We could get out and take pictures and so forth. During all this it turns out I was sitting next to the uncle of Pilot Kent Rominger, who was making his 3rd spaceflight.
Launch Day: the weather was typical for a summer Florida day: hot, humid, and on this day, very hazy. But no storms were forecast, the winds were within limits and all appeared to be "go" for launch at 10:41am. I got to KSC early in the morning and we were bussed to the Saturn V Center, which is only 3.5 miles from Pad A. 3.5 miles is the closest any spectators can be.. the safety zone so large because the shuttle at launch has more power than an atomic bomb. The press is at a viewing site next to the giagantic Vehicle Assembly Building, while the VIPs are at the Saturn V Center; the close-family of the crew (wives/husbands, children and parents only) are on the roof of the building so as to have extra privacy. Many astronauts travel to KSC to view launches and are more than happy to talk with anyone and everyone. I met Chris Hadfield, Pam Melroy, Rick Husband, Janice Voss and Scott Kelly. Google their names if you want info on their spaceflights. I will say though that Rick was one of the nicest people I've ever met and it saddened me so much when he died serving as Commander of STS-107 Columbia, lost on re-entry.
As launch drew nearer, people started to get their places on the bleachers, and when the official "go" was given for launch and the clock re-started at the T-9:00 mark, everyone was cheering and ready for the show! Attending a launch from any vantage point is remarkable because of the tension that EVERYONE feels.. this is the 'real deal' and I don't think anyone does NOT have a lump in their throat, and as the final minutes tick away and the National Anthem is played, you feel incredibly lucky to be where you are. About 2 minutes to go and the launch director instructed the crew to "close and lock your visors and initiate O2 flow" and since it was the pilot's birthday, told him to "have a happy birthday, and we're about to light your candles!" The last 90 seconds seem to take forever, but at T-31 they past the point of no return, meaning basically if something came up now, they certainly would'nt launch today. When you watch on TV, naturally the sound is obviously loud and seems to happen "in synch" with what you're watching. But 3+ miles away is a totally different experience. At T-10 seconds everyone starts counting down, and at T-6 the main engines light.. in silence but you see a dramatic red flash followed by the steam cloud (caused by 350,000 gallons of water being dumped on the launch platform to supress the sound, otherwise the acoustical vibration would literally shake the vehicle apart. 1/4 mile away the main engines have been recorded at over 180 decibels!) Everyone "oohs and aahs", then holds their breath..the main engines have ignited then been shut down on 5 occasions, as close as T-1 second. But on this day, no problems and at exactly 10:41am, the SRBs lit, sending fire and flame everywhere as they each burn 6 tons of propellant a second. Of course everyone was cheering wildly as Discovery lifted off beautifully, silently, literally leaping off the pad then executing the beautiful roll-maneuver to place it on course for their 57 degree orbital inclination. About 20 seconds later, the sound hits: like being slammed into a wall on this occasion. The reason I say "on this occasion" is all launches are a little different, somedays are louder than others, more intense than others, depending on the conditions. Well this was definitly a "loud" day.. you first hear a deafening roar followed by the crackling of the SRBs, which turns into a deep, almost scary, deep rumble, which turns into what feels like a drill going right down the center of your body. The ground shook, the siding on the Saturn V Center rattled along with the windows, and standing there I could literally feel my bones shaking. This amazing sensation lasted for about 30 seconds, then dwindled down slowly until silence again, interrupted by everyone cheering Discovery on as they were given a 'go' at throttle up. By now it was 10 miles high but the SRB smoke plume that's more than 700' long is easy to follow.. on some clear days the SRB separation is simply stunning; on this day some pesky clouds were in the way. After 8 min, 30 seconds, they're in orbit and we were all getting on the busses to be taken back to the Visitor's Center, all elated and charged up from the experience!!
When we were driving back on the bus, our tour guide asked how many were returning for the landing.. I was the only one to raise my hand. Which gave me an idea; since I knew that most only attend the launch and not the landing, I asked at the guest center if my mother could attend the landing with me. They said "sure, no problem at all". So now fast-forward a little over a week.. my Mom joined me to attend the landing of Discovery after a highly successful 10-day flight. Landing was set for August 18th at 7:14am. This was the only landing opportunity of the day (Normally they'd have had 2, but they were for-going the first one since they try to avoid night landings unless it's absolutely unavoidable) So we got up at 3:30am to get to KSC in time.. however some ground fog was forming and they were unsure whether or not they'd be able to return; once the de-orbit burn is done an hour before, they're commited, and have no go-around capability. Around 6am we heard Mission Control give the call: "Discovery, you're a no-go for the burn and we'll go to a 24-hr mission extension" We were disappointed of course, but went on the 'regular' tour which still got us pretty close to the Pad and could see Atlantis which had been rolled out the night before in preparation for a flight a month later. Also visited places in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge which is really something - see dolphins and alligators in the wild and eagles and so forth.
Next morning, 8/19/97, landing set for 7:07am, again, the only chance they had that day. Up at 3:30, back to KSC.. this time they seemed to be chatting more optimistically, and just before 6am came the call: "Discovery, you are a GO for the de-orbit burn!" Immediately we all got on the busses and were taken out to the landing strip. The bleachers are only about 1/4 mile off the runway, facing west. The runway is 15/33 and Discovery was going to land on runway 33 this morning. The bleachers aren't quite at mid-field, but for a 33-landing are about a mile down the runway from the point of touchdown. Their landing track brought them from the South Pacific, over Central America, in over Tampa, FL and into the KSC area, where Commander Curt Brown would take over control at about Mach 2.5 at 50,000 feet and manually guide Discovery around the Heading Alignment Cylinder to align w/runway 33. By the time we got to the runway, they were only about 20 minutes or so until touchdown. About 10 minutes before, the sky began to glow a little as sunrise was imminent. To the west, there wasn't a cloud, and 7 minutes to touchdown we heard they were at 110,000' travelling Mach 5 crossing over Tampa. Only 2 minutes later we spotted this tiny black dot in the sky, travelling at breakneck speed. But even at that altitude you can still make out the shape, and as they're dropping quickly it gets clearer and clearer. 5 minutes to touchdown and Cdr. Brown took over control and guided Discovery in a sweeping overhead turn out over the ocean and around to the right to align with runway 33. 3 minutes 22 seconds to touchdown and the whole-world seemed to shake with the double sonic-boom.. as Discovery turned around the HAC the sun caught it beautifully and illuminated it..once on final approach 12 miles downrange you get an incredible appreciation for the drop out of the sky. It really does look like a brick that's just sinking with no chance to possibly land out of it. But of course they do, and at 1500' Cdr. Brown brought the nose up in the flare maneuver, and with 19 seconds to go and 300' off the around, Plt. Rominger dropped the landing gear and Discovery sailed silently over the runway threshhold, until you could hear this WHOOSH of air.. any object travelling 230 mph creates quite a stir.. then a squeek-squeek as the main gear touched down, the drag-chute popped out, and only 10 seconds later the nose gear was touching down and they were rolling out, right infront of us, so close you felt you could almost reach out and touch it! A mile later they'd rolled to a stop, mission complete.. as we'd been told already, NASA hurries everyone out of there - the orbiter is full of toxic propellants and they want everyone gone from the area quickly. On the busride back, my mom told me that was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen in her life.
So that's the experience of being "up close and personal" for a launch and landing of the space shuttle.. sorry it's long but no detail can be left out lol
As an interesting 'post-script' to this.. Cdr. Curt Brown was making his 4th space flight and went on to command 2 more: the flight the following year that John Glenn returned to space, and the next year he commanded a critical servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope before retiring. In 2002 I was at an airshow at Nellis AFB, and they were doing some "Reno-style Air Racing" and the PA announcer was rambling on as I was walking around looking at stuff, and my ears perked up when he said the safety-pilot that'd be flying overhead during this would be a retired NASA Astronaut.. Curt Brown!! After, he and others were in a tent for pictures and autographs, but because the Thunderbirds were about to fly, no one was in there.. so I went an introduced myself to Curt, and he was very nice but as soon as I said I'd been at STS-85, he really perked up and was very interested in all that; he signed a couple of things and also was nice enough to pose for a picture with me
:nana2:So there you have it.. if this belongs in the 'Lav' go ahead and move it.. and if anyone has the chance to attend a launch, whether from 3.5 miles or even from further away, don't ever pass it up.. words can't truly express the experience of being there first hand!
Info on the flight:
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-85/mission-sts-85.html
Photos from the official NASA file:
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-85/images/images.html
