Van's Air Force
Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.
Discovery II
- Thread starter TShort
- Start date
Congrats NASA!! and godspeed crew of discovery
Paul,
Please let everyone there know how proud we all are of NASA's efforts and it was incredible to watch the shuttle resume its proper place in the heavens. Again thank you and everybody there. Our prayers are with the entire NASA team for a successful mission and safe return.
Paul,
Please let everyone there know how proud we all are of NASA's efforts and it was incredible to watch the shuttle resume its proper place in the heavens. Again thank you and everybody there. Our prayers are with the entire NASA team for a successful mission and safe return.
Amen and dittos on all that !!!!!!!
My heart rate was really up there at T-minus ten seconds! At MECO and external tank separation I let out a very audible WHEEEWWWWW !
Way to go NASA!!!!
b,
d
My heart rate was really up there at T-minus ten seconds! At MECO and external tank separation I let out a very audible WHEEEWWWWW !
Way to go NASA!!!!
b,
d
Ditto.
Congratulations Paul and NASA
I had the luck to see it live from 6 miles away on the main road from I95 to the Space Center - which was turned into a parking lot.
Cheers rang out from the crowd at lift off and booster separation - makes the hairs on your back stand out, even for a British guy like me. One gent commented that the crowd response showed just how relevant and important such activities still are.
Paul keep pushing those boundaries for all of us... more launches will mean less RV flying - thanks for your sacrifice!!
Best
Matt Hurley
Congratulations Paul and NASA
I had the luck to see it live from 6 miles away on the main road from I95 to the Space Center - which was turned into a parking lot.
Cheers rang out from the crowd at lift off and booster separation - makes the hairs on your back stand out, even for a British guy like me. One gent commented that the crowd response showed just how relevant and important such activities still are.
Paul keep pushing those boundaries for all of us... more launches will mean less RV flying - thanks for your sacrifice!!
Best
Matt Hurley
Thanks Everyone - the adventure has just started!
Thanks folks - I know a lot of folks are watching, and we will do everything we can to make America (and the free world) proud. I have the overnight shift this mission, and will be going in to MCC in about an hour - must admit, my plan was to take a nap for a few hours after the launch, but after all we've been through to get back to flight, I was way to keyed up to sleep....took the Valkyrie out for a little flight instead (turning the world upside down a few times does great for my disposition!), then sat in on the neighborhood Fourth of July BBQ. I'll pay for the lack of sleep tonight, but hey, we've got lots of ascent video to look through. While my team won't get to see the local fireworks tonight, we're all happy to have watched those from Florida this afternoon!
Gotta change into a shirt and tie (some things never change!), and get my game face on...Watch NASA TV tonight, and you might catch us eating leftover BBQ....
Paul
Thanks folks - I know a lot of folks are watching, and we will do everything we can to make America (and the free world) proud. I have the overnight shift this mission, and will be going in to MCC in about an hour - must admit, my plan was to take a nap for a few hours after the launch, but after all we've been through to get back to flight, I was way to keyed up to sleep....took the Valkyrie out for a little flight instead (turning the world upside down a few times does great for my disposition!), then sat in on the neighborhood Fourth of July BBQ. I'll pay for the lack of sleep tonight, but hey, we've got lots of ascent video to look through. While my team won't get to see the local fireworks tonight, we're all happy to have watched those from Florida this afternoon!
Gotta change into a shirt and tie (some things never change!), and get my game face on...Watch NASA TV tonight, and you might catch us eating leftover BBQ....
Paul
4th of July
Thanks for the updates. It is great for us on the RV forums to have a personal connection to what NASA is acccomplishing on behalf of our nation. I must admit, as I was watching the launch on a laptop, wireless broadband in my shop, building my own airplane - What a fantastic time and place we live in. And about a half hour after liftoff, as the shuttle tracked somewhere over the mideast according to the images I saw, I was a bit overwhelmed. I shut off the laptop and paused for a while to reflect on the sacrifices of our armed service men and women to allow us to enjoy these freedoms.
Happy 4th, fly safe, and never take our freedoms for granted.
Howard
Thanks for the updates. It is great for us on the RV forums to have a personal connection to what NASA is acccomplishing on behalf of our nation. I must admit, as I was watching the launch on a laptop, wireless broadband in my shop, building my own airplane - What a fantastic time and place we live in. And about a half hour after liftoff, as the shuttle tracked somewhere over the mideast according to the images I saw, I was a bit overwhelmed. I shut off the laptop and paused for a while to reflect on the sacrifices of our armed service men and women to allow us to enjoy these freedoms.
Happy 4th, fly safe, and never take our freedoms for granted.
Howard
KiloWhiskey
Member
Congrats to all the Nasa folks
Congrats to all the Nasa folks; in addition to launching the shuttle it seems you still have the loyalty, hearts and minds of the children of this nation, at least based on the sample I saw yesterday.
I had about 10 kids aged 5-12 running around the house yesterday, most not my own. When the countdown resumed at 9 minutes to go, I turned off the X-box and flipped on C-span's launch coverage saying "hey watch this they're about to launch." The boys didn't protest, and soon the girls gathered around.
At t-10 seconds the kids all started spontaneously screaming the countdown, and cheered every significant event of the launch until C-span stopped showing pictures of the shuttle and just showed pictures of the controllers.
Thank you and good luck on the rest of the mission.
Congrats to all the Nasa folks; in addition to launching the shuttle it seems you still have the loyalty, hearts and minds of the children of this nation, at least based on the sample I saw yesterday.
I had about 10 kids aged 5-12 running around the house yesterday, most not my own. When the countdown resumed at 9 minutes to go, I turned off the X-box and flipped on C-span's launch coverage saying "hey watch this they're about to launch." The boys didn't protest, and soon the girls gathered around.
At t-10 seconds the kids all started spontaneously screaming the countdown, and cheered every significant event of the launch until C-span stopped showing pictures of the shuttle and just showed pictures of the controllers.
Thank you and good luck on the rest of the mission.
Wake up call in space.
HEHEHEH that was great, I was listening to NASA TV in the background just now and they played "Good Day Sunshine" by the Beetles as their wake up call. Sorry just thought that was hilarious. One heck of a sound system.
Paul again thanks to everybody at NASA for their efforts. This is the first time I have ever watched a Shuttle mission so closely (OK maybe obsessively) but your guys are all truly incredible and you all make me very proud to be an American.
BTW how do they go about adjusting their body's clocks to this schedule? A 2 am wake up call is strange. Are they working off GMT and if so why? Is it because of the link up with the ISS so everything is GMT? I have traveled a lot internationally for business and with that kind of jet lag it would be very hard to be a the top of my game and I'm not 200miles up in space.
Thanks again.
HEHEHEH that was great, I was listening to NASA TV in the background just now and they played "Good Day Sunshine" by the Beetles as their wake up call. Sorry just thought that was hilarious. One heck of a sound system.
Paul again thanks to everybody at NASA for their efforts. This is the first time I have ever watched a Shuttle mission so closely (OK maybe obsessively) but your guys are all truly incredible and you all make me very proud to be an American.
BTW how do they go about adjusting their body's clocks to this schedule? A 2 am wake up call is strange. Are they working off GMT and if so why? Is it because of the link up with the ISS so everything is GMT? I have traveled a lot internationally for business and with that kind of jet lag it would be very hard to be a the top of my game and I'm not 200miles up in space.
Thanks again.
Time is relative....
There are lots of things that drive the crew's schedule for a mission, but it is mostly relatedto launch time, which is driven by the Space Station's orbit. The crew and our Flight Controllers all just have to adjust to it, and we start shifting a week or so before flight, using bright light therapy and some drugs....And of course, we have MCC running 24/7, so at least ONE team works overnight...and this time, it's me....
Paul
fpeebles said:
There are lots of things that drive the crew's schedule for a mission, but it is mostly relatedto launch time, which is driven by the Space Station's orbit. The crew and our Flight Controllers all just have to adjust to it, and we start shifting a week or so before flight, using bright light therapy and some drugs....And of course, we have MCC running 24/7, so at least ONE team works overnight...and this time, it's me....
Paul
AlexPeterson
Well Known Member
So I'm watching NASA TV last night (yes, I've been watching it for a long time, hopeless space junky) and there was Paul. He cleans up pretty well for an RV builder. I was missing the VAF baseball cap, though. You need to sneak one into the camera's view somehow.
Keep up the great work!
Keep up the great work!
MCC Video Trivia
You can always tell when I'm on console - they have to turn down the gain on the camera to keep it from blooming due to my bald spot...the young guys all still have hair...
We had a mission many years ago when we flew developmental soft-drink dispensers to see if they would work in zero-gravity. We had competing ones from two "major companies". Public affairs was concerned enough about potential conficts of interest (as I recall), that we weren't allowed to have any soda cans showing on camera.....Couldn't show any favoritism I guess!
Cameras can be hazardous.....My ex-wife used to call and ask why I was eatign pizza instead of the lunch she had packed for me.....
Time to put on a tie and go to work!
Paul
AlexPeterson said:
You can always tell when I'm on console - they have to turn down the gain on the camera to keep it from blooming due to my bald spot...the young guys all still have hair...
We had a mission many years ago when we flew developmental soft-drink dispensers to see if they would work in zero-gravity. We had competing ones from two "major companies". Public affairs was concerned enough about potential conficts of interest (as I recall), that we weren't allowed to have any soda cans showing on camera.....Couldn't show any favoritism I guess!
Cameras can be hazardous.....My ex-wife used to call and ask why I was eatign pizza instead of the lunch she had packed for me.....
Time to put on a tie and go to work!
Paul
TV coverage
I keep watching NASA TV, but they keep showing shots of the space shuttle and space station, ignoring the real action in the MCC.
With all those people monitoring the astronauts, do they get any private time at all up there, or are all their "movements" monitored closely? I've only been wondering this since the 60s...
About the soft drinks - I'm pretty amazed about that experiment. I would think that with all the money we spend on those missions that we'd want the people up there in top form. Are they sent up with junk food? Seems strange!
I keep watching NASA TV, but they keep showing shots of the space shuttle and space station, ignoring the real action in the MCC.
With all those people monitoring the astronauts, do they get any private time at all up there, or are all their "movements" monitored closely? I've only been wondering this since the 60s...
About the soft drinks - I'm pretty amazed about that experiment. I would think that with all the money we spend on those missions that we'd want the people up there in top form. Are they sent up with junk food? Seems strange!
rv8ch said:I keep watching NASA TV, but they keep showing shots of the space shuttle and space station, ignoring the real action in the MCC.
With all those people monitoring the astronauts, do they get any private time at all up there, or are all their "movements" monitored closely? I've only been wondering this since the 60s...
About the soft drinks - I'm pretty amazed about that experiment. I would think that with all the money we spend on those missions that we'd want the people up there in top form. Are they sent up with junk food? Seems strange!
If I recall correctly, the debrief on the great soda can experiment was "If you can't figure out how to make the soda cold, don't bother!" I don't think it's been tried since...
There's actually plenty of private time on board - we never "go inside" with TV unless we have permission, and there are guidelines for how much time off the crews get on a mission. Everyone needs some time to just look out the window!
Paul
Thanks!
Thanks for all the interest people have shown in our Return to Flight!
AS Experimental Aviators, this group has a unique and realistic perspective on what test flying is all about - and make no mistake about it, the last flight of a space shuttle will still be a test flight. I realized that I probably have three or four times as many landings on the Valkyrie already in 8 months as we have on the shuttle fleet in 25 years. Things can still surprise us all!
There is no rest for the weary - we are shooting for an August 28th (or there-abouts) launch for the Atlantis with a resumption of the ISS Assembly tasks. It's a lot of work, but assembly is always exciting - hey, that sounds just like what we all do in our garages, workshops, and hangars every day - doesn't it?!
I guess I'll take the rest of the morning off, and then get back to work...
Paul
Alex said:
Thanks for all the interest people have shown in our Return to Flight!
AS Experimental Aviators, this group has a unique and realistic perspective on what test flying is all about - and make no mistake about it, the last flight of a space shuttle will still be a test flight. I realized that I probably have three or four times as many landings on the Valkyrie already in 8 months as we have on the shuttle fleet in 25 years. Things can still surprise us all!
There is no rest for the weary - we are shooting for an August 28th (or there-abouts) launch for the Atlantis with a resumption of the ISS Assembly tasks. It's a lot of work, but assembly is always exciting - hey, that sounds just like what we all do in our garages, workshops, and hangars every day - doesn't it?!
I guess I'll take the rest of the morning off, and then get back to work...
Paul
otterhunter2
Active Member
Great Job,
Watched it live on NASA TV. Really was impressed with the live HUD view in the descent (really a 10 degree dive), roundout and touchdown. Impressive!! Looked like he was doing a divebombing run.
Lets hope the post flight debrief finds no anomallies so that NASA can do the quick turnaround.
Again Thanks
Watched it live on NASA TV. Really was impressed with the live HUD view in the descent (really a 10 degree dive), roundout and touchdown. Impressive!! Looked like he was doing a divebombing run.
Lets hope the post flight debrief finds no anomallies so that NASA can do the quick turnaround.
Again Thanks
otterhunter2 said:Great Job,
Watched it live on NASA TV. Really was impressed with the live HUD view in the descent (really a 10 degree dive),
Hold on to your shorts....it's actually a 19 degree Outer glide slope!
otterhunter2
Active Member
Awesome, do they practice (in the SIM) a HUD failure in the 19 degree dive?? Now that would be a pucker pusher!!!
LOL
Again, great work.
LOL
Again, great work.
