Here's Hoping All Had a Great Thanksgiving

Hello Troops,
The day after Thanksgiving and all was quiet in the house, except for the sound of rumbling stomachs and the gurgling sound of Mr. Williamson guzzling a bottle of Pepto Bismol. It was quite the feast at my niece's home, attended by family far and near. A full detailed description of my Thanksgiving Day can read on my Genealogy blog by clicking these words.
(Before reading, know that exaggeration is my one true weakness :)

I stopped by the Space Center to put out the working list for next week. I was amazed at what Jon Parker and Megan Warner accomplished on Wednesday. They repainted the Voyager's Captain's Quarters. Before they could paint, they had to do extensive sheet rock repairs. The loft looks brand new. This is going above and beyond the call of duty and so typical of what our Space Center staff do for the students and teachers that attend every day.

Not wanting the Phoenix to feel left out, Megan turned her attention to repainting the Phoenix's doors and desks. She put the finishing touches to the door just as Miranda's test mission arrived this morning at 10:00 A.M.

Just when I thought I couldn't be more amazed, I found Stacy, Rachel, Ben and Matt in Discovery enjoying a delicious breakfast while working on the Galileo's new summer mission!

These people surely make me look good. They are all awesome.

Now, how about an update from Mark Daymont's Space Rubble Blog?

50 Year Anniversary: Ranger 2 flubs, USAF tests Titan

Atlas-Agena launch.

Fifty years ago, launches continued from the Cape Canaveral pads. NASA launched Ranger 2 on an Atlas-Agena rocket combination on November 18, 1961. Ranger's 2 mission was to test the electronics of experiments that would later be sent to study other planets, and to also send back information on space radiation and magnetic fields. Scientists hoped to discover clues about a possible trail of hydrogen gas following behind the Earth as it orbited the Sun.

Ranger 2 at NASA Glen Research Center.

The Atlas rocket successfully placed Ranger 2 in orbit around the Earth, but disaster followed. The Agena second stage failed to ignite, due to a malfunctioning gyro. Ranger 2 was unable to be placed in the orbit necessary for the tests, and after separation it was stranded in an orbit that brought it closer and closer to Earth's atmosphere. It burned up two days later.

Titan 1 ICBM launch.

On November 21, 1961, a Titan 1a ICBM missile test was conducted by the USAF from its Canaveral site. This missile launched a special nose cone that would later be used in anti-missile missile tests with the Nike-Zeus system.

The next day, the military launched a mysterious satellite from Point Arguello in California. The rocket used was the Atlas-Agena combo. I still have not found out anything about this mysterious launch. It is recorded as the first "unannounced" rocket launch of a satellite.

Posted by Mark Daymont

Expedition 29 Lands Safely and The New Mobile Launcher

Commander Mike Fossum happy to be on the ground. Not used to gravity after 5 months in Zero-G!

After 167 days in orbit and on the ISS, US astronaut Mike Fossum, Japanese astronaut Satosji Furukawa and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov returned to Earth in their Soyuz capsule. They landed in a snowy field in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

The landing site. Auto headlights illuminate the landing area. Dark splash on right is where the Soyuz touched down, and the capsule is a bit to the left of that spot.

The giant Crawler takes the ML out to Pad 39B.

In a scene reminiscent of the glory days of the Saturn V launches to the Moon, a giant launch tower is again seen moving to the pads. NASA engineers have moved the huge 355 foot tall tower to Launch Complex 39B to test how the new structure responds to the stresses of moving on the large Transport Crawler.

The ML tower was originally constructed for use with the Aries 1 rocket, which was cancelled three years ago by the Obama administration. Three years after its cancellation, the project is again alive thanks to Congressional intervention. During the last year, Congress has passed laws requiring NASA to design and build a new heavy-lift rocket to replace the lifting capacity of the cancelled Space Shuttle program. The new rocket is designated (for now) as the SLS, standing for Space Launch System. There's a creative, catchy name for you, eh? Despite my sarcastic response to the name, the new system will provide the United States with a rocket capable of lifting large satellites and spacecraft into orbit and beyond to the Moon and the asteroids.

Currently the ML tower stands at a total height or 400 feet while on the tremendous transporter. The trip from the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) to Pad 39B takes about 14 hours and travels 4.2 miles. The tower weighs in at a wopping 6.5 million pounds. It currently does not yet have the swinging arm bridges that will allow engineers to access parts of future rockets along its length.

Pad 39B is also going through changes. The old towers that serviced many shuttle flights have been torn down, and new structures are building in its stead in preparation for the new ML series of towers. In fact, the base of the ML will need enlargement for exhaust, as it was originally designed to work with the thinner Aries rocket. The new SLS will be wider at the base and include side-mounted Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs, like the shuttle had).

My hope is that the shuttle towers will be broken into small pieces for sale to space collectors like myself. I currently own a piece of the gantry from Launch Complex 26, from which the historic Explorer 1 satellite (America's first successful space satellite) launched atop a Jupiter rocket in 1958. I would love to add a remnant of the space shuttle era to my collection.

Launch of Ares 1-x in 2008. This was the test rocket for the cancelled Ares series of rockets, launched from Pad 39B to test the marriage of the SRB as a first stage with a second stage test structure. The temporary tower used at the pad will be replaced with the ML Tower structures.

Posted by Mark Daymont

Monday, the First Day of a Short Week and Our Weekend Staff Celebration

Hello Troops,
The older staff got together at my home Saturday night for ham, rolls, Lorraine's best potato casserole, cupcakes and cookies. The ham came with the compliments of the Space Center's T Shirt supplier. Adam hustled Metta and Megan at pool, walking away with a substantial amount of money and IOU's, Lorraine, Mark, Dave, Melissa and I sat in the living room talking old people's talk. The conversation included such riveting topics as aches, pains, taxes, medicare, weather, laxatives, politics and the Space Center of course. Wyatt (The Red Blemish) made the ultimate sacrifice and walked away from the kitchen table where the cool older teen staff were and joined us in the living room to save us from the mire of self pity. Wyatt is unashamedly a KnowItAll when it comes to Classic Star Trek. Moments after his arrival we were in a rousing discussion of which episode was the best. There were obnoxiously loud interruptions of laughter from the kitchen. One vocal blast from Rachel (whose tone filled the higher notes on the scale) and Ben (who's vocal tones filled the lower notes on the scale) rattled the windows. Years of ceiling dust came fluttering down into our hair, food and clothing. I'm told Aleta was the cause of our partial hearing loss. She was tossing innuendo's like hotcakes.

My ringing ears, paired with serious fatigue caused by little sleep during the Overnight Camp, brought the event celebrating the Center's 21st birthday and the awarding of ten year service pins to Megan and Stacy to a close at 9:00 P.M. Ben volunteered to take the leftovers. I agreed. Moments later I caught him rifling through the refrigerator and pantry looking for anything else he thought could use a good home in a good stomach.

I'm sure a few of my curiously disturbed neighbors - you know the kind who only leave their front windows to use the restroom - were wondering if those odd South Dakota Williamsons were sponsoring an Occupy Pleasant Grove gathering based on the laughter and shouting coming from my driveway. It's good the outside
After Party only lingered another 20 minutes or so. I was just about to go outside in full riot gear (rain coat and bicycle helmet) to disperse the gathering with my garden hose and small canister of pepper spray kept in my car for emergencies. I think everyone got too cold, jumped in their cars, and drove to Wendy's for the unlimited child's sized Frosties.

Yes, it is a short week. Thanksgiving is a few days away and that means football, turkey and copious amounts of pie served with a house full of insane family (South Dakota certified insane. They don't come any insaner). The Space Center will be running at full steam - closing at 9:00 P.M. Tuesday night.

I'm thinking about offer special half price Black Friday missions starting at midnight Friday. Any staff willing to come in? (joking).

How about a few interesting items to start the week off right?

Mr. W.


Remember me always saying, "Real American Money, None of that Phony Canadian Stuff."?
Well, our northern friends have been busy imagining and produced something worthy of our imagineering respect. Here we are folks with Canada's plastic money.....



What's Christmas without a few awesome feats of Imagination on film? A British
Christmas ad worthy of applause. Imaginarium TV at its best.



Make way for Belgium's Goose Army. Again I say, What Imagination!