Excuses

Hello Troops,
I labeled this post "Excuses".  The reasoning is simple.  I'm about to throw a few excuses at you explaining why I've neglected to post regularly to The Troubadour.  I begin with....

Exhaustion.  I'm in the throws of the Space Center's first Ultimate Camp.  It started Wednesday night and ends tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M.  I'm chaperoning in the gym because of the sheer number of boys we have on the camp. 

Tonight we have 38 boys and 7 girls at camp.  That's more boys than the Voyager's sleeping quarters can accommodate.  I take fifteen of the younger boys (they find the wobbly cots more comfortable than the larger 12 to 14 year olds) and sleep them in the gym on cots.  That means double chaperons,  two for the Voyager and two for the gym - that means that I have to muck in and do my share of chaperoning like all the other adults. 

I will give credit to the boys on this camp.  They've been really good, except for the one who woke me up in the early hours of this morning sleep walking.  I found him standing nearly nose to nose with the gym's brick wall carrying on a conversation made of muffled syllables interspersed with a few chuckles, as if laughing to something the wall had said.  He jumped back to bed the moment I got up.

I'm moving along to....

Work Load.  Central School's Principal in on a European Vacation until June 20th.  This gives me double duty.  I am overseeing the Space Center's summer camps and private missions, while at the same time working with the school's summer school program and the Summer Food Program.  The Summer Food Program provides free breakfast and lunch to anyone under the age of 18 in our school's cafeteria.  We are feeding a couple hundred people a day!  It's been a tight balancing act keeping the school's programs and the Space Center's camps from colliding.  My great staff have been instrumental in working to ensure our success.  Mrs. Clegg is a Saint (irregardless of what you may have heard to the contrary).  She is our One Lady Band in the cafeteria working morning, noon and night to provide our campers with the best meals possible while not stepping on the toes of the three lunch ladies who prepare the free meals for the general public.

Finally.....

Too Much to Write About.  Have you ever had so much you could write about that your brain froze up due to an overheated processor and shut down?  That is where I am right now.  Too much to write, too much to say, too many stories to tell and too many long walks through the Imaginarium.  Every time I think to write, so much comes to mind that I experience a complete white out.  Thank goodness someone usually has something to say or some minor emergency pops up that requires my attention.

Sadly, I have a bit of time right now, but need to get back to the school.  The school's internet is down so I had to come home to finish the Space Center's emails and scheduling.  The overnight camp is going on without me and most likely needs some attention. 

Mr. Williamson

 

50 Years Ago: First Steps toward a Space Shuttle

 

Famous MoonWalker with X-15 in 1962.

By Mark Daymont

Space Center Educator

 

You may or may not recognize the famous pilot in the picture above. But you certainly would recognize his name. Fifty years ago, NASA and the US Air Force were conducting tests with various test craft that would eventually help us build the Space Shuttle. One of those programs was certainly the X-15. In the picture above, Neil Armstrong stands near the nose of one of the three X-15 test rocket planes. At this point, Armstrong had not yet left the X-15 program to train for being an astronaut, yet he had already flown missions to the edge of our atmosphere.

 

 

X-20 DynaSoar mock-up. Credit: Boeing

Beside the X-15, the US Air Force was also working on a potential spacecraft that would glide back to Earth. Designated the X-20 DynaSoar, it would be boosted into space on a rocket, orbit the Earth, dock with a planned orbital space station, then re-enter the atmosphere and glide to a runway landing. Sound familiar? Many of the studies done preparing this spacecraft would be studied by engineers who later designed the Space Shuttle. But in 1962, it was just being developed.

 

 

Conceptual art of DynaSoar on Titan booster.

The Titan rocket figured prominently in the studies. Engineers were already preparing to advance from the Atlas rocket to the Titan when NASA would shift from the single-seat Mercury capsule to the double-occupant Gemini capsule. Fifty years ago in June, the USAF was testing how to add power to the Titan by strapping solid-rocket motors to the main body.

 

 

Computer art of DynaSoar testing. Credit: DeepCold. Learn more about the DynaSoar program as it could have been by visiting http://www.deepcold.com/

In June of 1962, Neil Armstrong was reported to be preparing for the DynaSoar missions. Flying an Air Force F-5 fighter jet, he was practice runway landings using data given to him by the DynaSoar engineers. But DynaSoar was not a lasting project for Neil. In the summer of 1962, he was selected with 8 other test pilots as "the New Nine", the second group of astronauts to work in NASA.

 

Northrop YF-5, prototype test aircraft.

 

F-5 control panel.

Pegasus takes NuSTAR to orbit

 

Nose of the Pegasus rocket, with bulbous arm on top. Viewed from the carrier aircraft, the arm holds the rocket in place underneath the fuselage.

At about 10:00 am MDT this morning, NASA's NuSTAR satellite was dropped suddenly from the belly of an L1011 wide-bodied jet. Moments later the Pegasus XL rocket motor ignited, and the rocket soared up into the dark sky.

Ten a.m.? Dark sky? Well, this launch was not your typical launch. The rocket was lifted up from the Kwajalein Island runway in the pacific, while it was still dark in the early morning hours. Operations were broadcast on NASATV on UStream. The operation was managed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. Like SpaceX, Orbital is a private company making its way into space with innovative new technologies. This is not the first flight of the Pegasus, but it's use to place the NuSTAR into orbit is making news this morning.

Computer rendering of Pegasus lifting towards space.

The Lockheed L-1011 jet, designated Stargazer, lifted off about an hour before fropping the rocket. After a fall of about 5 seconds, the Pegasus blasted off toward orbit. Thirteen minutes later the NuSTAR satellite separated. NASA's TDRS tracking system soon was receiving signals from the spacecraft. Engineers will check out the systems for a week before sending the signal for the equipment to deploy.

Computer image of NuSTAR deployed.

NuSTAR is an unusual-looking spacecraft. It houses a special high-energy X-Ray telescope. When the command is given, the lens section will extend on a framework out to 10 meters. NuSTAR will discover and explore black holes, as well as galaxy clusters and super-dense dead stars. Mission control for the NuSTAR operation will be located at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Mission Control screen during launch. The Pegasus is boosting the NuSTAR, 

at the very left lower corner.

By Mark Daymont

Space Center Educator