Thread View: sci.space.shuttle
4 messages
4 total messages
Started by hollis
Wed, 06 Jan 1993 17:24
Launch views, Tiles & New book on STS
Author: hollis
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 17:24
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 17:24
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Greetings and Salutations:
From: markb@spock.dis.cccd.edu (Julie Bixby)
>I was wondering if someone at NASA could tell me how long before a
>launch one could take the KSC tour with a shuttle on the pad.
Well, the shuttle is actually on the pad for a couple of weeks before launch,
but unfortunately the RSS (Rotational Service Structure) is rolled around it
and you can't see the vehicle. If you are lucky, you can usually see it at two
times. Just after roll out from the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and about
a day before launch (assuming the launch window coincides).
From: jwt@duke.cs.duke.edu (Jeffrey W. Tannehill)
>This brought up the question "Why is the
>bottom of the Shuttle black?"
The shuttle bottom is black because that is the color of the protective coating
of the tiles. I actually got a sample from Lockheed of the tile and bought a
butane torch at Radio Shack. While heating the black surface (looking at it) I
held the white part of the tile with my hands. The black surface turned bright
orange and I could feel the radiation on my face (approx. a foot away). My
fingers could not feel the heat.
From: BrianT@cup.portal.com (Brian Stuart Thorn)
>Oh, and despite what has been posted here from time to time, the
>SPACEPORT USA tourist attraction DOES NOT provide bus rides to see
>a Shuttle launch. The facility DOES NOT open until something like
>two hours after a launch on the day in question.
The following is still true, and if you want tickets, order now. They are
going fast:
The KSC visitor center offers bus rides from the visitor's center to a site
about 6 miles from the launch pad. The cost is $6 for adults, $3 for children.
For information and reservations you will need to call 407-452-2121 Ext.
260...(This is the BEST and closest view.)
>The black tiles are rated for the highest temperatures and are used
Actually, the gray insulation on the nose & forward leading edge, the RCC
(Reinforced Carbon-Carbon), is rated for the highest temperature usage.
>The lowest temperatures on the shuttle are experienced on the
>upper surfaces, i.e., the tops of the wings and the tops of the
>payload bay doors. In this area, NASA switched from white tiles
>to thermal blankets in 1984, so Discovery, Atlantis,
The payload bay doors and part of the wings always had blankets, even on
Columbia. The forward fuselage and parts of the wings had tiles on them.
>Please note that the tiles and blankets have proven very effective
>in the years since the 1981-82 test flights, despite their
>reputation for being a maintenance nightmare. The average flight
>requires the replacement of only a half-dozen tiles (more on the
I believe the number is more on the order of a dozen or more. There are
usually 150 to 200 hit noted on the tiles, with some 10 to 20 of 1 inch or
greater.
From: Darrell Holloway
Subj: Space Shuttle Book
Just thought I'd tell you all about the best book I have ever seen
regarding the Space Shuttle. It has just come out in print.
title: SPACE SHUTTLE
subtitle: The History of Developing the National Space
Transportation System
author: Dennis R. Jenkins
ISBN: 0-9633974-0-0 $24.95
Hard Back 0-9633974-1-9
290 pages plus appendices
Distribution By:
Motorbooks International
P.O. Box 2
729 Prospect Avenue
Osceola, Wisconsin
54020
This is absolutely priceless as a non-technical reference manual
for Shuttle buffs or others simply interested in our current manned
space program. Technically it is surprisingly accurate, and covers
all flights up to and including STS-50, and includes, in great
detail the early approach and landing tests conducted by
Enterprise. The history of the STS program is beautifully covered.
The book is available as a paperback with a cover price of $24.95.
Included in the book are over 250 color and B/W photos and over
1,000 sketches and drawings.
I bought the book for myself as a Christmas present and am really
thrilled by it, finally a book on the shuttle system not written by
NASA or Rockwell which realistically details it's history,
capabilities, shortcomings, and design. As an engineer at the cape
working on the shuttle it is a very welcome find. I was so tired
of those glossy, canned treatments I seen before in many colorful
but vague coffee-table type books.
Well worth the cost. I highly recommend it.
I have not met Mr. Jenkins yet but I understand that he works at
the Cape and I intend to look him up and thank him personally.
Darrell Holloway
--
-----------------------------------------------
Ken Hollis INTERNET: HOLLIS@TITAN.KSC.NASA.GOV
SPAN/HEPnet: KSCP00::HOLLIS
Due to additional budget constraints, the light at the end of the tunnel
will be turned off until further notice...
Re: Launch views, Tiles & New book on STS
Author: Brian Stuart Thorn
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 01:18
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 01:18
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>From: BrianT@cup.portal.com (Brian Stuart Thorn)
>>Oh, and despite what has been posted here from time to time, the
>>SPACEPORT USA tourist attraction DOES NOT provide bus rides to see
>>a Shuttle launch. The facility DOES NOT open until something like
>>two hours after a launch on the day in question.
>
>The following is still true, and if you want tickets, order now. They are
>going fast:
>
>The KSC visitor center offers bus rides from the visitor's center to a site
>about 6 miles from the launch pad. The cost is $6 for adults, $3 for children
.
>For information and reservations you will need to call 407-452-2121 Ext.
>260...(This is the BEST and closest view.)
I still have questions about this. First, please make it clear
that you must get the "tickets" at least one day before the
launch, as there is no public access to the KSC Visitor's Center
on the day of the launch until after liftoff.
Second, why would anyone pay $6.00 to see a Shuttle launch when
you can write NASA or your Congresscritter and get a car pass to
the same site for free (or, 29 cent postage.) If you will be
in the Cape Canaveral area unexpectedly, then you're probably
too late for the $6.00 tickets too.
-Brian
>From: Darrell Holloway
>Subj: Space Shuttle Book
>
>Just thought I'd tell you all about the best book I have ever seen
>regarding the Space Shuttle. It has just come out in print.
>
>title: SPACE SHUTTLE
Another good but outdated book is "Space Shuttle Log: The First
Twenty-five Flights" from TAB Books. It was published in 1987 and
I'm hoping it's updated to "The First Fifty Flights" soon.
A good mix of B&W pictures, detail, and easy to understand.
-Brian
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian S. Thorn "If ignorance is bliss,
BrianT@cup.portal.com this must be heaven."
-Diane Chambers, "Cheers"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Launch views, Tiles & New book on STS
Author: Granma
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 19:11
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 19:11
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In article <1993Jan6.122446.4754@titan.ksc.nasa.gov> hollis@titan.ksc.nasa.gov writes: >I bought the book for myself as a Christmas present and am really >thrilled by it, finally a book on the shuttle system not written by >NASA or Rockwell which realistically details it's history, >capabilities, shortcomings, and design. As an engineer at the cape >working on the shuttle it is a very welcome find. I was so tired >of those glossy, canned treatments I seen before in many colorful >but vague coffee-table type books. > Question: Some years ago, a popular car magazine (Car & Driver?) did a "road test" on the RSS. (ok, it might not have been the RSS, but from reading this, my civilian mind figured the RSS might just be the "thaang" in question! :-) The article was really very funny. If anyone out there in net land knows the name of the magazine and the date, please email me. Thanks! Granma *-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-* | "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" | *-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-*
Shuttle Transporter fun (was Re: Launch views, Tiles & New book on STS)
Author: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 19:25
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 19:25
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In article <1ikjl2INNl6o@ub.d.umn.edu>, cpatters@ub.d.umn.edu (Granma) writes:
> In article <1993Jan6.122446.4754@titan.ksc.nasa.gov> hollis@titan.ksc.nasa.gov writes:
> Question: Some years ago, a popular car magazine (Car & Driver?)
> did a "road test" on the RSS. (ok, it might not have been the
> RSS, but from reading this, my civilian mind figured the RSS might
> just be the "thaang" in question! :-) The article was really very
> funny. If anyone out there in net land knows the name of the
> magazine and the date, please email me.
Time to re-post an article I wrote in May 1990 when this subject came
up on sci.space. (I post rather than e-mail because I think this is of
general interest, don't you?)
=============================
There's been some discussion of the Shuttle/Saturn crawlers, but I
haven't seen anybody mention the definitive source of information.
Kids, you want to go find a copy of *Road & Track*, I'm pretty sure
it's the April 1985 issue, page 192. (If I messed up, look at other
issues that year.) Every once in a while, as a sort of April Fool's
thing, *R&T* would run a deadpan road test of some exotic vehicle like
the Goodyear Blimp or the Gresley A3 Pacific Locomotive. Well, in
1985 Ted West, Engineering Editor, reported on "The KSC 554,756
Hardtop: Longer, Lower and Weirder for 1985."
If you have any interest in the crawlers, you *must* read this. West
has lots of tongue-in-cheek fun with it, but I've never seen more
technical information on the vehicles. There's lots in the article,
and even more figures in long tables accompanying it, in the manner of
auto-magazine tech evaluations. Some quotes to get you galvanized
and headed down to the library:
"If you're looking for traditional, massive American *horsepower*, the
KSC 554,756 is yer kinda car. Its raucous 554,756 cc are packaged in
no less than six different containers. And 350,342 of them are
enclosed in a pair of 2750-bhp 16-cylinder Alco diesels. An
additional 180,070 cc come wrapped in two 1075-bhp 8-cylinder White
diesels. Finally, 24,344 cc reside in a pair of very pedestrian
6-cylinder Cummins truck diesels. There is also a paltry 7.5-bhp
Onan compressor-drive-- but the less said about that little wimp the
better."
"...Speaking of steering, we found the KSC's just a trifle, dare we
say it, heavy. However, directional stability was exemplary, we felt
no buffeting whatever in stron sidewinds and thought nothing whatever
of hands-off steering for long periods while running flat out. More
top marks."
"There was a great *Cluuunk!* and not quite a *lunge*. We said we'd
bet our left shoe the thing would be geared too tall, but, to our
great surprise, the 554,756 got off the line smartly and was up to
cruising speed in just under no time, leaving our left shoe behind at
a steady, smooth 1.0 mph. The 554,756 is said to be capable of a brisk
2.0 mph flat-out-- `and maybe more'-- but we were told that, somewhat
like the *Queen Mary's*, the 554,756's true top speed is known only to
God and a certain electrical engineer (`poor soul') living in
seclusion for the past 20 years in a small auto court outside Marion,
Ohio."
______meson Bill Higgins
_-~
____________-~______neutrino Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- - ~-_
/ \ ~----- proton Bitnet: HIGGINS@FNAL.BITNET
| |
\ / SPAN/Hepnet/Physnet: 43011::HIGGINS
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~ Internet: HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
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