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Much too much to post in just one nerdspill here; otherwise it'd probably be an exercise in TL;DR-dom. Nevertheless, I give you part one of the final entry of:
SEP-008, Chapter 8.
Applause filled the room as the group entered the auditorium, and a woman stepped up to a podium set in the center of the floor. The NASA emblem glowed against the far wall behind the tables set up on the floor behind the podium, and as the group took their seats, the applause died away. The lights in the room extinguished softly, leaving spotlights on the seated group and the woman at the podium.
"Good morning," The woman said, "and thank you for joining us for our review of our latest successful mission, 'Space Exploration Program' number eight. Joining us today are our flight crew for this mission. Seated on my right are Commander Brian Adkinson and his pilot, Gregory Williams. To their left are Mission Specialists Ryan Demelo and Jamie Cunningham; to their left are Operational Specialists Jessica Shipley, Bradley Wade, Tessa Stapleton, and Angela Rister.
"Mission Eight marks the second spaceflights for Mission Commander Brian Adkinson, Mission Specialist Ryan Demelo and Operational Specialist Angela Rister; the remainder of the crew have each experienced their first flights in space on this mission. With that, I'd like to give the floor to Mission Commander Adkinson, who will start this presentation with a few remarks. Brian?"
"Thank you," Adkinson said. "I'd like to start by thanking everyone involved in the making of, and support of this project. From the design planners to the people putting this orbiter together, from the folks at Mission Control, to everyone at Houston and the Cape. Without all of your hard work and dedication, this mission would not have been possible. From all of us, you all deserve our heartfelt thanks.
"I'd like to start our video coverage at this time," He continued. "We have a mix of normal format and IMAX-format video to show to you all today, so let's get this video rolling!"
The screen blanked and came to life, showing a large room with tables. Seated at the table were the astronauts.
"Here's the start of Flight Day One," Adkinson said. "This is just after . . . five thirty in the morning. We're all sitting here, obviously eating breakfast. Very exciting."
A small chuckle mingled through the audience at Adkinson's wan tone, and he smiled at them.
"Well, I'd like to give a huge shoutout to the cooks on that one; the steak and eggs were fantastic," Greg Williams quipped, and a second snort of laughter rippled through the auditorium.
"Here we are," Adkinson said with a grin as the screen shifted to the outside of the building, "coming out of the O&C building after having suited up. We're about to take the van ride to Orbiter Processing Four."
Everyone in the room watched as the procession left the building in their bright orange spacesuits, waving and smiling as they went by, bombarded by noiseless applause. The video panned smoothly to the van, watching as each astronaut boarded.
"And here we are at the Orbiter Processing Building," Adkinson said as the screen shifted, showing Constitution berthed inside the building. The lights shown brilliantly on the hull of the ship. The camera panned across the nose of the spacecraft, past the Crew Access Arm attached to the side of the hull, and finally to the winglet on the port wing. "We're usually almost the last to come aboard at this point; the payloads have already been secured into the cargo bay. In this clip we're performing our last walkaround of the orbiter before we climb the staircase to get into the White Room . . . and here we are inside the White Room."
"I'd like to give a big thanks to the people who decided to make that access hatch a little bit larger," Jamie Cunningham remarked dryly. "I remember the Space Shuttle's hatch was barely three feet in diameter; I could only imagine trying to squeeze through that in an ACES."
"I don't think you'd have had that much trouble," Adkinson said airily, and a peal of laughter rippled through the audience.
"When we leave the OPF, the ship is still in a zero energy state," Adkinson continued, "and what I mean by that is every containment vessel except for water is bone-dry. This is done for safety reasons, because a large tug is hooked up to the nosewheel of the ship to pull her out and set her on the runway. It takes about twenty minutes to a half hour to get her onto the runway, and when she's set, the Transportation and Finalization crew gets out and hooks up the fuel lines to the sides of the ship. We have about three hours before she's fully fueled and ready to go."
"Here's a shot from the Shuttle Landing Facility's tower," Greg Williams said as the screen shifted, showing Constitution from behind and to her right. "What we're doing right now is purging the main engines in preparation to start them; we've got the APU's online and are also running the pre-programmed check of the vessel's control surfaces in preparation for flight.
"We're under no obligation until actual wheels-up to start the mission, of course, and it's at that point when the mission clocks start running. At the point of engine start-up, the main engines are each gimballed to approximately six degrees up. This is done to protect the concrete surface of the runway, and to keep the shockwave and engine ejecta from damaging or destroying the runway end-lights as we go. We'll turn on the sound for this."
"T-31 seconds. We have a 'go' for auto sequence start," A man's voice was heard. "Constitution's four computers now have primary control of critical vehicle functions. T-20 seconds and counting. T-15. T-11 . . . 10. We have a 'go' for main engine start."
The audience watched as Constitution roared to life. Roiling streams of white vapour venting out of the main engine nozzels quickly became six separate funnels of superheated sky-blue flame, and six separate brilliantly-white mach disks materialized mere feet from the nozzle ends as the superheated gasses disassociated into thick clouds of bucking and convoluting steam behind the ship.
". . . five . . . we have main engine start . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . brakes are released, and wheels are rolling. Constitution is on her way down the runway, building up speed for her pitch-up maneuver."
"Constitution, V1!"
"Rotating!"
"Positive rate of climb!"
"Roger, positive ROC, Constitution."
"And we have liftoff! . . . liftoff of Space Exploration Program Mission number Eight . . . another mission to test and expand our knowledge of science for all humankind . . . and the orbiter has retracted her landing gear and is in a stable climb. Houston now controlling as the six main engines throttle back for passage through Max-Q; the period of greatest aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle."
"We had no RSLS abort at this time," Adkinson said, "and the flight control computers performed as advertised. Wheels-up came and went as advertised; everything went very smoothly for this part of the mission."
"Throttling down in a two-step fashion; first to 84%, then down to 65% as Constitution enters a thirty-five degree right-handed bank to steer towards its orbital insertion corridor."
"Constitution, you're 'go' at forty."
"Roger, 'go' at forty."
"Throttling down confirmed; forty-five seconds into the flight. Constitution now at three nautical miles in altitude; five nautical miles downrange; flight computers converging her ground track to align with the proper--proper alignment for orbital insertion."
"Constitution, Houston. 'Go' at throttle-up."
"Houston, Constitution! 'Go' at throttle-up."
". . . and you're 'go' at one minute."
"Roger, 'go' at one minute."
"Each of these time checks," Adkinson said, "are little checks and balances we perform as we go up. We're in a constant state of polling the orbiter: Is everything running OK? Is something about to take a nap on us? From engine start-up to V1, we can abort the takeoff at any point; from V1 we're committed to aerial flight and we can always bring her back around for a landing if need be. The advances made in this spacecraft have made a return to launch site abort an order of magnitudes safer than in the past."
"Constitution, negative seats."
"Roger, Houston. Negative seats."
"That call from CAPCOM Craig Irwin says that Constitution is now too high, and travelling too fast for the crew to safely use their ejection seats. Everything is going smoothly here; one minute, thirty-five seconds; Constitution now eight nautical miles in altitude; fifteen nautical miles downrange. Standing by for pitch-down program, to align Constitution for proper insertion into the SCRAMjet phase of the ascent."
* * *
SEP-008, Chapter 8.
Applause filled the room as the group entered the auditorium, and a woman stepped up to a podium set in the center of the floor. The NASA emblem glowed against the far wall behind the tables set up on the floor behind the podium, and as the group took their seats, the applause died away. The lights in the room extinguished softly, leaving spotlights on the seated group and the woman at the podium.
"Good morning," The woman said, "and thank you for joining us for our review of our latest successful mission, 'Space Exploration Program' number eight. Joining us today are our flight crew for this mission. Seated on my right are Commander Brian Adkinson and his pilot, Gregory Williams. To their left are Mission Specialists Ryan Demelo and Jamie Cunningham; to their left are Operational Specialists Jessica Shipley, Bradley Wade, Tessa Stapleton, and Angela Rister.
"Mission Eight marks the second spaceflights for Mission Commander Brian Adkinson, Mission Specialist Ryan Demelo and Operational Specialist Angela Rister; the remainder of the crew have each experienced their first flights in space on this mission. With that, I'd like to give the floor to Mission Commander Adkinson, who will start this presentation with a few remarks. Brian?"
"Thank you," Adkinson said. "I'd like to start by thanking everyone involved in the making of, and support of this project. From the design planners to the people putting this orbiter together, from the folks at Mission Control, to everyone at Houston and the Cape. Without all of your hard work and dedication, this mission would not have been possible. From all of us, you all deserve our heartfelt thanks.
"I'd like to start our video coverage at this time," He continued. "We have a mix of normal format and IMAX-format video to show to you all today, so let's get this video rolling!"
The screen blanked and came to life, showing a large room with tables. Seated at the table were the astronauts.
"Here's the start of Flight Day One," Adkinson said. "This is just after . . . five thirty in the morning. We're all sitting here, obviously eating breakfast. Very exciting."
A small chuckle mingled through the audience at Adkinson's wan tone, and he smiled at them.
"Well, I'd like to give a huge shoutout to the cooks on that one; the steak and eggs were fantastic," Greg Williams quipped, and a second snort of laughter rippled through the auditorium.
"Here we are," Adkinson said with a grin as the screen shifted to the outside of the building, "coming out of the O&C building after having suited up. We're about to take the van ride to Orbiter Processing Four."
Everyone in the room watched as the procession left the building in their bright orange spacesuits, waving and smiling as they went by, bombarded by noiseless applause. The video panned smoothly to the van, watching as each astronaut boarded.
"And here we are at the Orbiter Processing Building," Adkinson said as the screen shifted, showing Constitution berthed inside the building. The lights shown brilliantly on the hull of the ship. The camera panned across the nose of the spacecraft, past the Crew Access Arm attached to the side of the hull, and finally to the winglet on the port wing. "We're usually almost the last to come aboard at this point; the payloads have already been secured into the cargo bay. In this clip we're performing our last walkaround of the orbiter before we climb the staircase to get into the White Room . . . and here we are inside the White Room."
"I'd like to give a big thanks to the people who decided to make that access hatch a little bit larger," Jamie Cunningham remarked dryly. "I remember the Space Shuttle's hatch was barely three feet in diameter; I could only imagine trying to squeeze through that in an ACES."
"I don't think you'd have had that much trouble," Adkinson said airily, and a peal of laughter rippled through the audience.
"When we leave the OPF, the ship is still in a zero energy state," Adkinson continued, "and what I mean by that is every containment vessel except for water is bone-dry. This is done for safety reasons, because a large tug is hooked up to the nosewheel of the ship to pull her out and set her on the runway. It takes about twenty minutes to a half hour to get her onto the runway, and when she's set, the Transportation and Finalization crew gets out and hooks up the fuel lines to the sides of the ship. We have about three hours before she's fully fueled and ready to go."
"Here's a shot from the Shuttle Landing Facility's tower," Greg Williams said as the screen shifted, showing Constitution from behind and to her right. "What we're doing right now is purging the main engines in preparation to start them; we've got the APU's online and are also running the pre-programmed check of the vessel's control surfaces in preparation for flight.
"We're under no obligation until actual wheels-up to start the mission, of course, and it's at that point when the mission clocks start running. At the point of engine start-up, the main engines are each gimballed to approximately six degrees up. This is done to protect the concrete surface of the runway, and to keep the shockwave and engine ejecta from damaging or destroying the runway end-lights as we go. We'll turn on the sound for this."
"T-31 seconds. We have a 'go' for auto sequence start," A man's voice was heard. "Constitution's four computers now have primary control of critical vehicle functions. T-20 seconds and counting. T-15. T-11 . . . 10. We have a 'go' for main engine start."
The audience watched as Constitution roared to life. Roiling streams of white vapour venting out of the main engine nozzels quickly became six separate funnels of superheated sky-blue flame, and six separate brilliantly-white mach disks materialized mere feet from the nozzle ends as the superheated gasses disassociated into thick clouds of bucking and convoluting steam behind the ship.
". . . five . . . we have main engine start . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . brakes are released, and wheels are rolling. Constitution is on her way down the runway, building up speed for her pitch-up maneuver."
"Constitution, V1!"
"Rotating!"
"Positive rate of climb!"
"Roger, positive ROC, Constitution."
"And we have liftoff! . . . liftoff of Space Exploration Program Mission number Eight . . . another mission to test and expand our knowledge of science for all humankind . . . and the orbiter has retracted her landing gear and is in a stable climb. Houston now controlling as the six main engines throttle back for passage through Max-Q; the period of greatest aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle."
"We had no RSLS abort at this time," Adkinson said, "and the flight control computers performed as advertised. Wheels-up came and went as advertised; everything went very smoothly for this part of the mission."
"Throttling down in a two-step fashion; first to 84%, then down to 65% as Constitution enters a thirty-five degree right-handed bank to steer towards its orbital insertion corridor."
"Constitution, you're 'go' at forty."
"Roger, 'go' at forty."
"Throttling down confirmed; forty-five seconds into the flight. Constitution now at three nautical miles in altitude; five nautical miles downrange; flight computers converging her ground track to align with the proper--proper alignment for orbital insertion."
"Constitution, Houston. 'Go' at throttle-up."
"Houston, Constitution! 'Go' at throttle-up."
". . . and you're 'go' at one minute."
"Roger, 'go' at one minute."
"Each of these time checks," Adkinson said, "are little checks and balances we perform as we go up. We're in a constant state of polling the orbiter: Is everything running OK? Is something about to take a nap on us? From engine start-up to V1, we can abort the takeoff at any point; from V1 we're committed to aerial flight and we can always bring her back around for a landing if need be. The advances made in this spacecraft have made a return to launch site abort an order of magnitudes safer than in the past."
"Constitution, negative seats."
"Roger, Houston. Negative seats."
"That call from CAPCOM Craig Irwin says that Constitution is now too high, and travelling too fast for the crew to safely use their ejection seats. Everything is going smoothly here; one minute, thirty-five seconds; Constitution now eight nautical miles in altitude; fifteen nautical miles downrange. Standing by for pitch-down program, to align Constitution for proper insertion into the SCRAMjet phase of the ascent."
* * *
I'm glad this is still good stuff coming out.
