Neil Armstrong 1930 – 2012

I am sad to hear of the passing of astronaut Neil Armstrong.

There are many photos of Armstrong, but my favourite is this one take after the successful landing. Armstrong was a humble and private man, but the emotion displayed here is of someone who has just done the near-impossible.

Neil Armstrong in the LEM after the lunar EVA
Neil Armstrong in the LEM after the lunar EVA.

At the time of the moon landings, Neil was age 38. When I think about what I was able to accomplish in my life when I was 38, and what those brave, brilliant explorers of space were able to accomplish, I gain a perspective on what humanity can really achieve.

I only wish I could see with my own eyes what those 24 Apollo astronauts saw.

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

I’m in Kansas City (actually, Overland Park / Lenexa) for a 16-day business trip. We are doing field trials of a new solution for one of our most important customers.

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

Today, my first Saturday in Kansas, I visited the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. The facility houses the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow, and the second largest collection of space artifacts in the world, second only to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.. It is one of only three museums to display flown spacecraft from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

I had to leave the hotel at 7:45AM to get to Hutchinson, which is about 3.5 hours from Overland Park. As I did not get a GPS with the rental car, I printed the directions.

I arrived after 11:00AM. I spent some time outside looking at the Mercury-Redstone and Titan-II rockets and an example of the mighty F-1 engine. The F-1 engine did not have the nozzle extension, so the vents for the turbopump were visible. Counter-intuitively, the exhaust from the massive turbopump was pumped along the inside of the exhaust bell for cooling; the turbopump exhaust was much cooler than the 3,200°C hot gas exiting the engine combustion chamber.

Hanging inside the entrance was the incredible SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 spy plane first flew in 1964 and even at its retirement in 1998 was an unparalleled technological achievement. It was capable of Mach 3.3 (3,529 km/h) and flew at 85,069 feet (25,929 m) using two very innovative Pratt & Whitney J58 engines, which were a combination turbojet and a fan-assisted ramjet. Only 32 of these fascinating planes were built.

Next to the SR-71 was a full-size mock-up of the left (port) side of the Endeavour Space Shuttle. Behind the SR-71 was a T-38 Talon Trainer, which has been the training aircraft for NASA.

I bought tickets to see everything at the Cosmosphere: ‘Dr. Goddard’s Lab’, the planetarium, IMAX, and of course the museum itself.

Dr. Goddard's Lab
Dr. Goddard’s Lab

I rushed to the ‘Dr. Goddard’s Lab’ first, as the next demonstration started soon after I arrived. The host of ‘Dr. Goddard’s Lab’ demonstrated principles of rocketry.  The demos involved liquid oxygen, hydrogen and explosions. It was more for kids, but hey, who doesn’t like explosions?

After the Lab, I grabbed a slice of pizza in the café and then plunged back into the museum. There was so much to see.

After wondering around for a while, I went to see the IMAX film Born to be Wild. Seeing the orphan elephants in IMAX brought back the wonderful memories of my Tanzanian safari in December.

After the IMAX, I went back to continue my museum visit. There were restored German V-1 and V-2 rockets, flight-ready Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2, a Vanguard satellite, a inert Redstone nuclear warhead, and a mock-up of the Bell X-1 (first plane to break the sound barrier) from the movie The Right Stuff. There were full-size mock-ups of the Viking landers and two Mars rovers (Sojourner (1997) and Spirit (2003)). One exhibit had a row of the original Mission Control computers from Johnson Space Center. The actual systems on display were used by the flight surgeon for Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle missions.

I took a quick break to see the final presentation, the Justice Planetarium. I wish I could remember the constellations better. I only know three: the Big Dipper, Orion and Cassiopeia.

Standing next to the Apollo Lunar Module
Standing next to the Apollo Lunar Module

After the Planetarium, I continued through the rest of the museum. In one corner was a full-size engineering test structure of an Apollo Lunar Module (LM) and a lunar rover. The LM was built by Grumman for testing during the Apollo program, and contains many flight-ready components. When I saw the LM hanging from the ceiling at Kennedy Space Center, it was mounted too far up to allow me to really connect with the vehicle. Being able to stand next to the LM footpad, you get a much more intimate relationship with the towering Lunar Module (17.9 ft (5.5 m) tall).

There were both a flown (but unmanned) Soviet Vostok capsule and a mock-up of the Voskhod 2 capsule, complete with an inflatable airlock for the first spacewalk. At the end of the Apollo Gallery was an Apollo Command Service Module and a Soyuz from the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Smaller items included Soviet space suits and equipment, cameras (Hasselblads), unused Apollo food items, the Apollo 12 DSKY, tools, the Sonic Wind II rocket sled, parts of satellites, a set of Soviet RD-170 rocket engines, and other memorabilia.

For the American space program, the two jewels of the collection were the notorious Liberty Bell 7 capsule and the Apollo 13 Command Module.

Liberty Bell 7
Liberty Bell 7

The Liberty Bell 7 (Project Mercury) was the second American manned space flight, launching Gus Grissom on a sub-orbital flight in July 1961. After landing in the Atlantic Ocean, the explosive hatch blew open. The capsule filled with water and was lost. Gus Grissom almost died too, as he had removed his helmet upon landing and his suit also filled with water. Research after the flight indicates that it would have been nearly impossible for him to blow the hatch without sustaining an injury to his hand. But at the time, some had blamed Grissom for the incident.

Sadly, the Liberty Bell 7 incident led to a design change that removed the explosive hatches in future American spacecraft. When Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were testing the Apollo 1 capsule on January 17, 1967, a fire started in the high pressure pure-oxygen environment. The three astronauts perished partly as a result of the non-explosive hatch which could not be opened quickly.

The Liberty Bell 7 was located on the bottom of the Atlantic and was lifted back to the surface in 1999. It was partially restored by the Cosmosphere and put on display.

Everyone is familiar with the story of Apollo 13. It was a thrill to see the actual Command Module. The three Apollo 13 astronauts had one of the most amazing rescues in history in that tiny vessel (well, they stayed in the LM during the lunar slingshot phase). Jim Lovell’s space suit was also on display. It was the one he would have worn had the mission accomplished the lunar landing.

Interior of the Lunar Module
Interior of the Lunar Module

One of the two Apollo white rooms is also at the Cosmosphere; the other one is at Kennedy Space Center. There is also a mock-up of the LM ascent stage, with plexiglass sides for people to look in. I spent a few minutes staring at the interior of the small craft, imagining what it would have been like to live in the LM for 1 to 3 days while on the surface of the moon. The interior is only the size of a closet. That little space was used by the two astronauts for preparing for the EVAs, eating meals, sleeping and using the washroom :().

The collection also includes the Gemini X module, which was flown by John Young and Michael Collins, both of whom later flew Apollo missions. The larger Gemini spacecraft had two-person crews (Mercury supported one person, and Apollo supported three). The Gemini program explored longer duration missions and docking procedures that were needed for the Apollo lunar orbit rendezvous.

Last were the Space Shuttle artefacts. A mock-up of the washroom, a tire, tiles, tools, food and many other items were on display. The tire was neat – I was surprised by the thickness of the sidewall. Another neat item was a set of the frangible nuts that were used to hold down the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters before they fire. There are four on each booster, and they are all that is holding the entire 4.46 million pound (2,027 tonne) vehicle to the mobile launcher platform. The nuts are explosively cut at T=0 (lift-off).

American Flags at dusk
American Flags at dusk

After more than 6 hours at the Cosmosphere, it was time to leave. On my long drive back to Overland Park, I stopped to take pictures of the Kansas countryside. I stumbled upon a cemetery surrounded by American flags. It was Memorial Day weekend. It was a nice, quiet spot to watch the sunset.

I arrived back at the hotel around 10:30pm, exhausted. But I was so happy to see such an amazing collection at the Cosmosphere.

Breath that lifts

When I was reading Moonfire, one statement really jumped out at me and made me think.

“What a vehicle was the spaceship! A planet-traveler massive as a destroyer, delicate as a silver arrow. At the moment it lifted off from the earth it would be burning as much oxygen as is consumed by half a billion people taking their breath – that was twice, no, more than twice the population of America. What a deep breath must then have been concentrated into the liquid oxygen they were passing into its tanks right now, a liquid oxygen cooled to 297 degrees below zero and thereby turning air to cloud at every hint of contact with the pipes which were in turn contained within other pipes two feet think to insulate the fuel.”

I had never thought about comparing the volume of oxygen used by the Saturn V engines to the breath of millions of people. So, I wanted to look into this in further detail.

F-1 engine from Saturn V (S-IC first stage)
F-1 engine from Saturn V (S-IC first stage)

The human lung has an average total volume of 4 to 6 litres at sea level. That’s the total volume of both lungs combined, including residual volume that cannot be exhaled. Of that volume, an average breath (tidal volume) is 500ml, or about 10% of the total capacity.

Oxygen is about 21% of the air at sea level. Meaning that an average breath contains 105ml of oxygen. Humans breathe an average of 20 times per minute (10-20 resting, I’ll use the higher number as a guesstimate for a daytime office worker). That is a per minute average of 2.1 litres of oxygen.

The first stage of the Saturn V rocket, the S-IC stage, burns liquid oxygen (LOX) and RP-1 (refined kerosene) rocket fuel for the first 160 seconds of flight, and pushes the 3,039 ton rocket from the launch pad to a height of 56km and a speed of 8,530km/h. The thrust is generated from five F-1 engines. Each F-1 engine consumes 93,920 litres of liquid oxygen per minute. The total capacity of the LOX tank in the S-IC stage is 1,204,000 litres (which can also be derived by multiplying 93,920 litres/minute by five F-1 engines by roughly 160 seconds of flight).

Liquid oxygen has an expansion ratio of 860.6:1, meaning that gaseous oxygen at sea level has about 861 times larger volume than the liquid phase.

Translating 93,920 litres per minute of LOX into the gaseous form means that that a single F-1 engine uses the equivalent of 80,827,552 litres per minute of gaseous oxygen (at sea level). The entire S-IC stage would therefore consume 404,137,760 litres per minute of gaseous oxygen (sometimes abbreviated as GOX) equivalent. A human uses 2.1 litres per minute, so the S-IC stage is consuming LOX at the same rate as 192,446,552 adults and one baby. If the lower rate of 10 breaths per minute were used, it would increase to nearly 400 million people.

Brazil has the fifth largest population in the world, 190,732,694 (August 1, 2010, estimated). So the S-IC stage LOX consumption rate is equivalent to the entire population of Brazil breathing. The world’s population in 1969 was 3.6 billion. 192 million people would be more than 1 in every 20 people on the planet.

The island of Manhattan in New York city has a population density of 71,201 people per square kilometre. At the same population density, the S-IC would consume the same amount of oxygen as a city like Manhattan 62,057 square kilometres in size – a little less than the area of the island of Sri Lanka. That’s a city with a radius of 140.5 kilometres (281 kilometres in diameter).

Another interesting statistic is the weight. The F-1 engine burns LOX and RP-1 at the rate of 1,789 kilograms and 788 kilograms per second, respectively.

BMW powered Saturn V
BMW powered Saturn V

My (red) 2003 BMW 330Ci is 1,490 kilograms, unloaded. The weight of the S-IC stage decreases at a rate that is nearly equivalent to 8.6 BMWs per second. Imagine that as a stream of BMWs blowing from the bottom of the Saturn V at 2,989 metres per second to lift the massive 3,039 ton rocket out of the Earths gravity well. The high speed is required. Newton’s Third Law (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction) means that to push a much heavier weight up, a smaller weight needs to be pushed down at a much greater speed, proportional to the difference in the weights.

Or maybe I’m just getting too silly now.

The Most Expensive Book

Moonfire by Norman Mailer
Moonfire by Norman Mailer

I just finished reading the book “MoonFire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11” by Norman Mailer. It’s a beautiful book published by Taschen. Taschen publishes some of the best photo books in the world.

This was the first Norman Mailer book I’ve read. I’ve been very tempted to read some of his other books, such as “The Naked and the Dead“, but I lack the time. I’m already about a dozen books and a dozen magazines behind.

This book, “Moonfire”, was originally serialized in Life magazine under the title “Of a Fire on the Moon”. It tells the story of the Apollo 11 mission from the point of view of a reporter named “Aquarius” (also the name of the Apollo 13 LM, used as a lifeboat after the explosion). The writing is quite poetic, although a little less technical than I was hoping for (as an aerospace nerd).

When I first saw the book at Chapters Indigo I looked up the book on the Taschen web site.

That’s where I discovered the most expensive book in the world.

When I was a teenager, my mother owned a bookstore in New Minas called “Between Covers”. I worked there some evenings and weekends until my first years of university. Once, a dentists’ wife ordered the complete The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for her husband. It was 12 volumes and cost a few thousand dollars (in 1988; now on Amazon.ca: $10,251 Cdn). That was pretty damn expensive. I has also never heard of a dictionary that required more than one volume before. When the full set arrived, it stood multiple feet high.

However, Taschen has trumped the OED with limited editions of the “Moonfire” book.

My copy was less than $30, which is a good price for such a large book.

More expensive than the basic edition is the Cdn $1,360 edition that includes a framed print of Buzz Aldrin on the moon – the iconic photo of the Apollo program. There are only 1957 copies of this edition available. It weighs 12 kilograms, four times heavier than the edition I have.

Not available on Chapters or Amazon are the 12 “Lunar Rock” editions. These include an actual piece of moon rock. Since NASA is not going to give up any of its extremely valuable collection, and there have been no private lunar return missions yet, how did Taschen manage to do this? They used lunar meteorites. When large meteors impact the moon (not slowed by any atmosphere), some of the molten rock debris from the impact will actually have enough energy to escape the lunar gravity well. The debris, now solidified rock, will most frequently get pulled into the Earth’s gravity well. If the lunar impact debris survives the passage through our atmosphere, it can be collected on the ground as a meteorite.

The 12 editions each includes a lunar meteorite. Each edition is priced by the size of the meteorite. The smallest one was discovered in Algeria and it weighs 1.40 grams, 20% less than a Canadian dime. This edition was priced at €60,000 (Cdn $81,000).

The top of the line edition includes a 348 gram (1/3 of a kilogram) meteorite found in Morocco. It costs a jaw-dropping €480,000 (Cdn $648,000)!!!

I could buy a huge house and a Lamborghini for that. All for the cost of a book and a rock.

Auctions I Cannot Afford

I recently came across a space autograph and artifact auction at R.R. Auctions. Over the last week, I’ve been drooling over the items I cannot afford. The auction ended today. The articles were from all of the NASA manned programs – Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo-Skylab and the Space Shuttle.

Most of the items are not very interesting, just signed photos (SP) and covers (stamps) from various missions, or items from Mission Control.

What I was really excited about were the “flown” items. That is, items that have actually been into space on missions. Those are the ones I wanted!

I scanned through the entire catalog (401 items) and found a few flown articles that were still not too expensive. Some of the flown flags were already in the thousands of dollars. The smaller items were in the hundreds of dollars.

From the Apollo program, there were 1×1 inch strips of kapton, which was used on the outside of the returning Command Module, small strips of beta cloth, which was a flame-proof white cloth used for straps, nets and even the white Apollo spacesuits. There were also some pages from the mission manuals.

Only one non-flown item was interesting to me: the Apollo fight plans. These were the 300-page books that detailed every moment of the 12-days missions with instructions for each astronaut. While not flown, they were immensely interesting. But hard to justify the cost when the books are also available for download as PDFs now from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal web site. The Apollo 11 flight plan opened at $300 and closed at $5,296.

There was a one-page (double-sided) flown checklist from STS-5, the fifth Space Shuttle mission. That one page traveled 3,397,082 kilometres during the 5 day mission. That’s likely further than I will ever travel during my entire lifetime. The bidding opened at a reasonable $100, but completed at $525, which was too high for me for a single page.

One of the more desirable items was the personal preference kit (PPK) bag from astronaut John Young during the 11-day Apollo 16 mission. It would have been used for personal and private mementos. The opening bid was an affordable $200, but it closed at $5016.

John Young is a hero of mine. He is the only astronaut who flew in the Gemini (Gemini 3 and 10), Apollo Command Module (Apollo 10), Apollo Lunar Module (Apollo 16) spacecrafts and the Space Shuttle (STS-1 and STS-9).

He was the Command Module pilot for Apollo 10, which practiced the procedures for the lunar landing that took place on the next mission (Apollo 11, less than two months later). He was therefore the first person to orbit the moon alone. He and his crew mates still hold the record for the fastest speed of any humans – 39,897 km/h during their return from the moon.

For Apollo 13, he was on the backup crew. When the mission aborted due to the Service Module explosion, he played a role in determining how to stretch the consumables on the LM, now functioning as a life-boat.

On Apollo 16, he was the commander and descended to the lunar surface, where he and Charles Duke spent three days.

He flew the first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1 and the ninth, STS-9, both on the Columbia. The first mission, the first time a full-up manned mission was done as the first launch of any American manned space vehicle. Previous programs started with unmanned launches of the vehicles; this was also how the Russian Buran shuttle program was done.

Captain Young retired from NASA in December 2004 after 42 years of service, with an active astronaut career from 1965 to 1983.

John Young was really a cool cat. During the Apollo 16 lunar landing, his heart rate peaked at 90 beats per minute. Neil Armstrong’s was 150. During the STS-1 launch, his heart rate also didn’t rise above 90 when his pilot, Bob Crippen, was 130.

Back to the auction, I kept looking over the small items, watching their prices, and thought seriously about sending a bid. However, on the last day of the auction, the prices started to rise dramatically.

For example, a single page from the Apollo 11 flight plan, flown to the moon, rose from an opening bid of $1000 to $22,275.

A 1 inch piece of a safety line from Apollo 14 rose from $100 (affordable) to $1,641. For a 1 inch long piece of rope…

A double-sided lunar surface checklist page from Apollo 17 opened at $200 and closed at $2,246.

I spotted an item I thought I could afford and would be worth having. A 0.75×0.75 inch square of beta cloth that was soiled with actual moon dust from Apollo 16, which opened at $200. During the days before the close of the auction, the price had increased to around $500, which was on the edge of what I thought I could afford. However, when the auction ended, the closing bid price was $1,504. This would have been one of the few opportunities to acquire moon dust.

The highest priced item was a flight-flown American flag from Apollo 11, which opened at $2,500 and closed at $39,710.

Sigh.

I would have liked to own something that had flown and landed on the moon, but it doesn’t look like that will ever be achievable.

Kennedy Space Center Vistors Complex

Today, I visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex. I spent about 10-hours there, seeing everything I could possibly see.

Rocket Garden
Rocket Garden

I got up early and arrived just after the doors opened at 9:00AM. I checked the schedule and saw that there was a tour of the Rocket Garden starting at 9:30, so I started my day there. The rockets include:  Redstone (Mercury suborbital flights), Altas (Mercury orbital flights), Atlas (Gemini Agena program), Juno I and Juno II (Explorer, Pioneer), Thor-Jupiter (Echo, Ariel and Telstar programs)  and a Saturn IB. The Saturn IB is basically a number of the Redstone rockets bolted around a central liquid oxygen tank. There used to be a Titan II as well, but it fell over in a wind storm a few years ago.

After the tour, I stopped at the F-1 engine, which was the model that powered the Saturn V first stage (S-IC). It’s a massive motor, made to the limit of the technology of the 1960’s. Next to the F-1 was a gantry arm from the Apollo program. This arm was used at the launch pads for all of the Apollo moon shots. Every man who went to the moon (except Apollo 10) walked down the arm at Launch Pad 39A and entered the Command Module.

Behind the Rocket Garden is the Early Explorers pavilion. In the main lobby is a Soyuz spacecraft (of unknown heritage – presumably never flown in space) next to one of the original Goddard rockets. The original Mercury launch control consoles are preserved here as well. The technology at the start of the space program was amazing in its primitiveness what we have today. But what we have today is built on what was learned back then. In the next room was a never flown Mercury capsule. After that was the Gemini 9A spacecraft flown by Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan for their three day mission. Their mission included a docking with an Agena target (critical for the moon orbit rendezvous requirement of the Apollo mission) and an EVA to test a manned manoeuvring unit (a predecessor of of the MMU for some Space Shuttle missions). The heat shield shows the off-center blasting of the heat and friction of reentry. Finally, near the exit, was a moon suit with Neil Armstrong’s name on it. I took so many pictures, but I think it must be a backup suit, as it was otherwise unlabelled and looked pristine [note: yes it was a backup suit, not Neil’s used suit].

Next I boarded a bus for a tour of the rest of the Kennedy Space Center. The bus went by the two launch pads (39A and 39B) and then stopped at a good observation post. Passing by Pad 39A, where STS-132 had launched 2 days before, it looked like it was scorched from the launch, which is not unexpected. One other site that is interesting was Launch Complex 40. This site was being prepared for the first launch of the Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX. This is a commercial space rocket. SpaceX has won a contract for resupplying the International Space Station. This is an example of the commercial space transportation that President Obama is using as a replacement for NASA’s Constellation program.

Next, we drove by the Shuttle Landing Facility (one of the longest runways in the world) and then to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The building used to allow visitors during the Apollo program, as the Saturn was assembled unfueled. However, with the Solid Rocket Boosters used for the Space Shuttle arrived filled with the solid fuel. So there are no longer public tours of the inside.

The next stop was the Apollo / Saturn V Center, one of the highlights of the tour for me. After becoming engrossed in the Apollo program last year, this was the second most important place to go for my NASA vacation in Florida.

Saturn V first stage
Saturn V first stage

At the entrance was a video overview of the Apollo program. Next, the group went into a simulation of the Apollo mission control, including a launch. During the launch, the windows rattled and the floor shook from the deep rumble of the launch. It gives just a hint of the massive forces of a Saturn V launch. Finally, we were released into the rest of the Center. Hung from the ceiling was a restored Saturn V rocket. What a sight! This was the reason I rented the Canon 10-22mm lens. The five F-1 motors tower over one end of the building, soaring 10 meters up (10 meter diameter). This S-IC stage is 42 meters long. The power of the 7.64 million pounds of thrust were transferred and balanced by the 3039 metric ton mass of the fully fuelled rocket through a 21-ton thrust structure. The S-IC stage lifted the craft only 61km before being discarded and left to tumble ballistically into the Atlantic Ocean. But that short 168 second burn is enough to get the rocket above most of the atmosphere and impart a velocity of 5,350 mph (2,390 meters/second). By the time of the staging of the (now empty) S-IC, the rocket is reduced from 3039 tons to 760 tons – the S-IC is a massive part of the vehicle when fully fuelled.

Near the interstage between the S-IC and S-II (second stage) was a Lunar Module (LM) that was intended for Apollo 15 but was not used. I wish it had been closer to the ground so I could get a better look. It is so amazing to think of that little, fragile craft as the only place of refuge on the entire surface of the moon – that that little craft would have contained the entire atmosphere and population of the Moon.

I stopped for lunch under the LM (french fries with BBQ). There was a nice view out the window of both Pad 39A and 39B.

Alan Shepard's moon suit
Alan Shepard's moon suit

I continued with the Apollo exhibit hall. At the entrance is the Apollo 14 Command Module (CM). The CM is the only part that returns to Earth. Of the 3039 tons launched, only about 6 tons return. The CM is scorched from the heat of a lunar mission reentry – it is the highest reentry speed of any manned mission. Around the hall are other components, such as tools, check lists and returned moon rocks. Another highlight was Alan Shepard’s moon suit. He wore it for the two Apollo 14 EVAs. It was still covered with lunar dust.

Leaving the exhibit hall, I stopped to look in to a mock-up of the interior of a Lunar Module (LM). It’s so tiny. As I said before, this was the home of two people for three days on the moon. It would have been incredibly crowded. I imagined what it must have been like looking out of the window onto the desolate, entirely lifeless landscape. I cannot imagine, even with the hammocks introduced after Apollo 11, how anyone could have slept, knowing where they were and what was just outside that thin metal foil shell.

Lunar Module
Lunar Module

Nearby was a Lunar Rover replica. Further down the building was the S-IVB (third) stage of the Saturn V. It was unique in the stages, as it had to be re-started after 2 orbits to push the mission out of the Earth’s gravity well during translunar injection (TLI). At the far end was unused Command Module and Service Module. Next to that was the bus that carried the Apollo astronauts out to the launch pad – very 60’s styling!

One final stop was the moon rock. There is a moon rock, mounted in an anti-theft housing, that anyone can touch. Which I did. It was amazing to touch this primordial stone, which sat on the moon for nearly 5 billion years before being collected and brought to Earth.

I returned to the bus area, where I had a choice. Either I could return to the Visitors Complex, or I could take an optional (free) tour of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). Calculating how much time it might take, I chose to see the SSPF.

On the way to the SSPF, we drove by the VAB again, and by the three Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPF). When each Orbiter returns to Kennedy (either from the nearby landing strip or an alternative landing site), it enters an OPF for examination, processing, refurbishment and testing. The payload for the last mission is removed, but the new payload is not mounted until the Orbiter is on the launch pad. The shortest time for processing was Atlantis, which spent only 26 days preparing for STS-61-B. Two of the buildings are empty with the wind-down of the Shuttle program (Atlantis was in orbit on its final mission) and the loss of the Columbia in 2003. The other two buildings contained Discovery and Endeavour preparing for the final two Shuttle missions. Behind the SPF buildings, and near the VAB was the unfinished launch tower for the Ares missions, part of the cancelled Constellation program.

The SSPF is where all Shuttle-delivered modules for the International Space Station (ISS) are prepared. It is basically a huge clean-room where the modules are finished, tested and prepared to be attached in the Shuttle payload bay. There were three modules in the hangar-sized room – Leonardo and two EXPRESS modules. By the end of the year, all three would become part of the ISS.

Returning to the Visitors Complex, I went to the Robot Explorers exhibit. I am fascinated with the success that NASA has had with the Voyager, Pioneer, Viking, Galileo, Cassini missions and the Exploration of Mars. I had hoped to see some of the samples or mock-ups, but the exhibit was entirely geared towards small kids, so I left after only 10 minutes. I walked around to see the Space Mirror Memorial, which has the names of all of the American astronauts who died during training or during missions.

External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters
External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters

Next, I walked around the mock-up of an Orbiter and the External Tank (ET) and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB). The day was getting close to the end, so I had one final choice. I could either stand in line to ride the Shuttle Launch Experience, or see an IMAX movie. I chose to see an IMAX movie over the ride. There were two IMAX movies playing. I went to see the one about the Apollo program “Magnificent Desolation” over “Hubble 3D“, as I knew that the Hubble movie would be playing in Ottawa (Museum of Civilization). It was a good movie, considering that IMAX or 3D was invented at the time of the program. The simulation of what an astronaut would see as he descended the lander of the Lunar Module and stepped onto the moon was especially moving to see.

Finally, it was time to shop at the gift store. I looked at everything. I focused on the unique items at the gift shop that were not available through Amazon. Most of the interesting books or videos I already had, or were on my Amazon wish list. Instead, I bought a nice white souvenir T-shirt for STS-132, the STS-132 souvenir book and some nick-nacks like magnets and posters. I wanted models of the Saturn V and Shuttle, but the ones they had were either very cheap, or too expensive to afford. The Saturn V model I want is the one I saw in this video from Neil deGrasse Tyson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aadYN5OPKN8.

End of the visit in front of the NASA logo
End of the visit in front of the NASA logo

Finally, on my way out, I saw the Orion Crew Module, which is part of the cancelled Constellation program, and had a final picture taken in front of the NASA logo.

My day at Kennedy ended about 10 hours after I arrived. I feel I was able to see all that I could see. It was very important to me as a space junkie to be able to see the vehicles and components that I had thus far only read about. I was able to explorer the NASA missions of the past 50 years from the Mercury missions through to the two final Shuttle flights, and a glimpse of the (now cancelled) future Constellation program.

One final note that made the day even more enjoyable. Over the PA in the Visitors Complex, they were piping in the live radio communications and Press Officers commentary from the Atlantis as it approached and docked with the ISS. It was icing on the cake – to hear the mission that had begun two days earlier with the launch that brought me to Florida.

Preparing for STS-132

On Friday, I will be attending the STS-132 Space Shuttle launch, the final scheduled flight of Shuttle Atlantis.

Over Christmas, Rosa and I talked about following our desires. Too often, I miss opportunities to do what I want to do because I don’t take the steps necessary to secure them. Out of inertia, I miss life passing by.

So I decided that I have wanted to watch a manned space launch. This desire has grown over the last year as I started reading more and more about the Apollo program. In North America, this means the Space Shuttle, as it is the only man-rated launch vehicle. Looking at the schedule, the STS-132 mission to the International Space Station was the best fit for my schedule and racing activities.

Once decided that I would go, I began to make plans.

There was a seat sale on Air Canada that covered the May launch window, so I immediately booked for May 13-17. That provides me more time to see the launch on the 14th, visit the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and also account for any postponements or scrubs due to weather or other minor issues.

Next, I began to research how to get tickets for viewing. It turns out, there are three ways. The first way is to Twitter, which will enter my name into a lottery pool for the VIP viewing area that is not open to the public. Alas, I did not win a VIP ticket. Next, there is a tour operator that was accepting bookings. Third, tickets are also available from Kennedy Space Center.

The tour operator, Central Florida Tours (CFT) has exclusive access to a set number of tickets, and they start selling them before the KSC ticket sales start. CFT will pick you up at a designated spot, bus you to KSC, then bus you out to the causeway viewing area and return you at the end of the day. Other tour operators apparently get their tickets from CFT.

I bought tickets for the causeway (the nearest public viewing area – about 6 miles away from the launch) from CFT, which meant I was guaranteed to have a seat. The price is higher that directly from KSC. And the pick up for me is 7:00am in Titusville, which is very early, but others are being picked up in Orlando as early as 5:30am. The launch is 2:20pm.

I also waited to buy a ticket directly from KSC. It costs less and is more flexible from a timing point of view. Both include a 2-day pass to Kennedy Space Center, so I can see the museums.

The KSC tickets went on sale on a Thursday in April. However, the KSC ticket web page was not ready for the influx of people. On the day of the ticket sales, their web servers crashed. The sales were postponed from Thursday to Monday, and they moved to another server cluster would be able to handle the traffic. Everyone wants to get to see one of the final three launches. It is not likely that anyone will be getting in to see the final flight, as it will mostly be VIPs. It will be the end of the nearly 30-year flight program.

On following Monday, I tried again, but was not successful. There are only about 5,000 tickets for the causeway, and they were sold out in 20 minutes. So I will stay with the ticket I bought from CFT.

Next, I needed a place to stay. I waited too long and many of the hotels were already booked. I managed to get a room at the Super-8 in Titusville. I also contacted some dear friends that Rosa and I met during our trip to Eastern Europe over Christmas. They live in Cocoa Beach, about 30 minutes south. They were very amenable to have me stay with them in their guest suite. I am really looking forward to meeting them again – they were so good to talk with in December. I cancelled my Super-8 room. I also rented a car. Strangely, the price was higher when I tried to book through Ericsson‘s travel agency. I had assumed that there would be a corporate discount.

Now comes the part that I spent a lot of time thinking about and investigating. I want to capture this very special day somehow. I starting thinking about photography, but I also considered video. If I wanted to record video, then I would need a Canon 7D instead of my current Canon 40D. I spent hours and hours and hours investigating renting the 7D, lenses, microphones and tripods. I investigated rental agencies in Orlando, by mail in the US and also the Canadian alternatives.

After much consideration and playing with the finance numbers, I decided to buy the Canon 7D and sell some older equipment, such as the 40D. This will allow me to either take great photos or shoot full 1080p HD video. If I rented the 7D instead, then that money would be wasted as I did assume I would eventually move to the 7D. The money I would have spent on the rental of the 7D body instead could be spent on the purchase.

For the rest of the equipment, I continued to investigate all the options for rentals. In the end, the best price and convienence was through Lens Rentals Canada. I ordered a Canon EF 100-400mm L IS USM lens. According to the extensive research I’ve done on the web, lens that are longer risk being impacted by the turbulent, hot air of a sunny Florida afternoon. I rented a Canon EF-S 10-22mm wide angle zoom too. I have been thinking about this lens for some time now, but it is expensive – about $1000. By renting the lens, I can see if I like it. Unlike renting the 7D body, I am not sure about this lens, so renting first was a good idea. I was 100% sure I would eventually get the 7D.

I also rented a Gitzo aluminum tripod and video head. I am torn between wanting to video record the launch with the 7D (the reason I bought it in the first place), or taking still photos. A video would be a great record and I would not need to keep the camera to my eye. HD video is only about 2 megapixels. Stills will be higher quality (the 7D is 18 megapixels) but would mean I watch the launch through the video finder (or the back of the camera). With video, I would keep use the Live View feature and only need to glance over to just track the action.

I still don’t know what I will do.

The two lenses and the tripod arrived on Friday. On Monday, I bought an external microphone and a Kata backpack camera bag at Henrys.

To keep track of what to do and where to go, I joined the Facebook groups for the Kennedy Space Center and for the Attendees of Launch of ATLANTIS STS-132 May 14th 2010.

I also signed up for Twitter to follow information about ticket sales from KSC.

Looking today at the weather, NASA indicates that the weather is 70% for a launch. And the count-down clock has started.

I am so amazingly excited about this trip. I hope I don’t forget something. For our trips, Rosa has been there as a backup “fact-checker” to double check. This time, I’ll be alone as Rosa will be in ballet classes.

Festival Karsh

I went to the Canada Science and Technology Museum to see one of the moon rocks from Apollo 17, which is now on display. What I did not anticipate was the Festival Karsh exhibition that had just opened at the museum. Yousuf Karsh opened his photography studio in Ottawa in the 1930’s.

This was a very inspirational exhibit of the artist, his works, and how he created his famous portraits. They had some of his cameras, some of his studio equipment, booking calenders, letters to and from the artist, diary notes from the studio and many examples of his work.

Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by Karsh
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by Karsh

One portrait that caught my eye in particular was his photo of then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan (sample on the right). The lighting, the pose, the focus are all so perfect. Interestingly, there were both B/W as well as colour versions of this portrait. I was able to spend a long time look at many of his works in the exhibit, figuring out what lighting he used, what was the point of focus (always the eyes), how the shot was created. It was a real inspiration.

I immediately wanted to start imitating his style. The second half of this year, I shall work harder to improve my own abilities with the camera. I feel I have learned how to use the tools (my Canon 40D), and now I should work on the art of photography.

Other samples of his work, as part of the Festival Karsh events, can be found on at http://www.flickr.com/photos/festivalkarsh/.

We Choose to go to the Moon

40 years and 6 minutes ago, the human race lifted off for the first mission to land men on the moon and return them safely to the earth. The live (tape delayed by exactly 40 years) audio feed is available at We Choose the Moon.

Have we lost the ability to wonder at the world and the possibilities? Is there anything as exciting anymore? I’m feeling a little depressed that I missed the original moon landings (I was 3 years old when the last mission completed); that so much could be accomplished by the team with so little [technology]. The International Space Station is amazing, but it has been in operation for 11 years now (and may be planned to be de-orbited in 2016, which is even more depressing). Are there any missions to push the human envelope, to push the human race forward, anymore?

In the Shadow of the Moon

I watched the documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon” last night. I have been fascinated by the Apollo program for a few years now. What an amazing achievement. Incredible to put those 12 men on the moon, so long ago. It almost brings me to tears that we (humanity) can achieve something so remarkable.

I was too young at the time – I was only 2.5 years old when man last walked on the moon – I don’t remember any of it. All that work, effort, skill and astounding results happened before my time. Today, I realize that I am only a few months younger than Neil Armstrong was when he went to the moon (38y 9m; Neil was 38y 11m during the first landing).

What a moment in time. As they said in the video, the astronauts were approached by people who didn’t say “American’s went to the moon”, they said “we (humanity) went to the moon.” For one shining moment, the world came together to celebrate what man is capable of doing.

Today, 35+ years later, the world is less united than any previous point. Ethnic, religious and economic differences between people have widened. We came through the Cold War without incinerating ourselves, and now seem bent on destroying ourselves through pollution and hatred because we cannot work together.

We were once here
We were once here

But no matter what happens now, nothing can take away those footsteps on the distant world. Our presence is there permanently, and nothing we do now (or fail to do) can ever take that away.