kkeenan

What's the vector, Victor ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNRXJEE3Nz8

Here's what happened when an alligator was doused by Liquid Oxygen (at -297degrees F) at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, following a purge of the lines at Launch Pad 39B. Yes, it was a lot of liquid oxygen. There is speculation that some reptiles will re-animate following a quick freezing like this, but I believe that this one just stayed dead. Kevin K.

What could possibly go wrong. At least wash your hands between the self-abuse and the sewing. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Here's a couple of our packers... _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Yes. I never got much in the way of details, as this was a couple months after I moved to S. Fla. What I've learned since is that it was a case of borrowed gear - the gear being a reverse-handle Rapid Transit. Does that match the story as you remember ? Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

It's certainly obvious that good taste and class have no place in the legal profession. Kevin Keenan

I thought maybe he was a Meter Reader. But then, most electric meters are mounted about 5 ft. up on the wall. That midget would have to carry a stepladder with him all day. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Yeah. The Cupola is a smaller turret-like compartment attached to Node 3. It has a big window on top and 6 smaller windows around the sides. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle/f_cupola.html _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

It seemed like a real photo-whore thing to do, but then again, I'm pretty shameless. I was sure that getting a photo next to multi-billion space hardware was a sure formula - seems that it worked. Kevin k. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

I think you're right. Weird Al is classic. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Bullshit! Let's say you had an ex-friend who had access to your house, via a spare key. You come home one night using the back door, instead of the front, which you usually use. You find a shotgun wired to the front door, aimed to kill whoever opens the door. Evidence points to the ex-friend with the key to your house. Do you think the Prosecutor would fail to arrest the person because you didn't get your head blown off ? Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Hi John. Good to see you found the spot where all of the "Old Guys" have been hanging out. Great memories of Cleveland - especially the automatic weapons and mushrooms, always a fun combination. I didn't see any mention of Wills Point, between Dallas and Shreveport. I don't think the DZ lasted long there, but was a great place. I moved to Fla. in '77, and started jumping at DeLand, but those days at Dickenson, Spaceland, Cleveland, Wills Pt., Angleton - Jeeze, there's too many to name. There just ain't nothing like Texas Skydiving. Kevin Keenan _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Sorry. My mistake. I didn't realize it was that old. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

In that case, your profile (300 jumps - Katana) is a little misleading. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

The openings should be very similar with each method, if done correctly. I have some arthritis in my hands, and the Psycho Pack presents a much more manageable piece to put into a D-bag, so that's why I use that method. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

In CRW, we often change canopies and sometimes they are already packed in a D-bag. For that reason, most people have an "R" and "L" marked on the risers or brake handles. I have that on my freefall rig, as well. It's not a bad idea if you change out mains very often. Avoiding one backward ride makes it worthwhile. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

If her husband is a horse, I guess it's right. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

...Snorting ? _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Generally, people who pick up the sport at an older age are much more serious and competent than those who are younger. Greater maturity makes one look at safety as a way to stay alive rather than "Stoopid Rules that some Old Guy makes me follow". The pervasive attitude of twenty-somethings that they are infallible and indestructible has contributed to more DZ craters than you can count. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Hell no, he doesn't have Jack Shit of an idea. He's just an anonymous Yahoo doing a drive-by post. I'm sure he has way too much Mad Skilz to even deal with adding up those numbers and wingloadings. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Riding back to Sebastian DZ one evening following a beach jump and the associated drinking, I was in the back seat and a couple of drunken Brits were in the front. A cop pulled us over and asked the driver for his license. I figured we were toast. The Brit pulled out a large document that looked like the Magna Carta, full of official seals and stamps. The cop took one look at it and probably figured this would be a paperwork nightmare. He sent us on our way. Woo Hoo !

If so, then this will surely finish you off... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL9mlqbG5CU _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Recent e-mail from a coworker here at Kennedy Space Center: Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 8:03 PM Subject: America's Human Spaceflight Program Family, Friends. The following are my thoughts about the current American human spaceflight dilemma. If you would rather not read it all and understand the situation please just jump to the links at the bottom. If you believe we should just give up the over 50 years of hard work, experience and knowledge we have gained in human spaceflight, and buy seats from foreign countries then you need not do anything further, and I appreciate you taking the time to open this e-mail. However please note: China has already flown two manned missions and have a vision and goal to establish a base on the moon. Russia continues to launch their cosmonauts and some of our astronauts. India just last week ground tested their solid rocket booster (amazingly their booster looks just like ours) and they plan on using it to launch their astronauts, just as we do with the Constellation Program that our president wants to cancel. My family and many friends from high school will tell you about a guy that got chastized by teachers for only reading books about our astronauts and the accomplishments of our fantastic human space flight program. They will remember how all that guy ever wanted to do was be a part of putting American human beings safely into space because he believed that we belonged there as a logical step in the ultimate human exploration. Well that guy is me and I have had a wonderful career doing exactly what I wanted to do. How blessed am I to be able to say that! It will be 35 years next month if you count back to when I started driving tour buses at KSC and working at the visitor center, 33 years working as an engineer and manager on the Shuttle Program and the last three years working on Shuttle and the Constellation Program (the planned replacement for shuttle). I write this not for me but for my children, my nieces, my nephews, my grandchildren (no none are on the way), my great nieces, my great nephews, my friends children (you get the picture) so hopefully they can someday have the same opportunity I have had. I don't want them to just read about it in books or watch other countries "do it" instead of us. They deserve the same opportunity that I had. The opportunity to be a part of the ultimate human endeavor. That opportunity should be their decision, not the decision of a misguided administration that will simply cancel our human space program, thereby taking the decision out of our children's hands. Our president has put forth his recommended budget for NASA for the next 5 years. The NASA administrator ( a prior shuttle commander) serves at the discretion of the president and he is compelled to carry out the presidents orders. However, I can assure you I have yet to find anyone in NASA at any center, whether it is one involved in manned spaceflight or not, that thinks that the presidents plan is the right way to go. The president has earmarked a significant amount of that budget plan to terminate the Shuttle program (sadly thats a done deal and the train has left the station) by the end of this calendar year, BUT he also has recommended CANCELING the Constellation program at the end of this fiscal year. Constellation is a well thought out vision with goals and objectives to use what we have learned from Apollo and Shuttle to safely launch American Astronauts for years to come. He wants to give up on what has made us great. He wants to abandon U.S human spaceflight as we know it. He may as well have slapped the surviving family members of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts right across the face. Those of you who are old enough can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on July 20, 1969. How dare he rob future generations of that opportunity. Yes, he wants to put the task of launching America's future (paying) astronauts into the hands of commercial companies. What? I thought I and so many of my friends and colleagues worked for commercial companies that did just that. For companies that won the right to do that thru legal and ethical contract competitions. The simple fact is that to go from 0 to 17,500 mph in 8 minutes is not something most folks will consider as a way to get a great return on investment. What private company in it's right mind will shoulder that cost risk? It will ultimately come back on the governments shoulders. The complexities and acceptance of this risk is something only our entire country can do with the support of our citizens. Yes a small company has demonstrated a rocket plane on a parabolic trajectory with their astronaut on board and I watched that with much excitement and anticipation. Cudos to them! However thats the same thing Alan Shepard did on May 5, 1961 (but Alan went higher). However, getting into orbit, back to the moon, and onward to the planets and stars is a whole nother ball game. I am all for private industries getting into space (remember the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" with the Pan Am rocket plane, taking folks to the Hilton space hotel?). Someday it will happen. But it will not happen the way our president has been misguided to believe it will. America's airlines were born from the U.S. Gov't air mail service. I keep hearing references to that in the plan for commercializing human spaceflight. But guess what folks, we didn't ground all the air mail planes and walk away from them to wait for some up start company to come along and get us flying again! We as a nation, continued to do what we do best until the private firms fully demonstrated their capabilities in a safe and reproducible manner. So What can you do? If you have read this far I trust you do care about keeping America as the pre-eminent human space flight nation, so please read on. Please view the video at this link to see what you have already gotten for you tax investment in the Constellation program and a graphic representation about the dilemma. It was put together by a fine young engineer that works for one of the contractors at KSC. Jared and he worked together when Jared was co-oping and worked on the Orbiter Discovery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2IQVZmHnJQ If you believe that we as a nation must continue the peaceful human exploration of space then please, as a minimum, go to the following website http://www.goboldlynasa.org as it provides a quick and easy way to let congress know your thoughts. By law, congress must approve the presidents budget and the cancellation of Constellation. It also has a sample letter you can print out and send in the snail mail to your congressman or woman. Or BETTER YET please send a letter to your congressman or congresswoman and tell them what you think. To find out their contact information go to: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml The President's budget proposal is just a recommendation. It isn't a done deal yet. EACH OF YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Please feel free to forward this e-mail or use portions of it in a letter to your congressman or woman. Thanks for reading and thanks for caring. Love and blessings to all Larry aka: Rocketman

Sorry to sound ignorant, but what is an "opening shock rating" ? Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Good thinking. Of all the stuff one should avoid in checked baggage, I think THE PLAGUE should be high on the list. ...of course, it would be a good way to pay back those Baggage Monkeys. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?