kkeenan

It looks like we are not launching today. The launch has been postponed until tomorrow. Too bad, since the wx is awesome. Hopefully, it will be just as good tomorrow. By way of explanation, the Engine Cutoff (ECO)Sensors are sort of a binary fuel gauge for the big External Tank, which holds all of the fuel for the Shuttle main engines. They sit at the bottom of the tank and tell if they are "wet" or "dry". As the fuel quantity decreases during the 8 minutes of main engine run time, it is important that the system knows when the fuel is about to run out. The fuel shouldn't be depleted before the required time, but if it is, the engines need to know this before it actually stops flowing. The fuel goes to the three main engines through a 17-inch diameter fuel line at a tremendous rate. If it stops flowing without notice, the high speed pumps will literally come apart, possibly destroying the vehicle. These ECO sensors allow the engine computers to shut down the engines in the proper sequence if the fuel runs low. It's sort of like shutting down your computer properly vs. just pulling the plug. These ECO sensors have been the source of a lot of problems in the past, and it was thought that they were all fixed, but I guess not. Being submerged in liquid hydrogen at a temp. of -423 degrees F is a rough environment, and making flight equipment that functions in that environment is tricky. Anyway, the External Tank may be drained and refilled as this problem is worked. Hopefully, it will not require rolling the Shuttle back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. That would make for a much longer delay. Kevin _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

We're all ready for a launch today. The weather is beautiful. There are more visitors at KSC than I've seen in a while. This mission is launching the European Laboratory Module, Columbus, to the Int'l. Space Station, so there are a lot of Europeans here to watch. But, there is a problem with fuel sensors, which is being evaluated. We're keeping out fingers crossed. Here's an explanation from Space.com: ---------------------- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA engineers are troubleshooting a fuel tank sensor glitch for the space shuttle Atlantis, a potential threat to today’s planned 4:31 p.m. EST (2131 GMT). Two of four fuel tank sensors at the bottom of the liquid hydrogen portion of Atlantis’ 15-story external tank appear to be malfunctioning. NASA flight rules allow one sensor to fail without affecting a planned launch, but engineers are now studying the impact of two faulty readings aboard Atlantis’ tank. Known as Engine Cut-Off (ECO) sensors, the intruments serve as liquid hydrogen fuel gauges to ensure that a shuttle’s three main engines shut down before its supply of hydrogen runs out. NASA shuttles use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as propellant during launch. While fueling Atlantis’ tank, engineers found that two of the four hydrogen sensors failed to report that they were covered in liquid hydrogen. A decision on whether to scrub today’s attempted launch is pending. Fueling has begun for today’s planned launch of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis as the orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew prepare for a 4:31 p.m. EST (2131 GMT) launch to the International Space Station (ISS). Weather conditions remain positive, with a 90 percent chance of favorable launch conditions. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

This was truly a shock to hear. Lee was full of life - even on the skydiver scale. I didn't know him nearly well enough, but I'll always remember his wit, wisdom, and skill with a camera in freefall. We jumped together a lot with B.O.B. in DeLand. Wherever the two of them are, I'm sure there's a party. RIP, Buddy. Kevin K.

Kinda like your sex? Not as sad and degrading, but you get the idea... _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Publicity is tough to get. I have to take it where I can... _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

There have been some discussions about landing out and carrying a cell phone for help. Something I have thought about is a grid map of the DZ area. If a large aerial photo of the DZ area is lined off in a grid with numbered squares, it would be a great aid to communication. If folks carried a small card with the same grid photo on it, they would be able to tell the DZ, or EMS how to get to them or to a landing accident, etc. That is assuming that the local EMS folks have the same map. We recently had an incident in Lake Wales where something like that would have been incredibly useful. When you're in the middle of nowhere with unmarked roads and paths, it's very hard to communicate your location, even if you are talking to someone. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

There is a nice slideshow and video of the 100-Way attempts here: http://www.wftv.com/iwitness/index.html Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Great photos. That's our Sky. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

CreW is playing Tetris in the sky with slow ass canopies. FF and swooping are like the formula one of freefall and canopy piloting respectively. From the perspective of most student jumpers that is If you're not interested in CRW, there are a lot of other forums here to spend your time on. Just because you don't have the talent or the nuts to do CRW, what make you think anyone here even cares about your opinion. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

The party/banquet last night was a great get-together. This has been a long, strange trip, and it is interesting now that it's done. We have the 100-Way. I am pretty sure that this will not be accomplished again soon. No one who was not there could understand the huge amount of details required to overcome to make it work. For us who were there, it has been done, and it binds us together. Joe lost his life in the quest for this project to reach its objective. That will always be part of the memory of this week. It could have happened on any CRW jump, but it happened at Lk. Wales during our record warm-up jumps. This Blue Skies / Black Death thing is always part of skydiving. The only way that we are able to experience this joy of sights, sounds, and feelings which make up our "Blue Skies" skydiving world is to leave ourselves open to the "Black Death" which is part of that world. Our lives and those of our friends can be taken in a moment, with no notice. This time it was Joe. We all hate it, yet we all continue to come back to the DZ. It's part of what we, as jumpers have bought into in order to experience these things that we can find nowhere else. The Blue Skies will always call us. The Black Death is the price. We will miss Joe tremendously, but for many years, Joe jumped and did CRW in the face of these risks and having lost friends. We will keep jumping and continue missing Joe, as he would have it it had been someone else. Kevin Keenan _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

The party/banquet last night was a great get-together. This has been a long, strange trip, and it is interesting now that it's done. We have the 100-Way. I am pretty sure that this will not be accomplished again soon. No one who was not there could understand the huge amount of details required to overcome to make it work. For us who were there, it has been done, and it binds us together. Joe lost his life in the quest for this project to reach its objective. That will always be part of the memory of this week. It could have happened on any CRW jump, but it happened at Lk. Wales during our record warm-up jumps. This Blue Skies / Black Death thing is always part of skydiving. The only way that we are able to experience this joy of sights, sounds, and feelings which make up our "Blue Skies" skydiving world is to leave ourselves open to the "Black Death" which is part of that world. Our lives and those of our friends can be taken in a moment, with no notice. This time it was Joe. We all hate it, yet we all continue to come back to the DZ. It's part of what we, as jumpers have bought into in order to experience these things that we can find nowhere else. The Blue Skies will always call us. The Black Death is the price. We will miss Joe tremendously, but for many years, Joe jumped and did CRW in the face of these risks and having lost friends. We will keep jumping and continue missing Joe, as he would have it it had been someone else. Kevin Keenan _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

It is something that too many don't think about, or take lightly. GPS works great, most of the time. And if you are used to jumping at a big airport, it seems impossible to really land in the rough. But it can be the deadliest of situations. Things begin to move very fast, even if you're on a big, slow canopy. You have to consider an off landing as being in "enemy territory". There are any number of things there that can hurt or kill you, and you have to find them all, plan your approach figure out the winds, and make the landing, all in pretty quick succession. When you are used to familiar landmarks for setting up your pattern, it is much different when they aren't there. You have to watch your altitude, visualize where you will make your turns and end up with a safe landing. You may have to figure out, from 500 ft., which yard has the pit bull and which has the poodle. I've had a lot of off landings. They can be very exciting and fun because of the improvising required. But they're never routine. Your senses should go to "full alert", and you should be seeing things at a higher rate and in more detail than normal. This is definitely a time when complacency can kill you. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Go Team Elite !!! Those jumps were amazing last year. Have fun and be safe. Patrick - Make sure Guy organizes another Veteran's Day jump. Last year's was very cool. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

That looks like the USSOCOM Team from MacDill AFB who jump at ZHills. I doubt that's where this jump took place, though. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

I'm not sure I follow your statement. Which shit are you referring to that we're blowing up ? Kevin _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

WTF Sorry. That's shorthand for 5,000 pounds. Actually the total payload is 2,550 kg., which is 5,610 pounds. kk _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Billy's right. The Soyuz will be the only way for people to go up and down. For cargo, the Russians send an unmanned Progress vehicle there about every six weeks with about 5k lbs. of payload. Next year, the European Space Agency will test the Automated Transfer Vahicle (ATV), which is a larger unmanned cargo ship. The Japanese are also working on a similar vehicle. The only thing the shuttle is really required for is transporting the big ISS pieces that were designed to only fly in the shuttle. Hopefully, those will all be on-orbit by the time the shuttle stops flying in 2010. On a side note, there will be a different administration in office in 2010, so who knows how solid that deadline will be - assuming no accidents, of course. Kevin _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Some folks on DZ.com are interested in the ISS, so here is a nice animation of the building sequence. Now that STS-120 has added the Node 2 module, and attached and repaired the third of four large solar panels, the international labs from Europe and Japan can be added. The construction pace is increasing and it is becoming as truly International station. http://www.tietronix.com/anim/MoviePlayer.asp?myMovie=movies/assembly640x360.swf In the coming days, the ISS crew will move the shuttle docking adapter onto Node 2 and then move node 2 to the front of the U. S. Lab module. On Dec 6, the shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to take the European Lab, Columbus up and dock it to Node 2. We live in exciting times.

That little drag chute gets packed by CRWDog Dave Hillebrandt and his folks at the Parachute Refurbishment Facility (PRF) here at KSC. They also pack the 100' SRB parachutes. Beautiful view of the landing here at the Cape. We picked it up visually at about 35k ft. as it entered the Heading Alignment Circle and watched it all the way through the turn. It passed directly overhead at about 5k and was on the ground about 30 sec. later. Nice sonic boom. We're all back inside now, watching re-runs on TV. This sure is a cool place to work. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

It's about 15 min. to touchdown. The final approach to runway 33 at KSC is right over my building. I'll be going to watch in a few minutes.

Just make up a number. That's what everyone else does when they sell stuff. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Do a search on "Ted Nelson". You sound just like him. He told a lot of folks how good he was. He may become a great swooper, but he died before that happened. Kevin Keenan _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

I realize that DZ.com has an international presence, however for the U. S. readers: A Great Idea!!! One more card surely won't hurt. When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following: A Recovering American soldier c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center 6900 Georgia Avenue,NW Washington,D.C. 20307-5001 If you approve of the idea, please pass it on to your e-mail list. Kevin Keenan

Nice likeness, Jim. That would certainly put you in the running for "most famous"... _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

We have a building where I work that could easily accommodate indoor BASE jumps... http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/facilities/vab.html _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?