Naturalized-Texan
04-12-2006, 01:04 PM
Today, April 12, 2006, marks the 25th Anniversary of the first Space Shuttle flight
Twenty-five years ago, on April 12, 1981, the first Space Shuttle, STS-1 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/sts1/index.html) launched from the Kennedy Space Center. I worked on that project for 8 years.
When I returned to Houston in 1974, after 6 years in New Jersey and Maryland working on an anti-ballistic missile system and on missile detection radar systems (one of which is located in North Dakota not far from where Timberwolf lives), my first assignment was head up a team that was tasked to determine if the onboard software to fly the Shuttle based on NASA requirements would fit in the onboard computers. (Note: The company, from which I retired, IBM, produced the onboard computer and was responsible for developing both the onboard software and the ground control software.)
We determined that the software required by the NASA requirements would need a computer with twice as much memory and three times the speed that was available on the onboard computer. So, it was up to me to present the results of our study to NASA.
I presented the results to a roomful of NASA personnel headed by a NASA manager who virtually chain-smoked big black cigars. As I presented the bad news, the manager became angrier and angrier and the angrier he got the faster he smoked his cigars. By the time I was finished with my presentation the conference room was filled with his cigar smoke. My presentation triggered massive scrubs of the NASA onboard software requirements to make the software fit in the onboard computers.
Not long after the completion of that task, I managed a department that developed the onboard software for on-orbit flight control and for the guidance, navigation, and flight control for the reentry and for the approach and landing of the Shuttle.
I then moved on to the technical staff of the manager of all Shuttle onboard software. Besides advising my manager on technical issues, I was his representative on NASA review boards where proposed new requirements were discussed and acted on and where Change Requests (CRs) and Discrepancy Reports (DRs) for the onboard software were issued. I then reported on the proceedings of those meetings to my manager and to our software review board.
As part of those above two assignments, I attended many meetings with NASA personnel, including STS-1 Astronauts, Mission Commander, John Young and Pilot, Bob Crippen. I got to know both of them quite well.
One of my technical staff duties was to take onboard software employees on tours of the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) complex at NASA where astronauts train on fixed-based and motion-based Shuttle simulators. This was part of our Manned Flight Awareness Program. When I was touring the SMS in preparation for conducting the tours, I ran into Bob Crippen who asked me what I was doing there. When I explained, he told me that he and John Young were about to fly a Return to Launch Site (RTLS) abort mission on the fixed-based simulator. He invited me to sit in the back of the simulator and watch. It turned out that at the time the simulator software was incomplete for an RTLS abort so all the display screens went blank as they were about to turn around and head back to the Cape. When that happened, John Young screamed, “We’re gonna die! We’re gonna die! Aaaaaaahhhhh!” I’m sure he did that for my benefit.
We technical staff members happened to be at the Cape for a business trip when STS-2 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-2.html) was launched. Early in the morning of the launch, we visited the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where the Shuttle is assembled prior to launch. We were able to watch the launch from the road that the tractor uses to transport the Shuttle to the launch pad. We were probably only about 1,000 yards from the launch pad and when the sound waves from the Shuttle engines hit us we were almost knocked off our feet.
My wife and I were invited by one of our neighbors, Pilot Andy Allen, to attend the launch of his first flight, STS-46 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-46.html), the first tethered satellite mission. We were also invited to attend a reception for the families of the astronauts the evening before the launch. The Payload Specialist on this mission, Franco Malerba, was from Genova, Italy. The Mayor of Genova and the Senator who represented Genova each gave speeches, in Italian, of course. Despite the fact that the only word either of them spoke that we could understand was “Viva!” their pride in their native son was obvious.
As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed my work on the Space Shuttle.
Twenty-five years ago, on April 12, 1981, the first Space Shuttle, STS-1 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/sts1/index.html) launched from the Kennedy Space Center. I worked on that project for 8 years.
When I returned to Houston in 1974, after 6 years in New Jersey and Maryland working on an anti-ballistic missile system and on missile detection radar systems (one of which is located in North Dakota not far from where Timberwolf lives), my first assignment was head up a team that was tasked to determine if the onboard software to fly the Shuttle based on NASA requirements would fit in the onboard computers. (Note: The company, from which I retired, IBM, produced the onboard computer and was responsible for developing both the onboard software and the ground control software.)
We determined that the software required by the NASA requirements would need a computer with twice as much memory and three times the speed that was available on the onboard computer. So, it was up to me to present the results of our study to NASA.
I presented the results to a roomful of NASA personnel headed by a NASA manager who virtually chain-smoked big black cigars. As I presented the bad news, the manager became angrier and angrier and the angrier he got the faster he smoked his cigars. By the time I was finished with my presentation the conference room was filled with his cigar smoke. My presentation triggered massive scrubs of the NASA onboard software requirements to make the software fit in the onboard computers.
Not long after the completion of that task, I managed a department that developed the onboard software for on-orbit flight control and for the guidance, navigation, and flight control for the reentry and for the approach and landing of the Shuttle.
I then moved on to the technical staff of the manager of all Shuttle onboard software. Besides advising my manager on technical issues, I was his representative on NASA review boards where proposed new requirements were discussed and acted on and where Change Requests (CRs) and Discrepancy Reports (DRs) for the onboard software were issued. I then reported on the proceedings of those meetings to my manager and to our software review board.
As part of those above two assignments, I attended many meetings with NASA personnel, including STS-1 Astronauts, Mission Commander, John Young and Pilot, Bob Crippen. I got to know both of them quite well.
One of my technical staff duties was to take onboard software employees on tours of the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) complex at NASA where astronauts train on fixed-based and motion-based Shuttle simulators. This was part of our Manned Flight Awareness Program. When I was touring the SMS in preparation for conducting the tours, I ran into Bob Crippen who asked me what I was doing there. When I explained, he told me that he and John Young were about to fly a Return to Launch Site (RTLS) abort mission on the fixed-based simulator. He invited me to sit in the back of the simulator and watch. It turned out that at the time the simulator software was incomplete for an RTLS abort so all the display screens went blank as they were about to turn around and head back to the Cape. When that happened, John Young screamed, “We’re gonna die! We’re gonna die! Aaaaaaahhhhh!” I’m sure he did that for my benefit.
We technical staff members happened to be at the Cape for a business trip when STS-2 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-2.html) was launched. Early in the morning of the launch, we visited the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where the Shuttle is assembled prior to launch. We were able to watch the launch from the road that the tractor uses to transport the Shuttle to the launch pad. We were probably only about 1,000 yards from the launch pad and when the sound waves from the Shuttle engines hit us we were almost knocked off our feet.
My wife and I were invited by one of our neighbors, Pilot Andy Allen, to attend the launch of his first flight, STS-46 (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-46.html), the first tethered satellite mission. We were also invited to attend a reception for the families of the astronauts the evening before the launch. The Payload Specialist on this mission, Franco Malerba, was from Genova, Italy. The Mayor of Genova and the Senator who represented Genova each gave speeches, in Italian, of course. Despite the fact that the only word either of them spoke that we could understand was “Viva!” their pride in their native son was obvious.
As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed my work on the Space Shuttle.