Geek Gestalt

This is the flight control room used for the Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions, as well as for most of the manned Apollo missions, including the first to the moon, Apollo 11, and Apollo 13. It is now a Historical Landmark.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

HOUSTON--"Houston, we have a problem."

If there is a five-word phrase more recognizable than that in the annals of modern science or space exploration, I want to hear it.

For my entire life, the "Houston" in that phrase was an abstract term, a reference to a disembodied place where people wield God-like powers--or don't, as the case may be--over the astronauts who were themselves abstract to me. I'd never seen them, and I wasn't old enough to have watched any of the mythical rocket launches prior to the Space Shuttle.

But earlier this week, I finally was able to put a face to this "Houston" name. That's because, as part of Road Trip 2008, I spent a big part of a day at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) here, the very center of everything in that science-fictional image of space exploration.

Today, JSC is in the middle of preparing for one of the biggest transformations that exists in the space business: the roll-over from one major program to the next. That's exactly what's under way, in one form or another, here and at every other NASA center, as the agency begins to move from the Space Shuttle--which most likely has just nine more launches in its future and which is planned for a 2010 phase-out--to Constellation, the let's-go-to-the-moon project scheduled for official launch around 2013.

But for now, the shuttle is still king of the hill here, with the International Space Station, of course, whose constant stocking with parts and modules and supplies is one of the major jobs of the shuttle program these days, playing the role of, er, prince? Queen?

Where history was made
My first stop was taken at Building 30, Mission Control.

That meant starting with a swing past the current Mission Control room, where every Space Shuttle mission since 1995 has been run. It's actually a much smaller room than I had imagined. It's compact, and packed tight with computers, desks, people, and chairs, yet it still maintains a much-deserved aura as a room where really important and historical things are being facilitated.

Nearby was the Mission Evaluation Room, where a posse of technicians go over data coming in from the shuttle when it's above the Earth. These people are called the "chit kickers," because a chit is an open data-processing work order, and their job is to close them.

The 'chit kickers' are technicians who work in the Mission Evaluation Room to evaluate all the Space Shuttle data as it comes in. A chit is an open work order. Their job is to close them.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

We also visited three other mission control rooms, including the original International Space Station (ISS) flight control center, which it outgrew not long ago. This is now being used to train the teams that will run the October shuttle mission to work on the Hubbell telescope and is also the spot for ISS mission control training.

Next up was the current ISS control room, which, back in the day, was used as mission control for the early Apollo launches and was later, until 1995, the spot for running the shuttle. The very first Space Shuttle mission, in 1981, was run out of this room.

As we peered into the room from an observation deck above, we noted that Shannon Lucid, herself an astronaut from 1979 to 1996, was working CAPCOM--or spacecraft communicator--for the crew currently on the space station.

Before there can be astronauts in space, however, they have to train their tails off. And JSC is a very, very big part of that process.

That's why our next stop was the home of the fixed space simulators.

As with much of JSC--and Kennedy Space Center, for that matter--this facility is finishing up its shuttle work before moving on to Constellation. But right now, everywhere you look on its huge main floor, there are very visible reminders of where NASA is in its evolution.

In the building, there is also a series of training rooms where instructors take the future astronauts and lead them through what amounts to classroom work.

Among the elements covered are communications, data processing, control aerodynamics--that is, rocket motors--and more.

One thing that's good about these facilities is that they can be fully integrated with training rooms and simulators at any NASA center--or even foreign partner center. That means that specialists can be brought in via video link to any training, as necessary.

While I was there, several crew members, including upcoming STS-125 shuttle mission commander Scott Altman--who did a lot of the stunt flying in Top Gun, I was told--were inside the Shuttle Motion Base Simulator, a mock-up of a shuttle cockpit that can be shaken or tilted to give the crew a little bit of experience of a launch.

There's also a fixed base simulator, which is aimed at giving the crew a taste of running the shuttle in zero-G conditions.

From my perspective, because I got to go inside it, the best part was the cockpit simulator, a full replica of a real shuttle cockpit that is designed to present the astronauts with exactly what they will be dealing with at launch and while in space.

"We have to have it the way it is," said Jerry Swain, the Fixed Space Simulator facility manager. "They'll be strapped in and...get used to the way it is in the real vehicle."

I can't really comment on the veracity of that, having never flown a Space Shuttle, but it was pretty cool being in this faux cockpit. I stood there, knowing that probably most Space Shuttle astronauts, and other luminaries, like Bill Clinton, had sat in the seats here.

The electronics were real. The switches were real. The set of controls used to dock the Space Shuttle with the space station were real. The view of outer space was real. Okay, perhaps not that.

Inside the Space Shuttle cockpit trainer, which is designed to be an exact replica of a real shuttle's cockpit, these are the rear docking controls that allow the pilot to dock with the International Space Station.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Our next stop was Building 9, the Vehicle Mock-up Facility.

Here, there were two full-scale models of the shuttle, as well as several mock-ups of specific parts of it. Among them was one of the giant robotic arms used to move cargo in and out of the shuttle's massive bay.

But much more interesting--and forward-looking--was something called Chariot.

This is a prototype of the lunar truck NASA wants to put on the Constellation missions and take out on the moon. This will be a rover unlike any seen before. It will have the ability to range away from its power source for up to eight hours on six sets of wheels, each of which has fully independent movement, making it possible to move around in any direction at any time.

The idea here is that rather than having one rover, there will be several Chariots on the moon. And this would mean that any one of them would not need to come all the way home each day, allowing crews to range farther and father away from the landing site.

Inside the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at Johnson Space Center, there is a full-scale replica of the robotic arm used to move cargo in and out of the shuttle's bay.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Additionally, it is being built to support a pressurized module that can sustain a couple of astronauts for a day or two, all with the goal of being able to perform much more complex experiments than were possible during the Apollo moon missions.

But there are other kinds of training these astronauts have to do, and my last visit of the day was to the VR Trainer, a specialized room where folks like Dave Homan design virtual-reality systems that help crew members learn how to prepare for the extravehicular activity (EVA) they will take part in on the space station.

Essentially, that means learning how to handle themselves in open space, outside the ISS.

Among the tools created here is a software program that can run on powerful machines at JSC or even on laptop computers on the space station. Astronauts can either step into a VR helmet and gloves in Houston, or run the software on their laptops in space and try out various maneuvers they will have to do on the outside of the ISS.

And so when I put on the helmet and gloves, I suddenly found myself in a very realistic representation of space, floating around outside the space station, wiggling my hands in front of me as Homan rotated me around the floating research institution.

It wasn't exactly photo-realistic, but it was certainly better than a video game, particularly because of the immersive nature of wearing a specialized helmet.

And that was more or less it. After a day at JSC, I walked away having been to several of the trainers used by real astronauts and even tried my hand, sort of, at a space station EVA experiment.

So, NASA, next time there's an opening for a crew member, I think I'm ready. Think seriously about giving me a call.

Please stay tuned to find out if NASA does call, or even if they don't, on this blog and on my Twitter feed and my Qik channel.

Launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. The pad was originally designed for the Apollo program, and has been used for many space shuttle launches. Now it's being readied for the Constellation program, NASA's next-generation launch vehicles.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--I'd just walked into the press center here the day before the scheduled landing of Space Shuttle Discovery and located Allard Beutel, the head of public affairs, when I sensed that something was wrong.

Apparently, some little piece of the shuttle had broken off in space. Now, reporters from around the world were barraging Beutel and his team of NASA PR folks with demands to know what was going on.

"'You're stranding your crew in space, they can't come home,'" Beutel told me was the common sentiment he was getting from the reporters on the phone. "Ahhh, I didn't say that."

Suffice it to say, it was decided that there was no threat, and later in the day, we heard the landing had been given the thumb's-up.

I had come to Kennedy Space Center on Road Trip 2008 for a series of tours of KSC, one of the most storied space sites in the world and the host of, counting Discovery's successful return Saturday, 69 landings over the years.

Of course, being here so close to the shuttle landing, I stuck around to watch what turned out to be a nearly flawless event, blessed with clear skies, perfect timing, and a smooth arrival.

One of the well-recognized engine nozzles from the rear of the space shuttle sits on the ground of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

On Friday, the first stop on my tour was what is known as Pad B. It's actually launching pad 39B, and it was originally designed for the Apollo program. It's rarely used these days for launches, while its counterpart, Pad A, is where most of the recent space shuttle launches have been from.

However, this October, Pad B will be set up for a launch because simultaneously, over on Pad A, a shuttle will be heading off into space for a Hubble Telescope repair mission. But Pad B is made ready with a second shuttle, just in case NASA has to undergo an emergency rescue mission.

Either way, the minute the Hubble Shuttle mission is over, NASA will begin modifying Pad B for the launch of the Ares 1X rocket, the first Constellation-era test rocket, which is planned for next April.

Constellation is NASA's next big space program. It encompasses a five-stage rocket, topped by the Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV). And while there are still nine more shuttle launches planned through 2010, Constellation will supplant the shuttle when the first Ares 1 shoots into space, sometime in 2012 or 2013.

"Once Hubbell goes out, we need to start working as fast as possible to get ready for the launch of Ares 1X," said Jose Perez Morales, the Constellation pad senior product manager.

Next up, I was taken over to the VAB, a gargantuan building that stands 525 feet tall and takes up 8 acres of space.

The VAB was built in 1962 for the Apollo program, and it is still the building where the space shuttles are mounted to their external tanks and solid rocket boosters. The building has four "high bays," each a huge working area that rises all the way to the 525-foot height of the VAB, and where different kinds of work are done.

And, since NASA is transitioning to Constellation, the VAB will play its part there. According to product manager Phil Bennardo, high bay No. 3 will be converted for the assembly of the Ares 1 rockets. Similarly, high bay No. 1 will be converted for assembly of Ares V cargo launch vehicles after the Shuttle program ends.

Being that this was a day of tours, we had to hustle off to the launch control center (LCC) next. This is a complex with a series of large control rooms, called firing rooms, that are straight out of the movies: the huge windows, banks of computers, large numbers of chairs and sense that you could run a rocket mission from them.

Firing room 1 in the launch control center (LCC) at Kennedy Space Center is currently being retrofitted for the first test launch of the Constellation program, which is scheduled for April, 2009.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Well, the truth is that NASA's missions are run out of Johnson Space Center in Houston, but the firing rooms at KSC are where the launch director and other top officials sit and monitor progress as craft like Discovery are on the go.

However, like much of KSC, the LCC is in a transition period, as it is being converted over from shuttle operations to Constellation.

We went first into firing room 1, which has the look of an office space after a dot-com has gone bust. It had lots of empty space, a stack of rolling chairs in the back, and a bunch of computer racks sitting empty.

In fact, though, this room is in the middle of being built-out for future Constellation mission operations.

Like Pad B, firing room 1 is getting ready for the April launch of Ares IX, and as a result NASA is training an entirely new team to work together in this room.

I was then escorted into firing room 2, which is still operational as a space shuttle support facility. During a shuttle launch and a mission, NASA will staff the room with several managers and chief engineers, but will not place any command and control people there. Essentially, it seemed like the place for managers to observe the mission while the folks in Houston run it.

However, there are two other firing rooms, Nos. 3 and 4, where the prime shuttle operations are run out of KSC.

Firing room 4 is also where the KSC shuttle landing team is based, though that part of a mission is still run out of Houston. But once a shuttle touches down and the team that processes the shuttle's cooling down, cleaning and oxygen, and hydrogen purging is finished, there is a formal hand-off of authority from Houston to KSC staff and the shuttle is then towed off the runway.

I was exhausted by now, so it was time for lunch. But afterward, the tour started right up again.

The assembly plant where the Orion crew exploration vehicle will be built.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Next was a visit to the operations and checkout facility, one of the older buildings at KSC and now in the process of being completely gutted and retrofitted so that it can house the assembly of the Orion crew exploration vehicle that will top the Ares 1.

As mentioned earlier, the date for the projected first launch of the Ares 1 is scheduled for 2013, but as Richard Harris, the director and deputy program manager of the Orion initiative--a Lockheed Martin employee--told me, the date keeps slipping because of budget problems.

We took a walk-through of the building, and what was incredible was how fast Harris' team is working. Right now it looks like construction has just begun on the facility, but he said that work will be done by November, and that he is absolutely on schedule.

After our visit to the O and C, I was escorted to a nondescript building that, it turned out, is where the parachutes for Orion and the space shuttle boosters are made.

And when I say parachutes, I don't mean for the astronauts. I mean for the rocket boosters.

These are unlike anything I'd seen before. They're simply massive, and, according to Terry McGugin, manager of parachute operations, the three parachutes required to bring the solid rocket boosters gently back to Earth would cover a total of up to 2 acres.

One of the first things we saw here was the washing machine for the parachutes, which must be thoroughly cleaned after each trip into space.

This is a packed parachute for the Ares 1X rocket, which is the first test of the Constellation program. In order to get the parachute into its package, it is put under 3,000 pounds of thrust.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

This, of course, is not the kind of machine you'd find in a laundromat. Rather, it's more like a car wash on steroids. McGugin's team loads one of the parachutes inside it, leaves it in five feet of water for four to six hours and then is hung out to dry in an equally large dryer.

There are three parachutes utilized to bring the solid rocket boosters down: a pilot, which gets the process started, a drogue, which slows the booster down and gets it pointed in the right direction and the main, which lowers it to Earth.

One interesting thing was that there were industrial sewing machines arrayed around the facility. That's because, McGugin said, each parachute requires up to 400 repairs after a trip to space.

Further, the parachutes use extremely strong materials and Kevlar thread to ensure that they can resist the rigors of space.

This is the cupola, a contribution from the Italian Space Agency. It is designed to give those living on the International Space Station extra windows.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

I particularly enjoyed seeing one of the parachutes packed up and ready to go. There was one already packed for the April 2009 Ares 1X test launch, and it was jammed into a package about half the size of a Smart car. McGugin explained that the facility has a machine that puts the parachute into the package with 3,000 pounds of force.

There were still two stops to go on the tour, and if you're exhausted by reading this, imagine my day.

The penultimate stop was to the International Space Station processing facility, where engineering project manager Shirish Patel showed me around.

He pointed out the express racks, which are packed with equipment for experiments, making sure that every single inch of space is used. Sixteen of these racks go into the multipurpose logistics module, which is essentially a shipping container that goes on the space shuttle when making a mission to the space station.

The Discovery mission, in fact, had taken up Kibo, the Japanese experiment module, which was built by JAXA, the Japanese space agency, and which is designed to help that country's scientists do research on the space station.

One of the last elements of the space station that still has to go up is the cupola, an add-on that will give those spending time there a set of windows to look out of.

The very last stop was to see a prototype of the heat shield that will go on the bottom of the Orion CEV (see video below).

Made by Boeing, the heat shield is currently being tested to see if a custom robot built just for it can detect intentionally made defects in its construction. The idea is that if it can, it should also be able to find any unintentional defects in the heat shield that actually goes on the Orion CEV.

By now I wasn't seeing straight anymore, so it was time to leave. My gracious hosts had ushered me through one of the most intense tours I'd ever been on, and they, too, seemed ready to drop.

But how can you complain after getting to peek behind the scenes at some of the most advanced rocket science going on in the world today? I know that when the next shuttle launches, and when the Constellation program begins to get under way next year, I'll be looking at things a whole lot differently.