Geek Gestalt

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.

Somewhere near the town of Good Hope, Ala., my odometer for Road Trip 2008 hit 1,000 miles exactly. Road Trip 2007 clocked 4,891 miles.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

GOOD HOPE, Ala.--Somewhere along Interstate 65, on my way to Huntsville, Ala., the home of Space Camp, I hit exactly 1,000 miles of driving since Road Trip 2008 began.

I'm sure that there will be many more of these milestones, since I still have many, many more places to visit on this trip, and since last year's trip clocked 4,891 miles.

Still, I love to commemorate these round numbers, so bear with me.

It's been a busy 1,000 miles. Over the last week, Road Trip 2008 has taken me to a wide variety of places.

I spent parts of several days at Disney World, including a visit to the Animal Kingdom, and another to both Hollywood Studios and Epcot Center's greenhouse project.

I spent a day backstage at La Nouba, the Cirque du Soleil's Disney World show, and then I moved onto more serious matters: A Lockheed Martin military simulation facility. As well, I toured Adacel's Orlando, Fla., headquarters, where I was shown some of the latest technology for helping air-traffic controllers be more efficient at their jobs.

Toward the end of the week, I visited Kennedy Space Center, both for a series of tours of different elements of that gigantic facility and then to watch the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

The view of the lush green surroundings alongside I-65 that was out the window of the Subaru Outback I am driving on Road Trip 2008

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Last night, I spent the evening in the gorgeous river town of Savannah, Ga. And now, I have stopped in Huntsville so that I can spend the day at Space Camp On Monday.

And then, well, it's on to the next 1,000 miles.

Stay tuned to Road Trip 2008, by following this blog, as well as my Twitter feed and my Qik channel.

Space Shuttle Discovery's nose touches down on runway 1-5 at Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle landed precisely on time after a 5.7 million mile, two-week mission to the International Space Station.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Discovery has returned.

With a puff of smoke from its wheels touching down on runway 1-5 here, the space shuttle completed its 5.7 million mile mission Saturday at precisely 11:15 a.m. and 19 seconds EDT to the cheers of a crowd gathered to watch it land.

For the most part, it was an uneventful arrival, if you can call something like this uneventful.

For me, visiting Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on my Road Trip 2008 through the South, it was a wonderful experience. I knew I was coming here when I planned the journey and had hoped to make it to the launch on May 31. But hey, landings are important, too.

The shuttle comes into view on its landing approach.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

The day began with a little bit of uncertainty as to whether the landing could go off as planned. Not that anything was wrong, but the way these things go, the green light isn't given until about an hour and a half before the scheduled return.

In the case of Discovery, the thumbs-up was broadcast at 9:48 a.m. EDT, an hour and 27 minutes before planned touchdown.

From that point on, it was just a matter of waiting as the shuttle made its way down from space, a place rather higher than the sea level ground here at KSC.

In the interim, the gathered crowd--dignitaries, press, NASA personnel, and others--were treated to regular updates over loudspeakers from mission control in Houston. Things like new data on how high the shuttle was, or how fast it was going, or its rate of descent.

It turns out the shuttle moves really fast. Like more than 25 times the speed of sound on its return to Earth.

While I'm sure there were never any safety concerns about Discovery, this is not the best-looking aircraft. As it passed us by on the runway, I noticed that it looked pretty beat up. It's just survived the rigors of millions of miles of space travel, but still.

As a fellow reporter back in the press building noted, "If that was your plane on Continental, you wouldn't get on it."

But that's just quibbling. This was, by all accounts, a perfectly normal mission that launched on time and returned on time.

Given that most commercial airlines can't be bothered to maintain that track record, you have to give NASA a nod for its punctuality.

Afterward, the shuttle sat on the runway and was approached by a 40-vehicle convoy tasked with getting the crew out of the aircraft and bringing the mission to a close (see video below).

Of course, the mission, known as STS-124, did have some practical responsibilities.

Among them were delivering the pressurized module and robotic arm of the Japanese Experiment Module, known as "Kibo" (which means "hope"), to the International Space Station.

The shuttle was piloted by Navy Commander Kenneth Ham. Other mission specialists onboard were NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg; Air Force Col. Ronald Garan; and Air Force Reserve Col. Michael Fossum. In addition, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide joined the mission as a specialist.

Further, the mission was about depositing astronaut Gregory Chamitoff on the Space Station. Chamitoff took the place of Garrett Reisman.

Now, as NASA prepares to move into the Constellation program, the shuttle is one mission closer to retirement. With just nine missions left until the 2010 end of the program, every opportunity to see something like Discovery's landing is a rare opportunity, indeed.

A sign along a road at Kennedy Space Center illustrates that something special is afoot at the facility Saturday.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Update 8:15 a.m. PDT: Discovery has landed. At precisely 11:15 and 19 seconds a.m. EDT Saturday, the space shuttle completed its 5.7 million mile journey by touching down here. Stay tuned for a story and photos.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--"Discovery, you are go for deorbit burn."

With those words, spoken at 9:48 a.m. EDT by someone at mission control in Houston and heard here over a loudspeaker system, we all got the good word that Space Shuttle Discovery, which has been on a two-week mission to the International Space Station, has gotten clearance to land.

This is good news because there's a whole bunch of media gathered here, where I've come on Road Trip 2008, expressly for the purpose of documenting the shuttle's landing. It's safe to say there would have been a lot of grumbling if the landing had been scrubbed, as was certainly a possibility if the weather here had been less than ideal.

But a few scattered clouds aside, it's a beautiful day on the Florida coast, and so unless something radical changes in the next hour and 19 minutes, we're going to get treated to the blur of the shuttle zipping by at high speed on the runway in front of us.

Of course, when it comes to the race to capture images of this momentous event, I am seriously out-gunned by most of my fellow media colleagues here.

I'm a little intimidated by the camera equipment my media colleagues here at Kennedy Space Center have brought. Their giant lenses make my little 70-300m lens seem puny by comparison.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

It's not that I don't have some decent camera equipment, carrying as I am a Nikon D60 digital SLR and a 70-300mm telephoto lens. It's just that this is really good equipment for, say, shooting pictures of players on a field at a baseball game. For a fan.

All around me, though, are camerapeople with truly impressive lenses. Tripods that hold multiple cameras. Heck, one guy pulled his monstrous lens out of a sleeve almost bigger than my backpack.

So, getting some good shots of the shuttle as it rolls by on the runway far in front of us is going to be a challenge. But I'm up to it.

And at precisely 10:10 a.m. EDT, the deorbit burn began, 218 statute miles above the Indian Ocean. The landing is on.

So stay tuned to this space. If all goes well, in a couple hours, I'll be posting about the landing and, fingers crossed, including some nice photos.

Wish me luck.

NASA and Disney are teaming up to put a figurine of 'Toy Story' space ranger Buzz Lightyear on the Space Shuttle Discovery when it launches on Saturday. The toy will be taken to the International Space Station, the destination for the shuttle.

(Credit: Disney)

Talk about cross-promotion.

One of the closest things to Disney World's Orlando, Fla., home, is NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This is relevant because on Friday, it was announced that among the objects expected to be blasted into the sky with the planned Saturday launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is a figurine of Toy Story space ranger Buzz Lightyear.

Disney World, of course, is where the new Toy Story Mania ride has just opened.

The idea behind putting Buzz Lightyear aboard the Space Shuttle has to do with the "Toys in Space" initiative NASA and Disney are starting. This is an educational program designed to inspire children's interest in space and celestial discovery.

This is all also relevant to me because on June 10, I'll be hitting the highways for Road Trip 2008. I'll start in Orlando, and before I visit many of the South's most interesting destinations, I'll be stopping by both Disney World and the Kennedy Space Center.

At the theme park, I expect to visit and do a story on the Toy Story ride, and at the NASA facility I hope to be able to see the Space Shuttle land.

If the latter happens, however, I won't be seeing Buzz Lightyear, as the toy will have stayed behind on the space station.

Stay tuned to the Road Trip, and be sure to keep up, both now and during the trip, with what I'm doing on Twitter.