4/22/07 A Day at Johnson Space Center

Today was a day for learning.

We arrived at Johnson Space Center (NASA) at around 10 a.m. and signed on the for the hour long tour by tram. (No it wasn't this cloudy, I switched the camera to black and white pics by mistake.)

We weren't sure if we were even going to get to see the Space Center since we were there just two days after the murder that took place in Building 44. Since that was an office building it wasn't part of the tour anyway so it didn't interfere with standard tourist operations.

First stop on the tour was Mission Control for the Space Shuttles. Not a mock up of this all important room, the actual Mission Control. We were surprised the room was so small. We guessed it to be 25' x 40'

The Space Shuttle Flight Control Room and the International Space Station Flight Control Room are basically identical in their equipment and supporting structure, however the ISS Flight Control Room is smaller than the Space Shuttle Flight Control Room and operates with fewer flight controllers. The Space Station Flight Control Room normally operates with a dozen or less flight controllers manning consoles, as compared to the 20 or so controllers normally manning the space shuttle room during a flight. Because the station team is smaller, the room has fewer consoles and is overall physically smaller than the shuttle room. The station room, however, uses workstations and support equipment identical to that used in the shuttle room, and most data related to flight control of the station or shuttle can be viewed from either room. In addition, the station room has two large display screens at the front of the room rather than three such as in the shuttle room, as well as fewer remote television cameras mounted in the room to provide a live broadcast of activities.

We heard a lot about the International Space Station and we were surprised at how fast it goes around the earth. I, personally, never give the thing much thought but was astounded to learn that it circles the earth every ninety minutes. I had no idea! It travels at 17,500 miles per hour! Our tour guide told us that the astronauts see sunrises and sunsets 16 times a day as they circle the planet.

The last building we visited housed an exact replica of the Saturn V Launch Vehicle. This is the launch vehicle that was used to send Americans to the Moon during the Apollo program from 1968 - 1970. The Saturn V also launched the Skylab Space Station into Earth orbit in 1973.

Here are some pictures of the Saturn V Launch Vehicle with an explanation of what you are seeing.

This first picture is of one of the five engines used to power this massive piece of machinery.

To give you an idea of just how big these engines are here is a picture of me standing in front of one for contrast.
A cluster of five engines like this one provided the power for the first stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle during the Apollo - Saturn test flights, manned flights to the moon and launch of the Skylab orbiting laboratory into Earth orbit. The engines were powered for two and a half minutes lifting the Saturn V to an altitude of about 41 miles and a speed of about 6,000 miles an hour. Each engine weighs 16,650 pounds.

The next picture is of the S-IC First Stage of the launch vehicle that was used to send Americans to the Moon during the Apollo program. The Saturn V sat on the launch pad for almost nine seconds after ignition and consumed 135 tons of propellant prior to lift off to build enough thrust. During the launch the S-IC burned over 15 tons of propellant per second in its five F-1 engines to boost the Apollo Saturn V manned vehicle the 57 miles downrange to an altitude of 41 miles in about two and a half minutes. The S-IC was then jettisoned as the S-2 was ignited. This stage is 33 feet in diameter and 138 feet long.

The next pictures are of the S-II, Second Stage. This stage, powered by five J-2 engines, propelled the launch vehicle to 108 mile altitude and 17,400 miles per hour. Over 2000 pounds of propellant per second were burned during its six and a half minutes of operation. The stage was jettisoned and S-IVB engine ignited to continue the spacecraft's journey into Earth orbit.

S-IVB Third Stage This stage boosted the CSM, (Command and Service Module)LM (Lunar Module) / SLA (Spacecraft Lunar Adapter) and IU (Instrument Unit) into Earth orbit about 12 minutes after liftoff. After the CSM and LM docked, and about three hours after achieving orbit, its engine was restarted to propel the spacecraft towards the Moon at 24,900 miles per hour. The S-IVB and IU were then jettisoned about 10,350 miles from Earth.

These pictures just don't do justice to how massive this space vehicle is.

So, dear readers, there it is, this is a small part of what we learned today. You probably could care less about what you just read but if we took the time to take the pictures, make notes about what each section does then darnit, you're going to see the pictures and read about it.

Our time at NASA came to a close and we headed back to the dreaded hotel room. We picked up Chinese on the way home, had dinner, watched TV and were thankful to get away for the weekend.