Mission Pictures

Here are two pictures that were taken during the mission. Usually a cameraman will come in an take pictures of the team while they are busy at work. Well, the cameraman just doesn't come at 2 or 3 in the morning...when i was on console. So you won't see any pictures of me "working."

The first picture is of the Orbit 3 Team. This is our customary team photo...the cameraman will wake up for this...


The second photo is something that I thought was a neat idea and I hadn't seen it done before...at least not while i've been paying attention. Our flight director let the individual teams get pictures with the patches and their various team identifying artifacts (i'm holding the ADCO's "attitude control device"). The girl to my right is Christina. She was my backroom support for the mission. The girls to my left (immediate left is Ann, and Erin is on the outside) are the OJTs (On the Job Trainees) that took it upon themselves to sit with us during the worst hours of the day for the mission.

Horelica House of Music (Memorial Edition)

Yesterday, the hardest workin' man in show business, the Godfather of Soul, the man with the hot feet, James Brown has passed on. It's a sad day in the music business all around. James Brown reached so many genres. I, for one, never thought this guy could die...he seemed immortal. Another subtle reminder that we are all human...

I will truly miss the man...but the music will live on.

Merry Christmas

I want to wish all of you out there a very Merry Christmas. I hope that those of you that travelled this holiday season, whether near or far, made it to your destination without any problems. And may your return trip be just as safe. I hope you got lots of gifts and holiday cheer. I'll see you when you get back...

Due to scheduling conflicts, me and my family will have our Christmas sometime in January. So, I still have presents to look forward to. It also gives me a little more time to do some Christmas shopping that i didn't get done because of the mission.

Here's a picture of Dad's little nutcrackin' army.





Merry Christmas...

Dad's side Christmas and some special Shit

...hehe, i do crack myself up with these titles i come up with...cause i know you see the title and say, "I need to read this..." I suppose that is how all the good articles start, with a good title.

So, on with it, i say. Last evening we had Christmas with my Dad's side of the family, a yearly tradition held at my aunt jerry and uncle jodie's place in East Bernard. We don't have the typical "Christmas dinner" either. The last few years there has been a seafood flair. This year, uncle mark whipped up some crab and shrimp gumbo. That was some good stuff. Too bad when it hits your stomach it expands like "super expanding foam insulation." Anyway, i would've eaten more had i had room to put it. Now, for the special shit...well, that is the seasoning that was available to use ... and it was pretty good. Aw Shit was around to spice things up a bit. I think i may have to order me a bottle or two. I'm not making this stuff up...go here to check it out.

The evening ended with the good old steal a gift game (i can never remember the name of it, but you get a gift, the next person has the option of stealing your gift or selecting another and so on...) I held on to some Stubb's barbeque sauce and Stubb's marinade with a heavy duty burger flipper. I was happy. I need to start grillin' again when the weather gets a little better...

Discovery Safely on the Ground

The STS116/12A.1 mission officially came to a close this afternoon with the safe landing of Discovery in Florida. The flight path of Discovery took it just north of Houston on it's trek to the cape. Dad was able to hear the double sonic boom as she flew in the vicinity. I was stuck in traffic on my way to East Bernard. Oh well...at least Discovery and her crew are safely back on the ground.
As mentioned before, this mission was the most difficult to date in the station assembly sequence. With that behind us, we look for the next challenge...which incidentally is every single day in the space business. It becomes a little more challenging when we do assembly tasks and fly a shuttle to the station. I suppose if you look to the future, the big challenges that remain are station assembly complete, retirement of the shuttle, building, testing, and flying the CEV (the shuttle replacement), going back to the moon, and eventually mars. Seems simplistic on paper, but there is a lot of work to do in the next 3 years (station assembly complete and shuttle retirement in 2010.) CEV development, now, testing flying by 2008, and man-rated by 2012? I think that is the time line. Missions to the moon in the late 20-teens/early 2020s. I plan to be at NASA through it all...hopefully.

What's Worse Than Losing...

...well, nothing really. Every loss has a different degree of sting. Sometimes, a loss can be coupled with other losses...it just depends on how you look at it. The MudDogs lost the Gilruth League Flag Football Championship tonight...We did a fairly good job of keeping the game close. We had the lead with several minutes to go (i'm not sure how much time was left). We were driving down the field when our drive stalled. The rain started to come down...hard. We decided to punt to force the other team to drive the field in the rain. Well, the rain hurt us...the snap was hindered by the inclement weather and in flag football rules, if the snap hits the ground, it's a dead ball...that's exactly what happened. We turned the ball over ... the other team was able to make the drive and score a touchdown. It wasn't over just yet ... we made a pretty impressive drive with little time to go...less that 2 minutes. Again, it came down to the last play of the game to decide the victory. Tonight, things just didn't go our way...the rain kept coming down...in fact it rained until the game was over...then it just kinda stopped...wierd.
...well cold rain, wind, a loss and dampened spirits made for quite a miserable evening. I guess we'll try to make a come back next year.

Phone Calls a Coming...

I know there have been a few of you out there who have been trying to reach me over the last few weeks. Now that the mission is over, for me, and the post mission activities are winding down and the holidays are quickly approaching, I'll be making attempts to return your calls. So remain patient, and i'll get back to you...

Tuesday League Champions...

We started our flag football league playoff tonight. I'm happy to report that we, the MudDogs, came out on top as Tuesday League Champions. As you might expect, the playoff games pitted the best teams together and both games were very close. In fact, they were so close that it came down to the very last few seconds.
The first game we were down most of the game...but with only a few minutes left in the game we were able to tie the game. A good defensive stint later, we pushed into over time. We go by college rules in this league, so each team had an opportunity to score from the 20yard line. Again, another great defensive stint prevented the other team from scoring...Now it was our chance to end the game...In this league, athleticism is not require, in fact it isn't even allowed. There is no jumping, spin-moves, diving, etc. On third down, cory made a break for the end zone, but "dove" across the line ... the refs called him for diving and put the ball on the 6" line. Tanner, our quarterback scrambled on 4th down, but found an open receiver...whew...that was a hard fought game...
In the next game we played against the only team to beat us. But we came out with a vengeance and put two scores on the board quickly. unfortunately we missed the extra points for both of those scores. Then it was back and forth up and down the field for a while. The other team was able to score on us and they were able to get the extra point. Score is now 12-7. After one of our drives stalled, we elected to punt the ball to force the other team to drive the field for the win. Time was a factor here. The other team had used all of their time-outs and was able to push to about the 15 yard line. With less than 15 seconds left in the game they dumped a short pass to one of the linemen and as he tried to score he dove across the line (Cory was able to pull his flag too). The refs called him down at the 2" line and time expired. Another close victory.

We play the Wednesday Champions on Thursday for the flag football Championship. But i hear that the team that we are likely to play is really good. So, be on the lookout for a post following Thursday's game.

The Final Shift

Well, i'm sure you've seen the news by now. We have successfully completed all the tasks that were outlined for the STS116/12A.1 mission. After a fourth spacewalk, the folding map issue had been overcome. The solar array is resting nicely in it's blanket box. No doubt, lessons learned from this mission will be applied to STS117/13A mission which will retract the other half of the problematic solar array. But we know how to do it now...the only objective left is to perform undocking, which will occur later this afternoon.

Well, I am done with the mission. I just completed my final shift. And the final shift didn't come without a failure...I guess I had to finish my first mission as an ADCO with some minor drama. This time the failure was a Russian computer, a computer that interacts with our motion control system computers. The Russian's have three identical computers that process the exact same information. This is their redundancy system...only one computer is "primary". Before tonight, only two computers were operational. One of the three had dropped offline a while back. Tonight, one of the remaining two computers failed and dropped offline. Now, we are operating on just one computer. This isn't all that critical and we are not terribly concerned with this...but it started to remind me of the simulation world where failures like this would happen routinely. My shift ended without incidence and I left the plan in good order for the next two shifts. Undocking will take place later today and that marks the end of the mission for the International Space Station team. The Shuttle team's mission will continue until Friday when Discovery is scheduled to land.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed working this mission. It was a lot of fun, despite the crappy hours and less than problem free mission. I am proud to be a part of the 12A.1 team. I'd like to congratulate Lisa on a well planned mission. Lisa work really hard to make sure this mission went off as smoothly as it did from the ADCO position. I'd like to thank Melissa Green for all her hard work in Moscow. I'd also like to thank my backroom (Christina) for her hard work from day to day. I'd also like to thank Christina for planning some of the social events that we had along the way. And I'd also like to thank all my OJTs (Erin, Ann, and Elizabeth) for the work they contributed on those tough days.

Again, I absolutely enjoyed this mission. The last two missions I was not able to enjoy due to the heather situation...hell, this was the first mission that i actually completed in full. My first mission LF1.1, i left early, and i filled in for a few days on the 12A mission. Both of those missions i supported from the backroom...as best as i could.

I look forward to my next mission (STS118/13A.1) which i am leading for my group. That mission is slated to fly in the summer of '07. Planning has already started on that mission and I hope to do as good a job as Lisa did on this mission. My mission will be a high profile mission -- the second launch of an Educator Astronaut and we'll be getting a new CMG. The first launch of an Educator Astronaut was Challenger in 1986.

Well...I'm gonna take a short nap so that I can start sleep shifting back to a normal schedule.

What Would've Been...

...the last day of the mission -- Day #9. Tonight was supposed to be the last night of the mission for me...but the extended day adds another day to my work schedule. Oh well...Tonight was supposed to be nice and relaxing. Not even 10 minutes into shift, we experienced a heart racing event. Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but it did race the heart rate a bit.
One of my jobs is to maintain the ISS's attitude control system. We have several different ways of maintaining attitude control, CMGs, Russian thrusters, a combination of the two, and orbiter control (when it's there.) We mostly use CMG attitude control because it doesn't cost us any limited resources (ie. propellant). Well today, we were on CMG attitude control and completing a small maneuver. The CMGs work by storing and dumping momentum that builds on the station. The maximum that the CMGs can hold is 99%. We tend to worry when our momentum levels start to approach high levels ... (high depends on the type of activity that we are doing). Today our momentum levels approached 91%...which is high. I think we're gonna start a new club at work: Near-sat club (which earns you a near-sat badge (Near Saturation is a term which indicates that you nearing that level of 99%...and for our system we set that at 90%))...a level up from that would earn you your LoAC wings (Loss of Attitude Control -- which will occur when CMG momentum levels reach 99%)...and the person that comes the closest to saturation without actually saturating will have an additional badge. Lisa gets the badge for the being the closest without saturating...she achieved the 98% level. It's not really something we strive for though...
Ok, i'm not sure you all understood that...and that's fine. So after a few minutes of trying to figure out what happened, i received a phone call. I figured out what caused our issues. Lisa. Yep, that's right, Lisa was still in the building. Most of our issues have occurred on her shift, so naturally i blame her for my experience last night...
Well, after that the rest of the night went really smoothly. I was able to get most of my work done and the plan for the next day was in a good configuration. Tomorrow will be my last shift of the STS116/12A.1 mission -- the most difficult assembly mission to date.

On another note, i'm beginning to feel like a vampire...except without the insatiable thirst for blood, the disdain for garlic and holy water, the pale skin, and the sharp incisors. I know it's time for bed, when the sun starts to come up. Today after our shift, we hit Taco Cabana and we knew it was time for bed when the sun started to creep up from below the horizon.

The 8th Day

Well, EVA #3 was a success. The ISS has been successfully re-wired and nearly every mission objective has been acheived. One objective, the retraction of the solar array (the 110 foot map folding task), still needs to be accomplished. There was some extra time after the main tasks of last night's EVA so the EVA crew members attempted to shake the solar array into submission. Unfortunately, the solar array is being stubburn.

Since this solar array hasn't been retracted successfully, an extra EVA has been scheduled to hopefully remedy that. That means I will spend an extra day on console as another day has been added to the mission. This doesn't affect any more of my Christmas plans...

Today's shift was a little more calm than the last two nights. We did some more execution tasks today and started to plan the extra EVA and undocking day timelines. I would've gotten that plan put together too, if it weren't for those meddling kids and that dog. Sorry...couldn't resist. I would've gotten that plan together, if it weren't for the shuttle guys who were a little behind on their planning tasks. Sometimes in this business you wait for someone to finish their work before you can complete your work, so that someone else can do their work based on your work. Get that? Good. An then it's a pain in the butt when the first party decides to change the timeline back to what was previously planned...after you did the work to plan it the way they wanted it....ahhhh...oh well...that's what we do.

On a non-mission related note, my Godson came to visit me today before leaving on Christmas break. Luke brought me gifts and a cute little smile! Next time you are over, you can see the "priceless" work of art he made for me! It sits on my end table for all to see. Thank you Luke.

And yesterday before work, i met with an old friend from college. I haven't seen him in years and it was a good visit. Good to see you again, Ramon. Thanks for the Freebirds!! It'll be my treat next time.

Well, that concludes my morning briefing. Off to get some sleep while it is still dark outside.

Shift Seven, Execute.

Good morning all. I'm home after completing my seventh shift. Today's shift was another execute-like shift. Orbit 3, also known as the planning shift, is mostly a planning shift. We look ahead to the next day(s) plan and make sure everything is in order so that the next two execute shifts can perform their duties without having to plan/replan something. We, on the planning shift, don't typically get to send many commands to the vehicle. Tonight we were trying to catch up with some tasks that we got behind on. So, the planning shift became an execute shift. I'm happy to report that we completed all the tasks that we fell behind on and we left the vehicle in a good configuration for the next 2 shifts. Today will be EVA #3 which will complete the power reconfiguration of station. Time permitting, the EVA crew may go try to coax that 110 foot map back into the folded position.
I still do not know if we are going to extend the mated mission by a day. Hopefully we'll know something later today. If we don't extend the mission, then i'll have two more shifts left to work on this mission. Then i can take a few days off to rest a bit. Then it's back to being Increment lead. We have a few activities coming up in January that i need to start planning for. Then as the increment winds down, my lead flight (STS118/13A.1) planning will start to increase, with the flight occuring in the summer time. After that, i will be able to take a sizable vacation. Not sure what/where i'll be doing/going, but i do want to take some time off...
Anyway...off to bed.

One Hard Shift

Wow...that was a hard shift. As i walked into the control room to start my sixth shift of the mission i knew it was going to be different than the previous five. Sometimes you can tell by the look on the person you are relieving how things have gone and how things will go. Lisa just laughed when i walked in.

Well our attitude control system was having issues and we didn't quite know why it was having problems. We attempted to provided non-propulsive attitude to the mated stack, but quickly learned that we couldn't. It turns out that the most likely cause of our issues was the atmosphere. Believe it or not, ISS is flying in an atmosphere...We have been having solar storms recently, which tend to cause the atmosphere to expand about the earth. When the atmosphere expands more and more molecules hit the station causing it to do weird things. If you looked outside this morning, you'll notice it is quite foggy. The air is a little bit thicker...Somewhat similar for space when there is solar activity. This expanded atmosphere puts more drag on the station causing it to turn in ways we don't want it to. These forces are absorbed by our Control Moment Gyroscopes, which is our source of non-propulsive attitude control. At some point, the CMGs can't absorb any more forces and we can't use the CMGs for attitude control anymore...we need propulsive attitude control.

Well, since the Discovery is visiting us, we asked politely to have the orbiter hold attitude control overnight for us. The kindly obliged. How nice of them!

Now, tonight, i had the task of figuring out what to do next. With the help of our engineering support we developed a plan that we put in place for the next shift to execute. After hours of coordination between the shuttle flight control team, the russians, some payloads people in alabama, and our engineering counterparts we developed a solid plan. I hope that plan I put in place will work...i might even wake up early to see how well it works. We do have a backup plan in place in case our first plan doesn't work.

I earned my paycheck tonight. It was a tough shift, but that's what i've been trained for...to work through adversity and persevere.
Space business is HARD.
Space business is cool.
I love my job!

Folding a 110 Foot "map"

Have you ever tried to fold a map? PITA, right? You can never get it folded properly...always a kink, or it folds the wrong direction...quite frustrating!!! Well, that's why i own a GPS... Now, imagine a 110 foot map...try folding that! Well, that's what we attempted to do yesterday. We tried to retract (fold) one half of one of our 110 foot solar arrays. And as expected...it folded like a map--it didn't. Well, not all the way. This was the activity that i was nervous about in my last post. Luckily, it retracted enough to allow us to start moving our other solar array wing. So, huge accomplishment there. And the other good news is that the mission is not impacted in any other way. Now we just need to figure out how to fully retract the solar array that is only partially retracted.

There will be meetings this morning and this afternoon to decide on how to do that. There might be an extension to the mission to get this done. An additional day on the mission shouldn't interfere with any more of my Christmas plans, so that's good.

My 5th shift wasn't too bad. It actually went by fairly quickly and I really wan't tired at all. I guess i have sleep shifted adequately. The next few days will be a little busier with all the up coming activities and the possibilty of adding another day to the mission.

Today's work will involve EVA #2, which will include some power reconfigurations. The station grows just a little more complex.

Day Four

Well, that's four shifts down with 5 more to go. All is going smoothly with the mission so far. There have been a few snags along the way, but all in all, things are going well. There was an EVA today. All went well.

Tonight's shift was a little more busy than the previous shifts. Sometimes you don't feel like you've accomplished anything...tonight was one of those nights. My backroom, Christina, and I did do a lot of work, but sometimes there isn't a lot to show for it. I did manage quite a few discussions tonight which leads to a lot of time writing down what was discussed and what still needs to be discussed. Poor Molly has a short novel to read each morning she takes over from me. Those of you that know me, I tend to talk a lot, sometimes too much. Well, it seems that rambling carries on to the paper.

Today will be one of the most nervous parts of the mission. We are going to retract a portion of one of the solar arrays so that we can use another set of solar arrays. This will be the first time that a solar array has been retracted on orbit. What makes everyone nervous is the fact that we need to retract this solar array to go on with the mission. And since that solar array has been exposed to the harsh environment of space for several years, people are nervous that it won't retract properly. I'm quite nervous...it's not my equipment, but i'm still nervous.
I suppose when i wake up i'll know the results of that solar array retract.

Wow...this is somewhat surreal. I'm at home watching a live interview with the Flight Director that is on my shift. I just left 45 minutes ago, now i see him on TV. Space business is cool.

For those of you that have NASA TV, you might have an opportunity to see me on TV. I've been watching some of the playbacks and I have seen myself a few times. My console position is the front left console in the room. If you see me on TV let me know...i'll revel in my 15 seconds of "fame."

Horelica House of Music (Edition # 13)

It's been a while since I did an edition of "Horelica House of Music." I know you sorely missed these editions. I had a few spare moments before getting ready for another shift, so i decided to pacify your needs.

The following two artists were given to me by my friend/co-worker. The first artist is Hotel Lights. I only have these artists in mp3 form, so i can't listen to them in the car....yet. I'm seriously considering going over to the darkside. Yes, that's right...i'm considering buying an iPod. I need a good mp3 player that i can take anywhere...and an mp3 player that has a lot of accessories. iPod fits the bill...

So, if you get a chance, check out Hotel Lights. It's soothing pop-rock.



The next artist is Cut Copy. I don't know too much about the artist, but it has a catchy 80s synthy sound.
I can't say that I would've gone out to seek these artists on my own. I'm not sure if these artists get any mainstream radio play or not...i believe it is probably more underground. So, it's good to have friends that suggest music that you would otherwise not even know about. Perhaps that is one of the goals of "Horelica House of Music."

Enjoy...Rock on.

Short Shift...Day 3

This morning was the shortest shift of the mission for me. The shuttle Discovery successfully docked to the station yesterday and the new truss segment was prepositioned for today's install. All this hard work was done by Molly and Lisa. Good job! This morning was another day of reviewing plans for the upcoming days. In less than 11 hours i'll be back on console. So, i hope to grab a good few hours of sleep this afternoon. I didn't get as much as i wanted yesterday, so i'm hoping to make up a little bit today.

After our shift this morning, some of the flight controllers hit IHOP for breakfast. Now, i'm tired and full...very condusive for getting good sleep. It's a bit odd to be going home when everyone else is coming from home...although it is quiet here...and sometimes having silence is welcomed.

Good night/Good morning....

Night Two with a Failure...

Welcome to ADCO Orbit 3 debrief number two. The second night was another nice morning full of planning work. This morning we made sure that the plan was in order for today's docking. Later this afternoon, the ISS will be receiving some visitors, which will officially kick off the mated portion of this mission. The shuttle has been playing catch up in space as well as doing a thorough inspection for any damage. No damage has been found and as of this writing the shuttle is still trying to catch up with the station.

We did have a failure on my shift (which i am hoping is the only failure we'll see on this mission.) One of our rate sensing devices failed. But there is a known phenomenon with this particular device so I was able to recover from the failure without breaking a sweat. I've had this particular failure on several occasions so it didn't bother me...you fix it and go on about your business.

I had some company tonight (er, this morning) on console. Thanks, Erin, for rolling out of your nice warm bed to do some On the Job Training. You made the morning go perceivably quicker. Looking forward to your visit tomorrow morning.

Well, it's raining right now and that makes for great sleeping weather...i'm off to slumber for a while...

One Shift Down...Eight more to go...

Well, the very first ISS shift of the STS116/12A.1 mission was a success. Tonight was somewhat calm...and i liked that. It gave me a chance to get in the groove of flying a mission. This also happens to be my first mission in the ADCO chair. There is a little bit more responsibility up there...but it's great. To think, my next flight will be MY flight...MY turn as a flight lead. My flight will be STS118/13A.1 in the summer time. It's just far enough away to not scare me yet. But i have a feeling that flight will be a hectic one...it will be high profile for sure. It is the second attempt to launch an Educator Astronaut. The first attempt was Challenger in 1986.

Back to this mission. The mission started out smoothly, with very little deviation from the way it was planned. I hope it stays this way throughout the mission. I'll try to keep a day to day summary of what happened on my shift...and perhaps summarize the rest of the day. It will just depend on how tired i am when i get home.

Stay tuned for ADCO Orbit 3 briefings, right here on HorelicaNet.
I'm off to get some sleep...

Discovery lifts off into the night!

Pretty spectacular launch. I heard it was in HD. Soon I'll have the capability to watch programs in HD, but for tonight, it was just regular old TV. Well, with the launch of Discovery, i'll be supporting the mission from the ADCO seat on the planning shift. Basically, I'll be making sure that the plan for the next day(s) are in order and ready to execute. If there are any changes that need to be made during the mission, i'll work to sort it out and get it ready.

Well, now that we've started the mission, i can say that only one of my Christmas plans will be affected. I will still be able to attend Christmas on my dad's side. And since i'm working the crappy shift, you probably won't see much of me over the next 9 days.
Go Discovery...this mission will be the most difficult mission of the assembly of the ISS.
Proud to be a part of it...

Launch Delay and Christmas Plans...

As you probably have heard by now, the launch of Discovery has been delayed due to weather. Next attempt will be tomorrow night (Saturday, Dec. 9th at 7:37pm central time). The weather will only be marginally better than today. The next launch attempt, if tomorrow is unsuccessful, is yet to be determined. The launch window extends through Dec. 25th.

This obviously could affect Christmas plans for a lot of people. I'm sad to say, but the launch delay has already affected my Christmas plans. I'll be missing Christmas on my mom's side of the family. This will be a big disappointment since it is always a good time. And Christmas on my dad's side is in jeopardy as well. Hopefully i can find some time to spend with my family for Christmas.

Well, stay tuned for the latest on the mission...
What are your Christmas plans and have they been affected by the launch delay?

Professor Thomas U. McElmurry

Yesterday, I learned that my very first Aero professor had passed away early last month. Professor McElmurry was a great professor. Aero201, i believe, was the class. This was our first taste of the aerospace world. I still have my model airplane that we built in that class. I still have the report of the airplane that i designed in that class. If i recall correctly, I was in the second to last class that he taught. I think there was one more class of students prior to him retiring. I was completely honored and privileged to be in the presence of this man. He had so many great stories to tell. Somewhere amongst his belongings is a book full of polaroid photographs. These photographs will contain each and every student he ever taught. That was his thing...at the beginning of the semester he'd pull out his camera and snap a few pictures of the class so that he'd be able to put a face with the names.
Below is the article that the Texas A&M Aerospace Department put together:

Thomas Uriel McElmurry

Aerospace engineering professor McElmurry remembered

Thomas Uriel McElmurry a visiting associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering for 13 years, passed away today (Nov. 3) at the age of 85. McElmurry, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, began his Air Force career at age 17 with the Army Air Force in Seward, Ak., eventually receiving flight training in Santa Maria, Calif., in 1942. After flying two tours of duty in World War II, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of

Michigan. Remaining on activity military and as a test pilot, McElmurry was chief of the Operations and Training Branch of the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base and an astronaut candidate in NASA Group 2, selected in

1961 for military astronaut class 1. He also was an instructor at the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, where he was involved with the NF104 space plane, and a test pilot at the Naval Weapons Center in California and at Holloman Air Force Base in

New Mexico. During his career with NASA, he was chief of flight crew operations in the Office of Manned Space Flight; chief of the Orbiter Atmospheric Flight Test Office; deputy manager of operations integration for the Space Shuttle Program; manager for operations integration for the Space Shuttle Program Office; and assistant for systems reliability and quality assurance for the Systems Division, Mission Operations. Upon retiring from NASA, he served 13 years on the Texas A&M aerospace engineering faculty. While at Texas A&M, he was the advisor to the student Aviation Association and the Corps of Cadets. In his spare time, McElmurry was a very active flight instructor and avid flyer.

Friends, Family, and Yehudi...

...I knew that the title would have you crinkle your nose with that bewildered look of, "huh?" I wonder what he's talking about now?? Sometimes a good piece of writing starts with the cleverity of the title...and oh yeah, cleverity is a new word. I shall petition Webster to add it to the next rev of the dictionary...(well, i'll save that for another time).

Today was a very long day...and it still isn't over. I woke up around 4:45am to get ready for a trip up to Aggieland. Every semester the senior Aerospace Engineering Students put on a CDR (Critical Design Review) for persons of industry (me). Well, i'm not the only one there, but you get the idea. Essentially, the senior's get to present their semester's worth of work on the design of an aircraft, rocket, or satellite. It is a chance for the seniors to get dressed up in suits and "practice" presenting critical data in front of people that can be critical. For some, this is their first time presenting in this fashion, and it shows. For others, it is a time to put forth the confidence of their studies and prove to persons of industry (some of whom have hiring power) why they would be a good candidate for that new opening. It is a great chance for us former students to go back and see it from "the other side of the fence." It's also a good time to mingle with the students and present them with some ideas of real world questions and concerns based on their designs. It is also a good chance for us former students to see our old professors and chat with them about the latest goings-on. Everybody wins...it's a great program that i hope to make every semester...time and schedule permitting.

I had fun today. This semester's crop of students were really good. I saw a lot of good things from those students and the tells me that the program at Texas A&M is still, if not better than, as great as it was when i was there. It's also good to see more space related stuff being thrown into the mix.

So the morning and most of the afternoon was spent watching, critiquing, eating, mingling, and reliving old times in the H.R. Bright building...my old stomping grounds. It was good to see some of my old professors again. I also learned that one of my professors had passed away about 3 or 4 weeks ago. This will be a separate post.

Knowing that i would be in College Station for the day, i called up an old friend from high school that i have not seen in many many years. Luckily she was available to chat for a bit. I went over to Kimberly's (formerly Nawara, now Winslow) office and chatted about the goings-on in our lives. I imagine it has been 10 or more years since i've seen her. We had a good chat. It was good to see her again. I told her to start reading my blogs...Hello Kim. So, that completes the Friends portion of the title.

Also, I thought I'd take my little cousin, Kristine, out for dinner. She's currently a student at Texas A&M and I haven't seen her in quite some time. Luckily, she was able work me into her schedule. We ate at this joint called "Boston's Aggieland." Pretty swanky little place with some really good food. We talked about all the goings-on in our lives. Yep, i have managed to use the word "goings-on" three times in this post. I had fun. I learned something about myself tonight that i hadn't heard before (or perhaps i heard, but didn't remember). Unfortunately, i'm going to make you wait for that one. Well, i hope to see you at Christmas, Kristine. If not then, then perhaps next semester when i return to Aggieland? Or i'm sure there will be other opportunities. Thanks for making time for me. Ok, that takes care of the Family part of the title.

Yehudi, Yehudi, Yehudi....what the hell is a Yehudi? I'm glad you asked. Believe it or not, it is an aircraft component. I was reminded of this word at today's presentations. Essentially, a Yehudi is the trailing edge portion of the often bulbous part of the airplane that stores the main landing gear when retracted. Usually found on transport/cargo aircraft that have a high wing. Here is a short blurb on where the name came from:

Apparently known as a “Yehudi”, this inboard trailing edge extension actually first appeared on the Boeing B-29 to solve a fuselage-nacelle interference problem. Douglas used it first on a swept wing transport on the D went to the -320 model.The name was first used to describe the wind tunnel part that was made on the spot during the wind tunnel test. “Who’s Yehudi” was a running gag on a popular radio show at the time, as well as the name of a popular violinist.

Here is a picture of a C141's Yehudi (that sounds dirty, doesn't it?)
So, this obviously completes tonight's title: Friends, Family, and Yehudi...

On my way back home, i stopped off at another friend's (Ann Marie) apartment to chat since i was in the neighborhood.

Well, that about sums up my Wednesday. Wednesday has turned into Thursday while i was constructing this post. Why am I still up, you ask? Well, i'm working on a strategy to sleep shift for the upcoming STS116/12A.1 Shuttle launch that is supposed to take place in about 16 hours, weather permitting. If we delay, i'll be wide awake in the middle of the night...oh what am i going to do with my time??? Perhaps you'll get another long post from me??

I hope you learned something from this post...hehe...Good evening/morning...

Random Musings...

1) No tumor or cancer cells present. Dad has been cleared of cancer. He still has to battle the Hepatitus C, but he responded well to drugs the first time around...we hope the same will happen this time.

2) MudDogs win another one. Tonight we played really well together. Game time temperature was 48 degrees. It was a fun night.

3) Slight update to the blog. I upgraded to a new template and it has a much more user friendly archive feature. I hope you like it.

I think i had more to say, but i can't remember right now...

Pretty Cool Space Stuff...

Today at work I supported the reboost of the ISS. Essentially we changed the Station's altitude to support the upcoming Shuttle mission. Well, during the reboost, which lasted about 23 minutes, the crew entertained us with a neat demonstration of the effects of a reboost on the inhabitants of the ISS. Mike LA took out a baseball. Not just any baseball, but an autographed official baseball of the 1984 World Series. LA took out the baseball to show the effects of the reboost. He held out the baseball and then released it (he imparted no forces on it). And within seconds, you could see the baseball accelerating away from the camera. There were about 400 micro-Gs of force acting on the ball and all occupants of the ISS. But this was enough force to accelerate the ball. Toward the end of the reboost, Mike LA, released the ball towards the camera with a small force. After a few minutes the ball came to a stop and then accelerated in the other direction...showing that the reboost was still in progress.
After the reboost was complete, which was unbeknownst to the crew, Mike LA again released the baseball in front of the camera. This time the ball remained where he placed it. Obviously the reboost was over...and to confirm it, Mike LA called down, "Is the reboost over?"

Now, you can get the same effect in an automobile here on earth. Place a baseball on the armrest and then mash on the accelerator...the ball is going to accelerate off of the armrest...not terribly exciting...

...Some things are just much cooler in space!

They're Everywhere!!!

...like the plague, they are everywhere. You know they are everywhere, but you don't realize that they are EVERYWHERE until you find one in your small hick hometown. Even a small town, one without a stoplight, one where all three schools (elementary, jr. high, and high school) are on the same patch of land, one where the town population barely reaches 4 digits. (Ok, so East Bernard has about 2000 people, but you get my point.) By now, i'm sure you are wondering what the hell am i talking about? McDonalds! That's right...The Golden Arches have invaded my hometown. Well, i suppose it could be worse.

On another note, i came home from EB and decided i'd make myself some egg sandwiches for supper. I made the first one disappear rather quickly. I turned my head to look at something on the computer, and when i turned my head back, Bowie (my cat) was trying to drag my sandwich off for himself. I guess he thought my egg sandwiches were tasty? He didn't get very far, so i was able to finish my egg sandwich. Sorry Bowie.