So I’ve heard a lot lately about Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper losing a gear bag on orbit in media outlets that normally don’t cover manned spaceflight, or only do so when we in the NASA community have a bit of a stumble. Shoot, it was in the top-of-hour NPR news rundown this morning, and it’s reputed as “one of the largest” losses of equipment in orbit—but, you’ll note, not the largest. [Who made the biggest mistake? Who knows outside NASA.]

Some will argue that losing $100,000 of taxpayer equipment is the story. Frankly, I’m afraid that it’s latent sexism, and that everyone wants to mock the woman who screwed up. That’s patently unfair—Piper is highly regarded in the EVA community for being one of the best; if she weren’t, she wouldn’t be assigned to fix the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and be the lead spacewalker on a flight that has this many spacewalks.

As the project manager for some hardware that Heide will be working with on STS-126—including some contingency hardware I hope she never has to use ;)—I know that she’s got a hard job. Crew lose track of equipment from time to time, and in microgravity, what you drop doesn’t land at your feet. Is it a big deal she lost this hardware? Yeah, but she knows that. But the way I keep hearing the coverage, it’s more a big deal that she dropped it, and that sends a terrible message to any young girls and women looking to follow in her footsteps—that the media is going to make your life hell if you screw up, but is going to give the boys a pass.

Pisses me off.

I received a PDF of Barack Obama’s space platform, and I think I should make it available here: Barack Obama’s Space Platform.

All such platforms have “code words” that let interested parties know what the candidate believes. As I work in the industry, I’m probably a good person to help decipher those for you. After all, I was ready to not vote for the man because of his views, just as I voted with my job four years ago. So, here are some thoughts that came to me as I read through the PDF; if you’ve got questions after reading the below, feel free to ask in the comments!

• Initial cut is promising, as he mentions Kennedy. Whatever else his other failings, NASA nerds love JFK.
• The Challenge states the problem pretty well, but it tries to argue that this is a Bush problem; yes, and no. How this Administration has funded NASA hasn’t exactly made me happy, but hey, it’s better than the Dan Goldin years. Obama’s campaign is right, though, that cuts in NASA’s non-exploration tasks have been far too drastic—and I say that as someone who firmly believes that manned exploration is very important and hates the robots über alles attitude of JPL.
• I like the idea of pushing NASA science to help us understand things here. That’s honestly the truth, and the cuts made were too drastic. Plus, it fits into Obama’s larger mindset of where this country needs to go.
• Reviving the NASC can’t hurt, and will probably help.
• Re: Closing the Gap: You can call this a flip-flop, but I just don’t care—recognizing that you were wrong and that there are better ideas is something we haven’t seen out of the White House in far, far too long. [And I'm not just talking about Bush 43.] Also, the words about “foreign space capabilities” means “Russia”, for those not playing at home. Since, oh, that tiff with Georgia, we’ve all wondered about that around here. [And not just because some rednecks in Lower Alabama were polishing their guns, thinking the Red Bastards were about to invade Dothan.]
• Obama’s ISS stance is, “Hey! We built a big lab! Let’s use it for science!” Well, yes. ISS has always been about engineering, on-orbit construction, and international cooperation [except with those pesky Chinese, who won't be allowed to dock], but when you’re done with it … dammit, it better be about more than providing The Big Picture with pretty photos of hurricanes. But after saying all that stuff about “foreign space capabilities” before, Obama notes that ISS was also a jobs program for Russian rocket scientists in the 1990s. And that, folks, is probably why the Iranians can’t nuke us today.
• Human space exploration: he wants ESA or JAXA to make a manned push so it’s not just us, the Russians, and the Chinese. Makes sense. I prefer JAXA—the Japanese make better aerospace decisions. [Note: my company and my group specifically work with JAXA contractors.]
• Robotic exploration: let’s make California happy. [Okay, so it's also a very good idea.]
• Studying the Earth: let’s not lie anymore about global warming not being legit. But I also hope that “no political interference” means Dr. John Christy still has a voice at the national table.
• Aeronautics research: This has three benefits: the stated one, giving Ohio and California NASA centers something to do, and gets Glenn way the hell out of manned spacecraft design. I would comment more, but … that would be imprudent. Anyhow, NASA has centers of excellence, and Ames and Glenn should do their jobs instead of being forced into realms with which they are unfamiliar just because Bush only funds VSE.
• International Cooperation: Be nice to ESA, keep space de-weaponized, and be wary of the Chinese. All worthy goals. Also, seems ideal towards keeping the Russians involved and engaged, which is a good thing for overall relations.
• New Technologies: Yawn. NASA’s PR machine sucks about noting the benefits, and it’s cliché to say “derived from NASA technology!” I don’t think anyone gives a damn anymore because we don’t do anything exciting.
• That said, the bits about ITAR restriction relieving are good [and not just because it makes my task as an Export Control monitor easier; hell, it'll probably get harder as the rules change], and pushing the skill-base expansion is my main point from my screed back in March: “Raiding NASA’s budget to fund education is like sponsoring the US Olympic Team but then not sending them to Beijing this summer.”
• Education: always important. I ended up in this field because I was excited about it as a child and focused my entire academic career towards it. I find far too many of my peers these days to not have that same … drive. That scares me some.

So, reading this policy document makes me think that Obama has it right. If anyone has access to McCain’s space platform, I’ll go through it the same way. I think it’s safe to say that I’m wholeheartedly behind Obama at this point, and this makes it easier for me.

If I believe NPR’s David Kestenbaum—and I generally do—then Barack Obama’s views on manned spaceflight have cost him my vote. I recommend listening to the entire story, but the blurb listed on NPR.org is very telling:

Advocates of NASA’s plan to return to the moon are concerned that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said he will raid NASA’s budget to fund education. While the issue of space exploration hasn’t gotten much attention this campaign season, it is a topic on which the candidates do differ.

Raiding NASA’s budget to fund education is like sponsoring the US Olympic Team but then not sending them to Beijing this summer. Admittedly, I’m quite biased as someone who works in manned spaceflight, but space science is one of the few endeavors that mankind has left that is, on the whole, quite positive. Sure, there are negatives—one reason NASA will continue to get funding is fear over the Chinese space program, and the International Space Station largely has justified a jobs program to keep Russian rocket scientists from going to work for Iran, North Korea, and China—but that we’ve gotten the world’s nations to push together for this quite lofty goal is impressive. That we won’t let the Chinese be a part is sad, to be sure, but that’s something that talk-with-your-enemies Obama would support, right?

When I posted about voting in Alabama’s primaries last month, I was leaning Obama. Hillary’s desperate tactics in the face of Obamamania have pushed me further in his direction. But just as I did in 2004, I’ll vote with my job, even if that’s “fucking idiotic” to some. Admittedly, part of the reason that I like both Obama and McCain is that they don’t seem to fall into the “you’re stupid because you disagree with me” argument. I’m fairly convinced that either candidate would make a good President; I hope you’ll understand why I’m likely to make the choice to vote with my job.

[I mean, I guess that, now that I'm management, my skills are portable, but ... I do kinda like this shit. I mean, I did get one of NASA's highest honors last year. ]

Me and Atlantis

Originally uploaded by Geof F. Morris

Well, this is as close as I’ll get to seeing Space Shuttle Atlantis lifting off. The Shuttle’s Engine Cut Off sensors—which NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has derisively referred to as “Launch Prevention Devices”—has again delayed the launch of STS-122, this time waving off the Saturday attempt. I got the phone call about an hour ago, and at that time, I indicated that I’m going to drive back tomorrow. Thus ends my attempts to see STS-122 lift off in person.

It was a good week, though. I wasn’t really in to all the rah-rah crap that they wanted to do, because I didn’t see that as a big deal. But it really kinda is. I’m fired up to get back and keep doing the good job that I’m apparently doing at work, because it’s really easy to feel that What I Do Is Important.

Having several days to hang out with Josh was great. We’re certainly different than we were sixteen years ago, but we have such a strong bond from growing up and a like-mindedness that allows all those years to melt away quite quickly. As a military brat, you grow up thinking that you’ll just have these friends for a year or four until you go on to your next base; it sucks, but you learn to adjust. But this week, Josh and I have proven that all the reasons for which we were friends for seven years are the reasons we will still be friends at 70.

I was struck by something Josh said as we walked out to get lunch today: “[This week]’s been just like when we were kids.” I think he meant in two ways—not only us being friends, but in the kicking ass and taking names that we did growing up. And yeah … it has been like that.

To my parents: thanks for all the time and energy you invested in me being a smart, hardworking kid over the years. They’ve paid off, but you’ve known that for a while. [Mainly when you didn't have to pay too much for my college education. ] To my friends, thanks for putting up with some of my … weird obsessions about work. [And with sometimes putting it above my relationships with people, because I certainly do that.] To my colleagues, thanks for making me look good, because y’all deserve this award even more than I do. And to my bosses, thanks for the chance to try—because it was as much a chance to shine as it was a chance to go down in flames.

And to Atlantis: get off the ground, will ya? The DCSU FSE hardware we built this year needs to get off the SSPF floor, and it can’t do that if you don’t go. So GO!

Tomorrow’s Washington Post has a story on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and how it’s unlikely to fly, given Shuttle end-of-life in 2010 to provide funds for development of NASA’s next-generation rockets.

Now, I think that this goes without saying anytime I talk about manned spaceflight, but … my opinions are my own and should not reflect upon those of my employer. And I also think that it goes without saying that, as someone who works in manned spaceflight, I have a vested interest in seeing it go forward. But I think Shuttle End-of-Life is a mistake. I’m afraid that it’s gone on too long to reverse it without significant cost to the taxpayer, but personally, I’m hopefully that whoever becomes President on 20 Jan 2009 quickly reverses the decision. If we’re a nation that throws $50B/mo at Iraq, we can throw $5B/yr at one of the few international initiatives that provides a positive national image for us. With the crumbling of the Soviet Union, we’re the only nation that can pull this off, and I earnestly believe that someone should.

We know so much more about our planet today from our study of it from orbit and our study of the heavens; to build AMS and then let it collect dust at a warehouse at Kennedy Space Center is an absolute travesty.

Today’s the 50th anniversary of the successful launch of a bucket of bolts and radio transmitters, Sputnik 1. So of course, I have cause to think about manned spaceflight in a grander context than, say, my normal day-to-day activities. [Why yes, we're due to deliver a carrier next week, and I'm stressed out as a result. Why do you ask?] The thought that I had this morning is a simple one: space exploration is politics by another means.

If that phrase rings a bell with you, you’ve probably read your Clausewitz. In Vom Kriege [On War], Clausewitz argues for a dialectical approach to studying warfare, famously arguing, “War is merely a continuation of politics.” Any American who’s thought about the Iraq War for longer than five minutes can appreciate this statement, as our politicians play politics with American and Iraqi lives on a daily basis. But when I look at the spacefaring nations of this world, I see the very same thing. Sputnik, as a program, was part of a Soviet vanguard to win the Space Race. The world knows that the Space Race was declared won by the United States when we landed Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon. [Or, if you're a moon landing conspiracy theorist, when everyone declared the jig up. If you will, raise your hand and hold it high so Buzz knows who to come by and punch in the nose. Thanks.] That said, America winning the Space Race has not ended space exploration as politics, any moreso than World War I really ended all war.

At the close of 1969, there were two spacefaring powers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Now there are about a dozen, all told, and a handful of those actually have manned spaceflight programs. There are still only two competent manned spaceflight launch authorities—NASA and the Russian Space Agency—but many nations have expended resources in putting their citizens in space. Why? Sending people to space tells your populace and the world that you mean business. Why else would China be trying to return to the moon late next decade, almost a half-century after it was first explored by twelve Americans? The only rational argument, in my thinking, is that manned spaceflight is still politics by another means.

Obviously I, as a NASA contractor and a beneficiary of U.S. government spending on manned spaceflight, am biased in this matter. But I am glad that America has not completely laid down in our quest to explore space as an expression of the quality of our nation. We’re the nation that arguably does manned spaceflight the best—which is not to say that we do it particularly well. There are many challenges to manned spaceflight, most of which I’m quite keenly aware of as I live through them every single day. But it seems clear to me that American space exploration is still politically-oriented—and I’m just fine with that.

To close, let me present an example and a thought going forward. The International Space Station is many things; one of the things that it is presently is a jobs program for Russian rocket scientists. Keeping the RSA flying—and make no mistake; without American funds, there is no RSA—keeps Russian rocket jockeys from hiring their estimable services out to the highest bidder. One need only consider the local nations [Iran, North Korea, et al] who would seek Russian support for their nefarious rocket-related activities. After all, Sputnik was as much a signal that the Russians could drop a nuke into Washington, D.C., as it was a celebration of the International Geophysical Year. And while this is distasteful, as it takes away from the idea of ISS-as-science-platform, I also believe that ISS is a reality only because we needed to keep those Russian fellas busy. After all, Space Station Freedom never exactly went anywhere.

As for the forward thinking, I welcome the entry of the Chinese Space Program into the realm of manned spaceflight. All you need to know about American political feelings about the Chinese program is the stern objections the federal government gave when China requested docking abilities at ISS. The Chinese seem willing to go it alone for now, plowing the fields previously plowed by the United States and the Soviet Union: capsules, small, short-duration space stations, etc. As our space privatization friends like to note, a little competition never hurt anyone, and the Chinese? They’re gonna be great competition. Heck, they may push us better than the Soviets did.

Ad astra per aspera.

Too Darn Hot

Originally uploaded by Geof F. Morris

This is the temperature gauge on my WRX as I pulled into my driveway. It’s been 100F+ every day for a week, but this is the first time it’s been 104F after driving around for a bit and moving air across the thermometer.

I am so thankful that the air conditioner in my house is working. The system at work is unable to keep up with the thermal load being thrown at it: I start the day at 74F or so, and after noon, I’m above 80F. Suffice it to say that I come home sweaty every single day. Feh.

Now, it’s time to settle in and watch STS-118 go to orbit. My group at TBE built the carriers for Battery Charge/Discharge Unit and the Control Moment Gyroscope that are riding on the External Stowage Platform-3 at the rear of the Endeavour’s payload bay. [If I lapse into acronym speak: TBE built the BCDU and CMG FSE flying on ESP3 attached to the ICC. ]

Go, Endeavour, go! I need something good today after an otherwise craptacular one.

My parents had been married for 44 days when we first went to the moon. They’ll have been married for more than 44 years when we next go back.

My brother was born two days after Apollo 17 lifted off on its way to the moon. Two days later, Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt landed on the moon for the last time.

My generation’s space memory is Challenger. America had never lost a crew trying to reach space. My generation grew up with the idea that losing people on the way to space just wasn’t something that happened … until that dark day in January 1986. I was seven years old that day and in first grade. That day, something clicked in my head—people were willing to die to do this. It was Important.

It still is Important, at least to me.

We do not do these things because they are easy. We do them because they are hard. Ad astra.

Please do not expect any official commentary from me regarding astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak and her recent legal trouble.
Loving his employment status and wanting to keep it that way,
Geof

Word that one of the CMGs isn’t working well is not a good thing:

[The CMG that failed in 2002] was replaced with a spare during the first post-Columbia shuttle mission in 2005. No other backups are available, but the failed gyro currently is being refurbished. Depending on what happens with CMG-3, the refurbished gyro could be added to an upcoming mission.

Emphasis is mine.

If I were a landing signal officer, I’d give Brent Jett a three-wire on that one: a little left wing low at 15 feet, but he pulled it back level and stuck it right on the centerline. STS-115 is now complete, and now it’s time to focus on getting 116 up and down: gotta get all these truss segments up and running so we can start sticking all those big-ass labs up there.
Okay, now I’m going back to bed.

Another space pioneer passes on while we languish in LEO.

Sounds like Sellers and Fossum had fun on orbit today.

When a cover for the pump module enveloped Fossum’s head, he said, “I just threw a sheet over my head.”

Man. All that work we did back at KSC last August, and the blanket still gets loose. Okay, so what we went down there to do was to strengthen the fabric hand-holds on the blanket. In fact, our joke this morning was, “If you see the guys doing gymnastics while they’re moving around the Pump Module … they darn well better be able to for as stiff as those handholds are.” Turns out that what we thought would be simply handling aids—this blanket is like a big tent, and folding a big tent is hard when you don’t have gravity—ended up being something that the crew thought they could translate around with during training. So I spent a week in late August at the Cape with some techs, fixing this blanket, because for all we knew, we were flying in September. Turns out we didn’t fly again until, well, last week.

It’s fun to see the carriers we built getting some use.

NASA has published video (4.5MB, QuickTime) of the right-side Solid Rocket Booster separating during the launch of STS-121. The camera is one mounted to the SRB; given the quality of the imagery, I’m betting that this is video captured and recovered from the SRB rather than telemetered down to Mission Control (as the External Tank-mounted cameras are; the ET burns up after being jettisoned).

This kind of stuff is great for three reasons:

1. It’ll catch the public (and the blogosphere’s) eye.
2. This imagery helps watch for foam shedding and foam strikes. You’ll note that you see a lot of the right side of the Discovery Orbiter here. This imagery has understandable value.
3. We’re going to need this imagery on CLV ARES.

As Keith Cowing of NASA Watch notes, Wonkette’s tried sophomoric humor and missed.

Now, I make phallic jokes about rockets all the time: my favorite is to point at the Saturn V in Huntsville and solemnly say, “Huntsville: Our rockets are bigger than your rockets.” But …

You guys feel free to enjoy these vaguely dirty (in a sophomoric way) photos from the NASA “We’re Still Incompetent” presser, courtesy Getty Images. We couldn’t pick just one to snicker at, so there are more after the jump.

Even if the shuttle does blow up tomorrow, we’re still not working.

Yeah, I think they missed.