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Pad rat...
Sep. 7th, 2005 09:43 amTo give you an idea of the activity on this end, consider that I went out to the pad to support various countdown-related activities twice after yesterday afternoon's post: once for connection of battery-cooling ducts and a second time for mating of spacecraft connectors.
The second trip was particularly instructive for me, as it demonstrated just how confusing the environment one works in can be, and how it is consequently important to keep in mind those general operating principles (known as "going by the book") that keep things on track.
When I got back, I went up to my room and lay down to see if there was anything on the tube that might interest me, and fell asleep with the remote in my hand.
Today is the vehicle's second day on the pad. Fairing signing is scheduled for early this afternoon (I'll be along because management will be speaking into a video camera, for the folks back home). A barbeque is scheduled for tonight, I suspect because it'll be the last time we'll all have a chance to eat a good meal (and grab some shuteye afterward) before the final push.
The rocket is to be blessed by the priests from the Orthodox church in town tomorrow, after which the VIPs arrive. They have an overly aggressive (read: impossible) schedule that will doubtless have everyone hopping, in addition to the normal last-minute craziness. Somewhere, I'll have to find time to take a nap (sleep, actually) in the late afternoon or early evening, as my work day Friday starts at about 1 am.
Despite the imminent launch, attention has been devoted to getting out of here in a timely manner afterward, and doing so in an efficient manner. In an attempt to optimize the exodus, the call went out for volunteers to go out on the Antonov transport, which would involve deplaning at Ulyanovsk and taking the overnight train to Moscow, which happened to fit in with my scheduled return flight very well, so I volunteered. Details are still being worked out, but if the trip is a go, it should at least provide a change of pace from the "same old, same old" charter.
Work, um, "beckons."
Cheers...
The second trip was particularly instructive for me, as it demonstrated just how confusing the environment one works in can be, and how it is consequently important to keep in mind those general operating principles (known as "going by the book") that keep things on track.
When I got back, I went up to my room and lay down to see if there was anything on the tube that might interest me, and fell asleep with the remote in my hand.
Today is the vehicle's second day on the pad. Fairing signing is scheduled for early this afternoon (I'll be along because management will be speaking into a video camera, for the folks back home). A barbeque is scheduled for tonight, I suspect because it'll be the last time we'll all have a chance to eat a good meal (and grab some shuteye afterward) before the final push.
The rocket is to be blessed by the priests from the Orthodox church in town tomorrow, after which the VIPs arrive. They have an overly aggressive (read: impossible) schedule that will doubtless have everyone hopping, in addition to the normal last-minute craziness. Somewhere, I'll have to find time to take a nap (sleep, actually) in the late afternoon or early evening, as my work day Friday starts at about 1 am.
Despite the imminent launch, attention has been devoted to getting out of here in a timely manner afterward, and doing so in an efficient manner. In an attempt to optimize the exodus, the call went out for volunteers to go out on the Antonov transport, which would involve deplaning at Ulyanovsk and taking the overnight train to Moscow, which happened to fit in with my scheduled return flight very well, so I volunteered. Details are still being worked out, but if the trip is a go, it should at least provide a change of pace from the "same old, same old" charter.
Work, um, "beckons."
Cheers...
