alexpgp | Backhaul blues...

Baking hot in Baikonur,
Waitin' for a train...
Helpin' load containers on a plane.

Our group had plenty of time to think about things such as lyrics to go to the tune of Bobbie McGee this afternoon. The consist with the satellite container finally arrived almost two hours after we got to the airport. I was dressing for a hot, mostly standing-around assignment, so I didn't take my camera with me (I should have), and the battery on my Zire was on its last legs and thus did not allow me to take many pictures. I did manage a couple, though.

The above photo captures the consist as it approaches its final position. I am standing in the forward part of the aircraft, an Antonov An-124-100 cargo plane, which has its nose cone raised above the cockpit level (on the "second floor") and its forward section lowered, and you can see part of the ramp that had been erected in front of the plane. There is a crane positioned directly in front of the ramp, between it and the railroad line.

The crane will lift the 20-metric-ton spacecraft container (the big grey box on the first car) and swing it around in basically one smooth move. The interior of the Antonov is huge. I suspect you could probably set up a couple of squash courts inside and have plenty of room for spectators. Here's a shot from the same position as the above photo, looking back toward the open tail:

As you may imagine, you don't rush these kinds of operations, and the French team involved in loading the container took particular care with their "baby," measuring distances down to the centimeter in preparation for hauling the container into the belly of the aircraft. As I stood on the tarmac, trying to avoid stepping in the seams between the concrete slabs (the seams are filled with very soft asphalt), the operation resembled a video I once saw of a python consuming an antelope.

Eventually, the container was secured in place and attention turned toward loading four industrial-sized containers that were lined up near the tail of the Antonov, along with a bunch of miscellaneous gear. As the giant forklifts maneuvered these boxes, everyone became increasingly aware of the wind that had been growing in intensity through the afternoon. By the time the last container was slung, the wind must've been blowing at a steady 50 mph, with occasional gusts. I had to plant myself firmly with my legs positioned in line with the wind to keep from being blown off balance, which could not be said for some of the smaller, lighter members of the loading team.

One thing that I noticed was that despite the wind, nobody seemed concerned about the raised nose cone section. Just over a year ago, during the offload of the Intelsat container from the Airbus "Beluga," operations had to be curtailed because the wind was gusting to 30 knots (and you could see the Beluga's raised door vibrating in the wind). The Antonov, on the other hand, just sat there like a concrete block. (I had an opportunity to go inside once the loading was almost complete and experienced remarkably little buffeting once I got out of the doorway.)

The whole operation, from departure from the hotel to arrival back home, took 6 hours. I am beat.

Cheers...