Sunday, July 01, 2012
Rocket City Redux
How does ol’
naysayer Unk feel about the U.S. manned space program now? In the wake of Dragon’s recent almost unqualified success?
I feel better after SpaceX’s successful mission to the International Space
Station. Anybody interested in spaceflight has to be elated at the performance
of the little capsule that could. So I’ve changed my mind about the course the
Administration has chosen, then? No, I still have my reservations, muchachos.What the Obama troops decided to do a while back, as y’all know, was cancel a program that seemed to make sense and which had had an awful lot of money spent on it, Constellation. Most of the project’s ideas and hardware were scrapped and the U.S. manned program started over at square one. Instead of one system to handle both low Earth orbit and deep space missions, we will now have (at least) two. Constellation would have used the same Orion spacecraft (capsule) on different boosters depending on mission requirements.
International Space station resupply, and, I presume, other low Earth orbit work, will be handled by SpaceX and its Dragon starting, supposedly, in September of this year. Deep space missions (to some unnamed/undecided destination but NOT the Moon, we are told) will be NASA’s province.
The deep-space
capsule will still be Orion, the sole surviving Constellation component. Constellation’s
heavy-lift booster, the Ares V, was thrown out. For reasons that are anything
but clear to me, Obama decided NASA should start over with a different big rocket, the “SLS” (Space
Launch System”), despite Ares being well down the development path and having
had bushels of money spent on it. There
were some problems, no denying that, but every new booster design has some
problems. We’ll now get a different set of problems, and I guess the
Administration thinks that will be better somehow.
I’m the last
person to minimize SpaceX’s achievement in not just orbiting a capsule but rendezvousing
with the ISS, but I’ll keep my perspective, thank you. When the company orbits
a crew and/or returns one from the station, I’ll feel a little more sanguine, I
reckon. But, yeah, I am considerably more hopeful and excited than I was a few
weeks back.
Dragon is a
plucky and versatile spacecraft, it seems. It is designed to carry up to seven
astronauts and to be able to survive a high-speed reentry from Lunar (or
Martian) missions. It will eventually be given the ability to set down on dry
land in lieu of ocean recovery, just like Soyuz. I’ll be interested to see
where that all leads, if anywhere.
What with this
sudden flurry of exciting space activity, it felt like it was time to do yet more
communing with the spirits of Space Projects Past. And Unk was presented with
the opportunity to just that without trekking all the way back to Huntsville or
to Cocoa Beach or to Houston, either. That was not the reason Miss Dorothy and
I headed west in Unk’s 4Runner, Miss
Lucille Van Pelt, a couple of Fridays back, howsomeever.
The reason
for us pointing the 4Runner in the direction of New Orleans was to enjoy a
little R&R in that magic city. We
generally reserve our NOLA trips for Thanksgiving, but I was in bad need of a
break, and New Orleans seemed like a good place to spend one. In June, it’s hot
but not yet punishingly hot. How hot can it get down there? Last August,
standing on the dock alongside LPD 23, which was sitting in the Mighty
Mississippi, I got to thinking, “It sure will be great to get back to Possum
Swamp where it is nice and cool!” That’s
how hot.
In June the NOLA
weather is usually cooperative and bearable. There is always a chance of scattered
thundershowers, but there wasn’t even much of that forecast for our getaway
weekend. I was a little weary of the cruise down I-10, since I’d just been on the
road to the Avondale shipyard the previous Tuesday, but I had the wonderful
Miss D. with me to talk to, so it wasn’t so bad.
Arriving in
the Crescent City, we checked into what’s been our hotel of choice for many
years, the Monteleone in the heart of the French Quarter. Got a spot in the
parking garage with no problem, Miss Van Pelt was tucked away by the valet, and
we proceeded to the storied lobby. There, Miss D. checked us in while Unk stood
transfixed by the hotel’s enormous antique clock, whose august majesty never fails to fascinate him.
A bit of unpacking
in the room and Miss Dorothy and I made our way down to the Monteleone’s famous
Carousel Bar. It’s recently been renovated,
and while Unk does not like change, he has to admit the room does look more
modern and open. The shades of Williams, Capote, Welty, and Faulkner still seem
to haunt the place, but maybe they are a little paler in the updated Carousel.
The bar itself has not changed much; Dorothy was reassured its old rotation
rate, once every 15-minutes, remains the same.
After some
hanging out up in the room following a few Carousel revolutions, it was time
for supper in The Quarter. An unwelcome shock? The little restaurant we’ve been
visiting for nigh on twenty years, Sammy’s, was closed. It didn’t look out of
business, just closed. But on a spring Friday evening that is surely not a good
sign. While the little hole-in-the wall is mostly known for their seafood,
what’s kept D. and me coming back is their rib-eye. I have never had a better
steak. Anywhere. Ever. Sigh.
OK, so we’d
have to find another restaurant. We chose The Embers, which is close at hand on
the corner of Bourbon and St. Peter. D. and I dined there one evening right
after we were married, and I remembered it as being pretty good. It was still pretty good. OK, anyway, but not what it
was nearly twenty years ago and certainly not as good as Sammy’s.
After a bit
of wandering up and down Bourbon, Unk stopped at one of the many “to go” bars
and got himself an enormous Hurricane. I cannot come to the French Quarter and
not drink at least one of the uber sweet, uber red concoctions. This one
featured the legendary “extra shot,” and after drinking but a small portion
back at the hotel, it was night-night time for your party-pooping old Uncle.
Next morning
was shopping and eats at Jimmy Buffet’s place down in Storyville. In quest of souvenirs
for all and sundry, following lunch we visited Jazz Funeral back on Bourbon,
where Unk got himself a couple of things. In addition to a bottle of hot sauce emblazoned
with the label HOT SAUCE HOLOCAUST, I picked up the charmingly odd little
volume of New Orleans ghost stories shown here.
When evening
came, it was time for another of our French Quarter traditions, red beans and
rice at Desire: An Oyster Bar. Unlike The Embers, Desire was as good as ever. Maybe
too good. All that rich food and drink contrived to give Unk a restless
Saturday evening, but by morning, Sunday morning, he was OK again if not quite
fit as a fiddle.
“Well, that all sounds cool, Unk, but
what in tarnation does it have to do with the manned space program?” I’m getting to that, Skeezix, I getting to it. On our way to New
Orleans, we’d stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Station right outside Stennis
Space Center, the NASA facility charged with engine testing. We immediately
noticed the small visitors’ center for Stennis next door to the welcome
station, where you boarded busses for a tour of the facility, was closed, and
that a sign on its door directed the public to a new facility, “NASA Infinity.”
On my trips up
and down I-10 to the shipyard at Avondale, I’d noticed a new, modern, and
slightly puzzling looking building had sprung up not far from the turnoff for
the rest stop. Livestock auction hall? Government building of some kind? I
didn’t know. But now I recalled a sign had recently gone up in front of the new
place, a sign emblazoned with the word “Infinity.” D. and I picked up a
brochure in the welcome station that informed us this was the new NASA –
Stennis visitors’ center. We resolved to stop and check it out on our way back
from NOLA, since the pamphlet indicated Infinity was open on Sunday.
It’s always a
bring-down to leave the Monteleone on Sunday morning and head back to the
cotton picking Real World, but this time we at least had something to look
forward to, Infinity, just about an hour away. Whatever the heck Infinity was.
I didn’t expect much. It didn’t seem possible NASA could have suddenly built a
major “attraction”—can we call their visitors’ centers that?—in our backyard.
Vehicle
retrieved, D. and I headed for Mississippi. In no time, practically, we were
across the Pontchartrain Bridge, over the Mississippi – Louisiana line, and
taking the turn off for the welcome station, which is also the exit for Infinity.
Turned down the clearly marked and new road—somebody has spent a lot of money
on this deal—and we were there. The building
was substantially larger up close than it looked from the Interstate, and I was immediately heartened by what I saw: a large and
modern facility that had already attracted a number of folks on this Sunday
morning.
Miss Dorothy
and I parked and headed to the entrance. While there ain’t no rocket park,
there is some hardware on display on the grounds including a beautiful and massive
Saturn V first stage F1 engine. Standing next to and enjoying this giant, I was
becoming more and more excited. There were also several interesting robotic data-buoys
on display, no doubt thanks to that other Stennis resident, the Naval
Oceanographic Office.
Just before
entering the spanking new 72,000 square foot place, whose official name is “Infinity Science Center,” we noted the area in front was paved with numerous bricks
bearing the names of donors. While I have no doubt NASA contributed
substantially to the establishment of the place, and Infinity is for sure “affiliated”
with Stennis, it’s obvious much of the undertaking was funded by farsighted
individuals and companies from Gulfport, Mississippi and the surrounding area.
Good on ‘em.
Inside, we
paid our fare, which was a very reasonable 8 bucks. The nice young woman—most
of the staff appear to be volunteers—at the desk told us the admission price
also included a bus-tour of Stennis, but that she was sorry but the first bus didn’t
run till 1 p.m. on Sundays. I doubted we’d be able to hang out that long; it
was not yet 11 and we were tired from our days and nights in the French
Quarter. That was OK. “Next time.”
First stop on
entering is what the Infinity folks call “Science Express,” a sizeable area in
the front of the facility that is currently occupied by an exhibit called
“Great Nations Dare to Explore.” This is a mostly static—large display panels—exhibit
enlivened by audio and occasional video and hands-on activities. It does a nice
job, comparing U.S. and Soviet pioneering in space to the exploring done by
former world powers like Spain and Portugal. Was it the best thing of its kind
Unk has ever seen? No, but it was good and interesting if not quite as
“immersive” as the Infinity website makes it out to be. I liked it.
After “Great
Nations,” it was good stuff all the way. Starting on the ground floor—this is a
two story facility with the second floor accessed by a beautiful glass
elevator—you are treated to a journey through sixty years of space adventures.
In addition to big models of Saturn boosters, there’s a near life-size replica of
a Gemini capsule hanging from the ceiling. There’s lots more, but not much in
the way of real hardware other than a Shuttle Engine and some spacesuits. I
have no doubt that will change if Infinity thrives.
This being space
giant Wernher Von Braun’s centennial, I was not surprised to see an exhibit
devoted to the Great Man. Not surprised, no, but pleased. In addition to a
mockup of Von Braun’s office, a miniature of the famous long-time exhibit at
The Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, there were numerous interesting documents
and memorabilia concerning this pioneer.
What else?
There’s a “section” of the ISS, a mockup of part of one module visitors can
walk through. Nothing overly special—I believe this exhibit or one just like it
used to be on display in Huntsville—but the public loved it, with the little
Disney-bound families who were trouping though Infinity on this Sunday morning
walking through it again and again.
Although, just
like at Huntsville or in Houston or at KSC, there’s an emphasis on NASA’s glory
days, there is also quite a bit of forward-looking. There’re displays concerning
the Orion spacecraft, its SLS booster, and even a little about SpaceX’s
Dragon. Like the Administration, NASA seems hesitant to actually come out and say
“WE ARE GOING TO MARS!” without the “maybe-might-someday” qualifiers. But at
Infinity the thrust of the future, NASA’s and ours, is clearly pointed in the
direction of the angry red planet, as in manned exploration of Mars. There is a
polite nod to unmanned missions, but the visitor is not left wondering where
NASA intends to go next. If there ever is a “next.”
Was there
anything I hadn’t seen before? Actually, there was. Right next to the ISS
module was a cool hydroponic-like plant growing module intended to show how
future deep space missions can, if nothing else, at least supplement their food
and oxygen stores. This was not just a static display—real plants were growing
in it, and the woman docent in charge was handing out little samples of the
lettuce and other stuff being grown. I declined munching leaves, but the little
folks clustered around the exhibit were so enthralled they actually tried the
vegetables.
And that was
that for Infinity’s exhibition floor, leaving, you guessed it, the gift shop
and restaurant. “Honey, let’s go buy more SPACE STUFF!” I hadn’t expected much and was bowled over by
what we found. No, the shop wasn’t as big as the humongous one at The Space and
Rocket Center, but it was big enough and had some stuff Huntsville didn’t. The Apogee books for example.
If you are a
space nut, you owe it to yourself to sample this publisher’s stuff. The Apogee tomes tend to follow a formula; most books
covers a single mission and include and are sometimes completely composed of
actual NASA documents. Of particular interest is The NASA Mission Reports series. Most of Apogee’s books are accompanied by a
CD (the early ones) or a DVD (more recent offerings) to supplement the text.
Infinity’s gift shop had a whole rack of these fine books. Huntsville? I don’t
believe they had a single volume. If they did, it was well hidden, since I did
look.
I chose Lunar Module Orientation Guide. It is slightly
wonderful, being, yes, NASA’s actual basic familiarization guide for crews. In
addition to plenty of pictures and drawings, there are some fold-outs of
instrument displays that are just freaking crazy.
Only down-check? The included DVD is composed of interviews with the Apollo 11
crew. Historically important, yeah, but not directly related to the Lunar
Module. I’d have preferred interviews with Grumman folks who designed/built the
LEM. Time is passing and many of these people have passed on, so I hope someone
has preserved their memories of the Lunar Module’s development and construction.
Couldn’t
leave it at just a book, of course; y’all know me. I hunted around. There were
a few interesting space toys, but nothing on the order of the set I got at Huntsville.
Nice enough t-shirts, but nothing that lit my fire. Then Miss D. spotted a kit
that spelled “Uncle Rod,” a little put-it-together planetarium projector. The
thing really works and is quite cool looking, with the only caveat being that,
while it is ostensibly aimed at kids, the construction involves much intricate cutting-pasting-taping in
the course of assembling the cardboard star ball. I am a sucker for home planetarium projectors of any kind, and this
new one now has an honored place in my small collection.
Finally,
there was “The Café,” which was surprisingly
elaborate. It’s a large, attractive, and airy place that’s more like a food
court than it is like Huntsville’s Rocket City Grill (formerly The Lunch Pad).
What you get depends on which day you visit. On Sunday it was minimalist (but
surprisingly tasty) Domino’s pizza.
Yeah, it’s like a food court, but with a difference: each day of the
week features one food vendor. Monday is coastal cuisine, Tuesday is
barbeque, Wednesday is salads and sandwiches, etc., etc. The pictures of the
Monday – Saturday food were doggone appealing and I look forward to sampling
it.
After our
deliciously greasy Dominos pepperoni pig-out we hopped back on I-10 for the rest
if the journey home to Chaos Manor South. To say I was surprised that Infinity
has sprung up next door is an understatement. No, it’s not even in spitting
distance size-wise of the other NASA affiliated visitors’ centers, but it shows
promise. What would I like to see added? As above, more real hardware. Maybe
even a rocket park. Miss D. and I will follow Infinity’s progress and let y’all
know all about it, since this is one we can visit more often than we can the
biggies.
One of NASA’s
strengths is, a little surprisingly, its ability to tell its story and sell
itself when it wants to or has to, and it’s a Good Thing to see them with
another opportunity to do so. Now, if they’d just do something to ramp up and
round the edges off the cotton picking NASA Channel on the cable TV.
Anyhoo, with
at least some of the space business going to private companies like SpaceX (it
should be remembered private corporations have always built NASA’s spacecraft), maybe the most important job for NASA
right now is promoting space. If
Infinity is a sign of the direction that is going in, I give ‘em a big thumbs
up, muchachos. If you find yourself cruising the east-west I-10 corridor in our
area, stop in; you will be glad you did.
Next Time:
My Favorite Star Parties: TSP 2001…
Comments:
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Excellent Herschel Project article but I was puzzled by the minimal mention of your cameras. Your blogs have sounded like the cameras were an integral part of the project. Not so in S&T.
Bill McDonald
Bill McDonald
# posted by 
: 1:58 PM
: 1:58 PM 
As this weeks blog is about the space program,
you may be interested in a March 2012 article
in Popular Science "No Pulse: How Doctors have
Reinvented the Human Heart".
Apparently some of the technology from the
space shuttle's main engines was used to design
a new type of pump for an artificial heart.
The article is an excellent read.
Richard
you may be interested in a March 2012 article
in Popular Science "No Pulse: How Doctors have
Reinvented the Human Heart".
Apparently some of the technology from the
space shuttle's main engines was used to design
a new type of pump for an artificial heart.
The article is an excellent read.
Richard
# posted by : 1:12 PM
: 1:12 PM
About the LM story from Grumman folks you might be interested in:
http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Lander-Developed-Smithsonian-Spaceflight/dp/1588342735/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
Good Book
Post a Comment
http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Lander-Developed-Smithsonian-Spaceflight/dp/1588342735/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
Good Book
# posted by : 1:03 PM
: 1:03 PM << Home
