Space Shuttle: Countdown to Retirement
by Jamey Landry
“We have go for main engine start. T minus 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...booster ignition and liftoff of Discovery, hoisting Harmony to the heavens and opening new gateways for international science!” As though on cue from the NASA announcer, the space shuttle Discovery leapt from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in October 2007. Powering through the partly cloudy Florida sky on a plume of flame and vapor trails, the 4.5-million-pound launch vehicle reached an earth orbit of 140 miles in less than eight minutes.
“I’ve been to nine launches and witnessed four of them, and I’ll tell you they never lose their excitement,” says Paul Foerman, news chief at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. “Each launch is unique and has its challenges, but to see a launch, no matter how hardened a space veteran you are, it’s just breath taking.”
Even from a vantage point six miles from the launch pad, the roar of the powerful rocket engines is thunderous. The ground and even the air itself shake in reaction to the 7.1 million pounds of thrust created by the shuttle’s three main engines and two rocket boosters. It is a thrilling sight to see, even more so knowing that Louisiana and Mississippi both play important roles in each and every shuttle launch.
The shuttle is the most complex machine ever created. Each launch-ready shuttle assembly, called a “stack,” contains over two billion parts. The largest single component of the space shuttle launch vehicle assembly is the 154-foot external fuel tank, which is made at NASA’s Michoud Assembly facility in eastern New Orleans. The large orange tank, the backbone of the shuttle stack, holds over 530,000 gallons of liquefied hydrogen and liquefied oxygen in two separate tanks that feed the shuttle’s three main engines. Each of the shuttle’s main engines is tested and flight rated at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
As the Discovery sped away from the KSC on its way to the International Space Station, a mother visiting with her family from Australia said, “This is far and away the most spectacular thing we’ve ever witnessed. Having visited the launch pad area the day before and seeing its massive size relatively up close makes the launch truly remarkable.”
The clock is ticking on the shuttle program. After the loss of the shuttle Columbia in 2003, President George Bush declared that the shuttle fleet would be retired by the end of 2010. As of January 2008, no more than 12 shuttle missions are scheduled. The Aries launch vehicle will launch the Orion manned spacecraft to the moon and Mars beginning in 2014.
Viewing a Shuttle Launch
The Kennedy Space Center is NASA’s primary launch facility.
Many unmanned and all manned missions are launched from the 219-square-mile facility located near Cape Canaveral, about an hour’s drive from Orlando. Although it is relatively easy to see a launch from practically anywhere along the nearby coast and neighboring towns, the launch site is at least 10 miles away. For the ultimate awe-inspiring launch experience, seasoned launch spectators agree that nothing beats a Launch Viewing package offered by the KSC Visitor Center.
The Visitor Center offers two packages: the Launch Viewing package and the Launch Transportation Viewing package. Both offer a “Meal with an Astronaut” upgrade, where an active-duty NASA astronaut joins your group for a designated meal.
Admission to the museums and attractions is also included with the package of your choice. Complete package details, launch schedules and launch update bulletins via e-mail are available by visiting the center’s website. Launch Viewing tickets for the most immediate launch scheduled can also be purchased on-line or by calling the center. A call can also provide a list of hotels in the area.
A Launch Transportation Viewing package lets you get up close and personal for a launch, as close as three miles from the launch pad! That’s close enough for an unobstructed view of the launch from main-engine start to liftoff. It is the most popular package offered by the KSC Visitor Center and sells out quickly. Coach busses ferry ticket holders from the center to the NASA Causeway, a land bridge on the Banana River that connects outlying parts of the space center. It is the closest publicly accessible vantage point to the launch site, but the thrill of that accessibility does come with some trade offs.
The NASA Causeway is a road like our own Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, so amenities are sparse. There is no seating other than what you bring with you. Transportation ends two hours prior to the scheduled launch, which means waits of up to five hours exposed to the Florida weather are routine. If the launch is delayed until later in the day, that adds more time to the wait.
There are portable comfort stations and some concessions stands offering limited items for purchase. Despite the Spartan accommodations, Launch Transportation tickets sell out quickly.
Armchair Astronauts
will Like This
The Launch Viewing from the KSC Visitor Center provides many of the same thrills as a Launch Transportation ticket, but offers the amenities, attractions and comfort of the center. On launch day, the Visitor Center takes on an atmosphere of Mardi Gras in the suburbs. Kid-friendly and family-oriented, numerous concession stands offer food, drinks and mission-specific souvenirs. There is even a sit-down restaurant—and a large gift shop offers every imaginable item that can hold a NASA logo.
A generous amount of seating on the center’s parade grounds is available, but visitors are encouraged to bring folding chairs or blankets. A portable stadium-sized video screen on the parade ground and dozens of monitors throughout the facility let visitors keep tabs on the launch preparations via live NASA TV broadcasts. There is also a stage where other NASA astronauts interact with the audience, answer questions and pose for photographs.
Regardless of the package chosen, the launch ticket includes admission to the Visitor Center and its many attractions, such as the IMAX theater, museums and interactive displays. The recently opened Shuttle Launch Experience is an amusement park-style attraction that very realistically simulates a shuttle launch in real time, from the countdown to the external tank separation, about a three to five minute mission. Former shuttle astronauts narrate every second of the launch experience with the help of amazing NASA footage of actual shuttle operations to help you better understand the launch process. The exhibit simulates every bump, shake, roll and sound of a shuttle launch as though you were an astronaut on an actual mission.
Much More to See at KSC
The Launch Viewing tickets are good for the launch day and one additional visit to the Space Center within a seven-day period of the first use of the launch ticket. Admission to the Visitor Center also includes admission to the Astronaut Hall of Fame and a bus tour of the Kennedy Space Center. The tour takes you to three stops: the LC 39 Observation Gantry, the Apollo Saturn V Center and the International Space Station Center. Veteran launch watchers suggest planning your visit to KSC the day before a scheduled shuttle launch, because the shuttle will be on the launch pad, clearly visible from the LC 39 Observation Gantry.
The International Space Station Center is the actual preparation facility used to prep components of the ISS for space flight. Visitors can observe workers as they ready components for delivery to the shuttle assembly areas.
The Apollo Saturn V Center is dedicated to the men, women and technology that helped us reach the moon in 1969. Fully contained within the massive indoor facility is a complete unused 363-foot long Saturn V rocket, laid end to end on its side. Visitors enter through a reconstruction of the actual command center used to guide the first manned orbital flight of the moon on Apollo 8. After a dramatic presentation, visitors are ushered into the main display area, where you are first greeted by the booster stage of the Saturn V rocket. In addition, an actual space-rated lunar landing module from a cancelled Apollo mission is among the thousands of items related to the Apollo program on display.
The bus tour is suspended on launch day because of the sheer number of visitors and security issues. That is just as well, because you will want to spend time at each stop of the tour, especially the Apollo Saturn V Center.
Personal Space
NASA technology is undoubtedly a marvel of the modern world and well worth experiencing. Be a part of space history and witness the thrill of a shuttle launch in person. It truly has the right stuff.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center is funded solely through visitors’ paid admissions. No NASA funding is used to run the Visitor Center or its attractions. Information about launch tickets and an updated launch schedule can be obtained by calling 321-449-4400 or visiting www.kennedyspacecenter.com.
The Louisiana-Mississippi Connection
Like the shuttle’s external fuel tank, all 12 of the Saturn V booster stages built for the Apollo manned space flight program were built at the Michoud Assembly Facility in the late 1960s. The Saturn V’s massive F-1 booster stage engines were each tested and flight rated at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss. Today, the Stennis Space Center tests the main rocket engines for the shuttle, proving their reliability and making the engines safe.
“Everyone at the NASA Stennis Space Center is extremely proud of the continuing role we have played in America’s space program for more than 45 years—testing the rocket engines that propel our astronauts to space,” said SSC Center director Bob Cabana. As the shuttle mission draws to its close, Stennis is already preparing for the next chapter of manned flight: Ares.
“We will continue testing the main engines for the space shuttle until it retires in 2010,” Cabana says, “and our engineers have already begun testing engine components for NASA’s next generation engine, the J-2X. This is the engine that will power the nation’s new Ares launch vehicles on voyages that will send humans to the moon.”
Teachers and parents may already be familiar with one of Stennis Space Center’s most public faces, the StenniSphere, part of the NASA commitment to education. Designed to educate all ages about space technology and its applications on earth, the exhibits at the StenniSphere also serve to encourage young minds to pursue studies in math and science. Inside the StenniSphere, interactive displays bring NASA technology right down to earth. A full-scale replica of the space shuttle cockpit gives visitors an opportunity to try their hand at “piloting” the shuttle on a science mission. Nearby, a module of the International Space Station is waiting to be explored. Outside, visitors will find a collection of exhibits that include actual rocket engines and a scale replica of the Saturn V rocket.
Admission to the StenniSphere is free and open to the public. It offers a chance to experience NASA technology close to home. A free bus tour of the Stennis Space Center takes visitors by the rocket engine test stands, where visitors lucky enough to be present can observe the engine test.
For information about the Stennis Space Center’s StenniSphere, call 1-800-237-1821 or click on www1.ssc.nasa.gov/public/visitors.
Shuttle Facts:
• Each airplane-like shuttle orbiter measures 122 feet long with a 78-foot wingspan, which is about the size of a 737 airliner.
• The shuttle orbiter is attached to the external tank, as are the two solid rocket boosters. The assembled stack of orbiter, external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters stands over 184 feet tall, taller than a 15-story building, and weighs more than 4.5 million pounds.
• 7.1 million pounds of thrust are created by the shuttles three main engines and two SRBs.
• The shuttle returns from space unpowered. It orbits the earth at speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour, and then slows as it flies through the atmosphere to a little more than 211 miles per hour at touchdown.
