Chamber Door Open @ 5:00pm

Amazing, we hit our mark.

Radiation folks are removing the source and once the coast is clear, facility folks will start to disconnect some of the enclosure panels.

8am we will have the morning tag up. We will go through our list of things to do.


Dave Bowman: HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye. - 2001 A Space Odyssey

Spacecraft Power Down @ 5:00am 11/25

We're powered off. Hope to open the door sometime between 2pm-5pm today.

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” Orson Welles

Could start back fill @6:30am 11/25

Charles predicts we could start to backfill the chamber by 6:30am. After about an hour, we should be at 200 torr, and ready to re-establish the external purge (7:30am).

What next?

After we have recovered from the sim, thermal will tell the facility folks to bring the shroud to ambient. It should take about 2 hours or so to get the shroud to above 0 deg. Once the shroud reaches zero, we can power down the spacecraft. All console support, except thermal is excused.

It should take about 9-12 hours to get the chamber to the point where we can open the door. So door opening could happen around 2p-5p on 11/25. We will try to get the source out and start panel removal if we have time.

We will have an 8am on Wed.

“"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.
"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way."” - Winnie the Pooh

TC-90: Orbiting around the moon @1:33am

Sim 17: LOI burn started at 1:13am (real time). Orbit capture occurred at 1:33am.

LOI sequence ran smoothly. Good job!

Sim 17 started

Sim 17 started at 2140. SIM 17 will be approximately 5 hours in duration . At 3.5 hous into the SIM The Insertion Burn will be preformed.


Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps.
- Emo Phillips

SIM 27 Complete

Sim 27 completed at 19:40. At this time we are configuring for SIM 17 which will simulate LOI-1 Maneuver and perform early mission activities.

"I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once"

3rd time is the charm Sim-27

Sim-27 started at ~1400 and is scheduled to run for 6 hours. GDS had a problem with the RW‘s and the current problem is the timing between GDS writes and FSW reads. The current problem as of this writing is not a show stopper. The timing is being tweaked as the simulation moves forward.



"What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet"

TC-145: LAMP Functional Complete

TC-145: LAMP Functional 8:49-10:30pm
Ran 2 NAC images @ 10:32p & 10:35p
TC-83: Turn off instruments. 10:37p-10:44p
TC-84: Dump SSR Recorder. 10:46p
Power down Ka system @ 11:14p
TC-85: C&DH DSB Memory Test. Started @11:16p

"Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it." -Michel de Montaigne

TC-139: LOLA CPT #7 complete @ 8:47pm

This was the last LOLA/LR Test in a long series that started at 11:52am today and lasted until 8:47 pm.

Next up: LAMP Functional (3hrs), DSB Memory Test (4-6 hrs, no instruments powered), Start transition to Ambient, MRF Calibration @~30 degC (3am-5am),

6am Start getting ready for Mission Sim 27 & 17.
8am Start Mission Sim 27 & 17.

"Engineering is the art of modeling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyze so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance." - Dr AR Dykes -

TC-130 to 144: LOLA and LR Testing as of 8:40pm

TC-140: LR CPT #1 2:36 pm - 3:00 pm
TC-141: LR CPT #2 3:01 pm - 3:11 pm
TC-142: LR CPT #3 3:12 pm - 3:19 pm
TC- 143: LR CPT #4 3:21 pm - 3:28 pm
TC-144: LR CPT #5 3:28 pm - 3:40 pm
TC - 131: LOLA CPT #9 3:44 pm - 4:01 pm
TC-132: LOLA CPT #5 Skipped this because it is very close to LOLA CPT #5 FSW
TC-133: LOLA CPT #5 FSW: 4:30pm - 5:09 pm
TC-134: LOLA CPT Cal: 5:10 pm- 6:02pm
TC-139: LOLA CPT #7: Started at 6:05 should end around 9pm



"...new torments and new tormented souls I see around me wherever I move, and howsoever I turn, and wherever I gaze." - Dante's Divine Comedy (third circle)

Full Speed Ahead

The LOLA Functional (TC-130) was completed at 12:34pm. And from there we moved into the LOLA CPT’s (slightly out of order from the suggest handout).
LOLA CPT #1 (TC-135) started at 12:44pm and was completed at 1:40pm.
LOLA CPT #2 (TC-136) started at 1:41pm and was completed at 1:54pm.
LOLA CPT #3 (TC-137) started at 1:55pm and was completed at 2:11pm.
LOLA CPT #4 (TC-138) started at 2:11pm and was completed at 2:35pm.
LR CPT #1 (TC-140) started at 2:36pm and is under way.

Mid Day Update on a Beautiful Sunday Afternoon

The Orbiter Trending (TC-82) which was started at 7:10am wrapped up at 8:45am.

In anticipation of instrument testing, the LEND instrument was then turned on and configured from 9:00 to 9:10am. This was immediately followed without delay by configuring the LOLA instrument to begin firing it’s laser.

After a cup of coffee and a little warm up time, we began the LEND Functional (TC-80) at 10:10am. This functional was completed at 11:40am followed by retrieval of the data for the instrument team.

Now it is time for the LOLA show. We have just started the LOLA Functional (TC-130) at 11:52am and this is expected to run for about an hour. Following this is then about 8 hours or so of LOLA and LR CPT’s.