Thy Chariot Does Not Await

Here we go again! The chariot story is circulating anew on the Twitterz. In not one but two strings, well-meaning authors are attempting to persuade us that the earliest styles of vehicles pulled behind beasts of burden ultimately set the standard from ancient times up through the space program. 

So say these champions of consequential causality, the span of two horses side-by-side (about five feet) was the original measure of uniformity. Roman roads were thus created to accommodate wheeled carriers of this width, which then spread across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. When roads became railroads, all the tools and surveys were standardized to continue engineering such widths. 

When the Space Shuttle was being developed, its Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) had to travel by train from their manufacturer to the launch pad. No matter how large or powerful NASA may have wanted them, they had to fit on flat train cars, and through train tunnels. And so the size of modern rocket boosters were determined by ancient Roman horse-drawn chariots.

Such a simple choice in ancient times, and yet, it had a huge impact on the world. Or did it? Sometimes, we just innocently enjoy believing stuff because it sounds cool. (But, you know, don't.)

 

One of many different designs of chariot

 

Our brains are primed to enjoy the neat, circular narrative. We love a satisfying story, and as evidenced by how far these tweet-strings travel -- often circulated thousands of times, they are almost impossible to counteract. Case in point, my polite explanation received only a fraction of the retweets. Even for the most patient of teachers, the effort is always an uphill battle.  

This urban legend has circulated every decade since the Space Shuttle program began in the late 1970s. 

The first thing to note is that Romans did not invent chariots. Second, the earliest roads over all kinds of terrain were simply human footpaths. The ground wasn't waiting around to say "hey, I'm a road now!" until chariots were invented (though certainly wheels did indeed carve ruts more effectively).

The third claim is objectively not true. Distances between railroads tracks (known as "gauge") have varied widely over the last two centuries, with three standards in the United States alone. The standard gauge used today is based on engineering practicalities, not ancient Italian equine technology.

 
Chances are, you will wear a white gown at your wedding. Roman brides did too. We still use plenty of things invented by the early Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire: candles, scissors, postage, showers, umbrellas, heating systems, street lights, rampant economic inflation, and so on.  

So, to say that ancient standards are still alive in the modern world isn’t all that exciting. Humans are well-known for sticking with certain things that work, and equally notorious for sticking with certain things that don’t. 

Archaeological evidence suggests the existence of chariots in far more ancient cultures: Chinese, Sumerian, Greek, Persian, etc. The Romans were late-comers, though they fancied-up chariot production with trigas (pulled behind three horses) and quidrigas (pulled behind four horses). So, while we can credit their empire with widespread road systems, they weren't overly attached to the simple metric of dual-equine-derrieres. 

 Methods and means of transportation have, throughout history, been designed different ways to carry different things and accommodate many different vehicles. Some have been dictated by creation costs, others by limitations of nature. From gravel paths to 14-lane freeways, a single lane often accomodates a car as small as a Mini-Cooper, or an 18-wheel rig.

Commonality of construction is no more bizarre here than the idea that all current automobiles have steering wheels – regardless of brand, model, size, number of doors, or color. The Romans would have called such specification: "desideratum" – colloquially, that which is essential is desired. 

At the height of the railway era, over a hundred US companies manufactured three different gauges of track, showing a decided lack of standardization. The Chariot-to-Shuttle tale also assumes that any tunnel would only accommodate a single set of tracks, or only clear the train's mass with no room to spare. Also notice the mysterious mountain tunnel in question is never mentioned by name –- but between where the rocket boosters are built (Utah) and where they are ignited (Florida), there are actually 50+ tunnels.

Skepticism is the new black

We could muse at length over the patterns and rhythms of urban legends, but rest assured NASA takes travel into account when designing hardware specifications, but to my knowledge, NASA has never been crippled by the slightly-less-than-five-foot span of railroad tracks. No fewer than 20 companies contributed to the many parts of solid rocket boosters, so even if transport was the main event, much of the hardware is already delivered in segments, and "Some Assembly Required" is already a given on the launch pads of Cape [Kennedy] Canaveral. 

The Dream Rocket

Support The Dream Rocket! This very exciting project at the US Space & Rocket Center will be many years in the making, with it's grand finale in the summer of 2011.

"The Dream Rocket aims to connect art and education through a global initiative. The Wrapping of the Saturn V Rocket will recognize the power of global collaboration, and in turn, The Dream Rocket hopes to inspire individuals all over the world to recognize their power to pursue their dreams."

And yes, you read that right. They will be WRAPPING the entire 37-story Saturn V rocket in Huntsville, Alabama -- on the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s 1961 speech where he challenged the nation to pull together for the successful project of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth."

The wrapping will consist of over 8000 panels representing dreams for our future and visionaries of our past. Schools, churches, professional organizations, non-profit groups and individuals all over the Earth are participating in its creation! In the first six months, nearly 40 US states and a dozen countries have submitted Dream Theme panels depicting space, health, fighting hunger & poverty, peace, community, science, technology imagination, recycling, conservation and other related ideas.


"What is my dream for a better tomorrow?"

If you would like to participate in creating Dream Rocket panels, you can purchase space in varying sizes, and recruit others to help you develop a dream theme to express! If you are the less artistic type, but have money to burn... you can become a sponsor instead. There are many students and scholastic groups who may not be able to afford the submission fee, and Dream Rocket workers are doing their best to match up donations with willing artists!

You can also make a simple individual contribution, and also keep up with Dream Rocket events through their Facebook fan page, Twitter feed or Flickr Photo collection. I got lost on the Dream Rocket Flickr site for ages, looking at the all the amazing submissions already lined up for panel wrappings!


"This rocket was designed and built as a collaboration half- a-million people and allowed our human species to venture beyond our world to stand on another -- surely one of the biggest dreams of all time. Enabling the dreams of young people to touch this mighty rocket sends a powerful message."
- Sponsor Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of NY Hayden Planetarium

Labs and Apollo and Quarantine, o my

Wrapping up the tour of NASA Marshall, I'm adding the rest of my pictures to my Picasa Albums today... here are just a few of the highlights! I could go on for weeks about all the amazing Apollo, Saturn, Skylab and Shuttle program artifacts in their wonderful museum adjacent to Space Camp... however, I don't want to ruin everything for folks who make the trip to northern Alabama, truly the birthplace of our space program. Click on any of the pictures to see the full gallery.

They have artifacts from each mission, the original Gemini and Apollo flight simulators, and of course, the "Casper" Apollo 16 capsule.

Apollo Airstream Mobile Quarantine Facility

They also have an MQF! I saw Apollo 11's in the Smithsonian, and thought that was the lone display, so I was surprised to see this... (I suspect it is Apollo 12's, because I've since researched MQFs and found Apollo 14's in California on the USS Hornet.)

The Mobile Quarantine Facility was used by astronauts and medical staff almost immediately after splashdown of Apollo 11, 12, and 14 to prevent any possible spread of returning lunar contagion. After these three, it was decided our lifeless satellite posed no bacterial threat.

People often express surprise that I spent 50 days in "micro-gravity" for the space program, but I have to say, I don't think I could spend 21 days in this tin can! But after their moon missions, that's precisely what three astronaut crews and their doctors had to do. Pretty cramped accommodations! Small sleeping stalls, even smaller living quarters, a tiny kitchen and bathroom...that was it!

I also have a few pictures from our tour through the Marshall Center's Technology Development labs...

Well, I finally found a simulation I would
definitely NOT go anywhere NEAR...

The facility and the signs on the walls are fascinating in and of themselves, and speak to the monumental amount of research being conducted by some of the finest minds in the world. I was particularly interested in the Ares projects, and the workings of the Electric Propulsion/Plasma Experiments.

Over the past few years I've read numerous articles on plasmadynamics, and of course was fascinated by the ion thrusters of NASA's Deep Space 1 and Dawn Space probes, the latter of which Space.com dubbed the "Prius of Probes."

The European Space Agency's work on SMART1 and JAXA's asteroid explorer Hayabusa are great starting points for study, and more in-depth information can be found in the Journal of Propulsion and Power or Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets.

Electric Propulsion Research and Development Laboratory

At a more accessible level for the basics, this month's issue of Scientific American has a wonderful article about the growth in these fields, proclaiming that the more fuel-efficient electric plasma engines will propel the next generation of spacecrafts.

The way to Mars or the way to bankruptcy? Science or science fiction? Wishful thinking versus eventual financial reality? Time will tell.

ISS Payload Operations

If you're a NASA TV addict like me, you see plenty of footage of ISS Mission Control, and when an STS mission is in the air, we get plenty more of Shuttle Control -- both located in Houston, Texas.

Pity we don't get more footage from the ISS Payload Operations Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center, because they run some very crucial activities! Also, unknown to most, they serve as Houston's BACKUP in the event of an emergency. During Hurricane Ike, when Johnson Space Center was evacuated and suffered both storm and ensuing flood damages, operations were turned over to Marshall until Johnson was able to resume.


As it is known locally, the "POC" plans all scientific activities aboard the space station. It’s a 24x7 affair, manned by three rotating shifts who have the unenviably challenging job of planning and coordinating schedules of tasks both in space and on the ground.

The Payload Communications Manager ("PAYCOM") goes by call-sign "Huntsville" and is the prime communicator with the ISS crew and researchers all over the Earth on payload matters.

Want to send some butterflies to the ISS and see how they behave? The POC would plan time for your experiment, manage all tasks necessary for the payload to be flown to the station, find a place for it among the many (packed!) science racks, decide how and when it is monitored, and troubleshoot any problems or changes to its schedule while in flight.

After tracking all progress or upon conclusion, they also control data storage back to the researchers who initiated it... all this under extreme time constraints, available-space constraints, power limits, established safety requirements and strict payload regulations.


For all the people who think NASA wastes time or money, I encourage you to have an in-depth look at the list of scientific experiments conducted on the ISS over the years. Take a deep breath (or maybe go mix a martini) before you click on the link, because it will absolutely boggle your mind.

Covering everything from behavioral studies to biotechnology to environmental effects, there is no such thing as a lackadaisical moment for POC personnel – not with what it costs to put these payloads and crews into orbit.

It’s not an easy place to find! Had Craig and Heather not been guiding me about, I’m sure I never would have found anything in that hamster maze... and even after being there, I’m not sure I could find it again! So I must thank them again for making sure I didn’t miss any of the cool facilities at Marshall!


As an added bonus, the Skylab control from the 1970s is nearby, and has been kept largely intact over the years. I remember peering inside and exclaiming, "Wow... I'm old. I remember using some of those types of computers!"

T-Minus

Where was I? Oh right, the space budget. Russian agency representatives finally weighed in -- but at this point, if you're even mildly conscious, it's pretty impossible not to trip over the press coverage on our favorite space news sites.

So, I'll try to take things a bit more lightly today. I have some best wishes for a birthday boy, as well as a question I received over email -- and really, this kid was just so sweet and polite, I wanted him to be able to see his name in cyber-print.

Richard Stakowiak of Enterprise, Alabama asks: What does the T mean when we are watching the Space Shuttle get ready to launch and they always say "T minus" in counting? I know they are counting backwards, but what do those words mean?

First of all, you are from the awesomest city ever. How lucky! And not at all surprising that you became a space enthusiast! "T" simply stands for Time. Before the launch is considered negative time... and after launch, mission time moves forward. (However, it's interesting that we don't say T-plus, only T-minus.) So when you hear the Shuttle Control guys say that last hold is "T-minus 9 and counting" -- what they really mean is: "Time until launch is minus 9 minutes and continually counting backwards."


Ricky, your Dad also passed along your address, so look for a box in the mail with the new NASA baseball cap you requested! Let me know if it fits your head! Happy 9th birthday, definitely don't give up on your dream of being an astronaut.

You may not ever fly in a craft like the Shuttle, but if we grown-ups can get our act together with our goals and our wallets, I have faith that by astronaut-age, you'll have something far more amazing in which to sail toward Mars.

In the meantime, I also hope you're able to travel to Marshall sometime soon, and I thank you for all your kind words about the "tour" I've been describing on my blog. The great news is, I've shown only a taste of what is there to explore! I had a few more posts about Marshall lined up and had planned to save their shuttle for last, but I'm moving it up in the rotation just for you, today. And this alone is worth the drive to Huntsville...

Tiny, tiny me, beneath Pathfinder's External Tank
(the first tank ever built for the Shuttle program in 1977)

Shuttle Pathfinder is a 75-ton Orbiter Simulator which was used to practice lifting and handing the real Orbiters. It was originally built at Marshall in 1977 as a stand-in for Shuttle Enterprise to fit-check the facilities to be used during the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration tests. In 1978, Pathfinder was shipped to Kennedy Space Center, where it was used to fit-check the mating device and Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) platforms. It was also used for ground crew training, and later, post-landing procedures before being returned to Marshall for show-and-tell.

Click here, or on the picture above to see the full gallery of Pathfinder photos. Now what they really need to do is build one that we can all climb on... :)

The Way of the Pyramids

This week, I've shared what I think are fascinating historical artifacts... hope I haven't bored anyone with the museum mindset. To me, origins are always of nearly-equal interest as our modern projects. But... will I have anything comparable to share in 20 years time?

When I was a child, President Richard Nixon announced plans to develop a Space Shuttle. Not a one-use craft or capsule, but an actual "shuttle" –- and the name implied routine access to space for scientific work. Apparently, it became a little TOO routine.

Sometimes I want to throttle the general public and shout, "What, our space program isn't exciting enough for you anymore?" Even our greatest successes are seen as commonplace. After years of dumbing ourselves down with the Hollywood diet, people who stand in front of movie cameras and play pretend for a living are inexplicably worshipped, while Neil Armstrong walks down many a public street without ever being recognized.

Will we ever top this?

I was not old enough to formulate my own opinion when the Shuttle era began, and as such, imported judgments from my parents and teachers. Everyone thought it was exciting to watch the Astronaut Corps grow, and see numerous crafts reach and return from space as if we merely had a new commute.

However, others perceived Shuttle strategy as a deceleration of "true" exploration... translation: Von Braun had already designed hardware intended to reach planet Mars, though he and most of his team have now died with that dream still un-realized.

We have the desire, the knowledge, the technology and the resources to live and work in space. Why don’t we?

I could go on for days about all the complex arguments. I like writing, but I’m astute enough to know when someone has expressed it better than I could, so I’m featuring a "guest post" of sorts today. My Facebook-friend Mike O’Hara wrote this essay in his FB-Notes section, and I truly hope you will read every word.

The Way of the Pyramids
Reprinted with Permission (slightly edited for length)

Standing on the Giza Plateau outside of Cairo stands a modern marvel for its time, the Great Pyramid. For 3800 years, it stood alone as the tallest man-made structure on the planet. The Egyptians don’t build pyramids anymore and haven’t for over 4500 years. At night, they shine lights on the monuments as a testament to the great civilization they once were. We have our own monuments to achievements of how great our civilization can be, our rockets to the moon. After reaching the unreachable, we canceled the program and let our monuments rot.

I was shocked on a visit to Huntsville to find a Saturn V laying on the grass. It was faded, the metal eaten in parts, overtaken by rodents, birds and other animals. Now, the Saturn V is restored and sits in a museum where, like the pyramids, future generations can come and say "what great people these must have been".

Click to see the restored Saturn V in Huntsville

Manned spaceflight has been misunderstood since its beginning. We put a lot of national treasure into reaching the moon, but we never saw it as an investment. Like Steinbrenner and his Yankees, we just thought, how much will it cost to win, and just do it. Having never established it as an investment in our future and in our technology – we saw it as an expense. An investment is something you put money into and get a greater value back. If space exploration were sold as a good investment with a guaranteed return, funding it would have never been a problem. Instead, we viewed space exploration as a necessary evil – if we have to do it, then spend as little as possible.

So many people have failed the space program. Strategy mistake after mistake. Political wrangling, waning public support, a lack of creativity and vision for the future. Everyone has some accountability for the state of where the U.S. Manned Space Program is today. As I read the reports on Obama’s latest proposal, one Congressman remarked "if we not going to do it right, then why do it at all". So it has come to this. The people and not just the few fervent supporters must step up and say they want America to be leaders in space. For without that we will fail.

Every four years, NASA comes under the gun; every change in Administration threatens a new direction. In the 60s, the space program WAS the technology. We used typewriters, and most TV shows were in black and white. No CDs, DVDs, Cable, Cell Phones, Computers, iPods, or Internet. The space program made us marvel like nothing else could. Today, technology is so pervasive that not being able to reach the moon seems nonsensical. [But] It’s harder to dazzle the public's fancy with space when movies can take them there without leaving their living rooms.

I’d bet on a global alliance to develop a Mars mission before I see the USA going it alone. I hope we will adequately fund the space program, but I’m skeptical. Who will stand up and speak for NASA? For now, we seem content to live off our past laurels. I don’t want future children to go to the space center, and like the pyramids, marvel at our monuments and wonder -- who were these people that did such bold and great things?

History vs. Future

Onward, through the rocket testing stands! Truly, some of the most exciting sites at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (if you can find your way around the winding maze) are in a cheerless state of erosion, but still absolutely worth the pilgrimage.

Here is one of my favorites, built even earlier than the Redstone test stand. This Static Test Tower or "T-Tower" was constructed in 1951 and initially used for Jupiter Missiles. In 1961, the stand was modified to permit static firing of the Saturn I and Saturn IB stages.

Historic Propulsion & Structural Test Facility
(Registered National Landmark)

Saturn I was primarily a research and development vehicle. Saturn IB was used for orbital Apollo missions; it also launched Skylab, and later the Apollo spacecraft into the historic linkup with Russian-Soyuz craft in 1975. These were the first rockets to have multiple engines mounted on a single stage.

MSFC thus developed three launch vehicles in the Saturn program, and built 32 in all. They also designed the Space Shuttle's main engines, solid rocket boosters and external tanks… all of which were tested in this area. In 1984, the PSTF stand was modified to permit structural tests on the Space Shuttle SRB. Since its initial activation, a total of 649 tests have been conducted at this facility!

Another marvelous spectacle is the Dynamic Test Stand, built in 1964 to test the complete Saturn V launch vehicle. In the early 1970s, the tower was also used to qualify the structural soundness of the Skylab workshop.

The facility was modified in 1977 to perform vibration tests on the mated Space Shuttle using the orbiter Enterprise... and if you look closely at the photo on the left, you can see where the older structure ends and the "newer" panels begin, from where it had to be widened to accommodate Shuttles.

Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand
360 feet tall – 15 levels

Department of the Interior officials referred to the Saturn V as "a unique engineering masterpiece that formed the key link in the chain that enabled Americans to travel to the Moon. This made possible the success of the American space program."

The tower was modified again in the 1980s to contain a Drop Tube to provide a low-gravity environment for approximately three seconds. Something about the words "drop tube" made me want to NOT ask any more questions about this one, LOL... but it’s an incredible sight to behold up close.

Note that the picture on the right is a NASA stock photo, showing scale of an orbiter above the the 144-foot high, 71-ton doors. Below, picture what the other rockets look like inside this behemoth! It is scheduled to be used for ground vibration tests (GVTs) of the Ares rockets... at least, that was what I intended to write about when I first visited Marshall. Will such tests come to pass? Time will tell.


Click any photo or the link here to visit my Picasa Galleries to see details of these and other interesting test site hardware...

Liftoff

Yep, shuttle launch in four days! But today, my title refers to a different kind of liftoff... that of our space program itself. It's not an overstatement to say that Huntsville, Alabama – known as "Rocket City" – is the true home of the American space program – the site where our first launch vehicles were designed and tested, before NASA or any of its space centers were founded.

After World War II, Dr. Wernher Von Braun and his "rocket team" surrendered to Allied forces and moved from Germany to work for the United States Army, eventually assigned to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. There the teams expanded to include hundreds of American scientists and engineers, who played a key role in the success of early milestones.

Me at the 75-foot-tall Redstone Test Stand
Added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1976.

On January 31, 1958, the team used a modified Redstone rocket called a Jupiter-C to launch Explorer I, America's first orbiting satellite. Two years later, Von Braun became director of NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center -- named in honor of the Army Chief of Staff during WWII, Secretary of State, and Nobel Prize Winner for the reconstructive Marshall Plan.

The "Rocket Teams" were already developing the famous Mercury-Redstone Rockets, basically the same modified military missiles, but their warheads were replaced with crew capsules and escape towers. The first ones were built at Redstone Arsenal, but based upon their designs, the Chrysler Corporation (seriously) was awarded the contract to build production models, the third of which propelled Alan Shepard into space on May 6, 1961.

O sure, hey...let’s test-fire a rocket
and sit like four feet away.

When my pal Craig drove me by this test stand at Redstone Arsenal, I was shocked to see how close the blockhouse (used for observations and for receiving telemetric data during tests) were to the actual firing site! They were basically only steel tanks covered by dirt mounds, with metal doors and observation windows...

You could jog from the rocket base to where the scientists were sitting in about 6 seconds! Hope you guys kept your goggles on.

The Redstone Test Stand is the oldest static firing facility at Marshall, and the very first in the US to accommodate an entire launch vehicle for static tests (previous test stands had accommodated only engines). The stand was also used to develop "human-rated" launch procedures, propellant fuel procedures, launch ignition procedures and acceptable criteria for launch pneumatics and thrust measurement.

Original cost to build in 1953? $25,000. Isn’t that about what a Prius costs now?

Seriously, every space or rocketry enthusiast should feel the magic and majesty of this small, abandoned site in northern Alabama. Despite how small and ancient it looks to modern eyes, it is the reverent stepping-stone of all stepping-stones to what our space program would eventually become.

U.S. Space & Rocket Center

Marshall Tour Continued! And I cannot stress enough that it was a truly grand place to visit... grand timing, too. In January of 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower transferred the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, led by Dr. Wernher von Braun, to the newly created National Aeronautics & Space Administration, beginning formation of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. 2010 is this their 50th anniversary!

I learned this and many other useful facts while touring through multiple exhibits. To my great delight, Heather S. arranged for a knowledgeable tour guide to escort us through Marshall’s museums:

Left: Space Camp's Media Man, Al Whitaker

Al Whitaker, Media Relations Director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, is also a 17-year veteran news anchor and reporter for WAAY TV in Huntsville, and thusly an easily recognized, respected figure. What a bonus! Being guided by him through various areas and artifacts – from Saturn V to Huntsville's contribution to American rocketry – was decidedly more fun and educational than wandering alone. And boy does he have some great stories...!

For example, one of my favorite artifacts is the solar array and other items from Skylab, which was managed by Marshall Space Flight Center, and proved man could live and work in space.

Skylab was one of the first things I remember seeing on television as a child: how they ran experiments in micro-gravity, how Skylab hosted the first physician in space (astronaut Dr. Joseph Kerwin) – and of course, how debris unfortunately plummeted onto Western Australia in July of 1979.

Imagine THAT falling in your backyard

As pieces re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, sonic booms and all, Dorothy and Mervin Andre of the town of Esperance collected another oxygen tank similar to the one above, spherical containers, a hundred-pound door hatch and various strips and shards of metal.

Al said that Mervin (town council president at the time), issued a ticket for littering to the visiting Americans of the recovery team! That cracked me up! I sure don’t recall hearing that story on television at the time, but merely remember thinking the Australian government was remarkably cool about the whole thing, having announced from the capital city of Canberra that Skylab had "fallen harmlessly into the ocean" while pieces were in fact raining down over The Outback.

I actually went a-Googling for details, and found that the Andre couple now operate The Skylab Museum of Australia, which gets about 12,000 annual visitors. Seems they’re proud and happy to share their salvage, and even happier to remind Americans that the ticket remained unpaid for three decades.

Last July, they held an anniversary celebration whereby two American radio hosts, Barker & Barley of Highway Radio, challenged their morning listeners to raise the $400 necessary to pay the littering fine on NASA’s behalf, finally settling the ticket in 2009.

Al & Me in the US Space & Rocket Center

Check out the Marshall Photo Gallery on Picasa to see some of the other items from famous space projects, including Project Gemini’s mission simulator, the first monkeys in space, the Skylab Spiders and more! Thank you so much for the great tour, Al... I had a blast! :)

Space Camp

Space Camp! You saw the movie, you dreamed of wearing that snazzy jumpsuit, admit it. Space Camp provides educational programs for space-enthusiasts of all ages, including residential programs, aircraft themed Aviation Challenge camps, and outdoor oriented X-Camp programs, all with the intent to promote science, aviation and exploration.

According to some sources, the idea was launched in 1977 by Dr. Wernher von Braun himself, when he noted youngsters taking notes in the public rocket center, and commented: "We have band camp, football, cheerleading; why don't we have a science camp?" Organizers thus used the US space program as a basis to encourage children in the areas of mathematics and science, beginning operations in 1982.

Habitat 1 - Click to see the whole Space Camp gallery!

Today, the Huntsville operation still offers programs for children and teenagers, and has expanded into offerings for adults, even up to corporate retreats and special programs for educators. Space Camp has its own Underwater Astronaut Trainer for neutral buoyancy exercises, full-size Space Shuttle and ISS module mockups (along with accompanying Mission Control facilities), and their other simulators include:

• Project Mercury Multi-Axis-Trainer(MAT) to simulate disorientation
• 1/6 Chair to simulate the Lunar surface… much like my last study!
• 5DF Chair to simulate the "frictionless" environment of space in five degrees of freedom
• Space Shot to simulate liftoffs.
• G-Force Accelerator to simulate G-Forces experienced during take-off and atmospheric re-entries.
  

Heathers at the Shuttle Simulator

In addition to their usual habitats, they’ve also added a new Mars program, with a separate "Vallis Marineris" habitat for red planet participants. Sounds like such fun, doesn’t it? If you’ve ever had an interest in signing up for a Space Camp program, this summer is definitely the time!

In addition to all their other fun rides, attractions and space artifacts, LucasFilm Ltd. will be bringing the Star Wars Exhibit this summer. The huge collection features costumes, props and models from all six films in the iconic Star Wars saga, while exploring how science plays a part in the storytelling.


Famous Space Camp attendees including Tom Hanks and the rest of the cast & crew of Apollo 13 prior to filming, Charlize Theron, Kris Kristofferson, Chelsea Clinton, Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen, and perhaps most interestingly -- Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger!

Dottie went to Space Camp in 1989 while in high school, and is the first Space Camp alumna to become an actual astronaut, having been selected as a Mission Specialist in NASA’s 2004 selection. She is currently assigned to the crew of STS-131, which is scheduled to launch this coming March!

Marshall Space Flight Center

Road trip! I made a big gas-guzzling circle around some southern states to visit friends, and see the Marshall Space Flight Center. It's pathetic, really... I've driven through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama more than a dozen times on cross-country treks, but have never once visited NASA Michoud, Stennis or Marshall Facilities. At least now I'm 1 for 3...

Heathers!

Of course all of my readers know The Other Heather, aka Weightless Heather, from when she shared her experiences on the Vomit Comet. Devin and I both met her when she interviewed us for the "Lying Around" article on the Simulation Studies, which is now featured on the top page of their NASA site.

Tour Guide Extraordinaire

Then there's my buddy Craig, who works in the same region of NASA Marshall, near Huntsville in beautiful northern Alabama.

Upon arrival at 1 Tranquility Base (yes, that’s their actual address!), they took me all around the Space & Rocket center, the famous Space Camp, their native ISS Control, and the Space Shuttle Orbiter Pathfinder. Heather and Craig also escorted me all over the nearby Redstone Arsenal military base to see Werner von Braun's stomping ground, as well as many historic and current rocket test stands.

Despite interrupting a workday for them, and in the middle of covering 20 miles of show-and-tell, they remembered to feed me and even whisk me through a giftshop. The whole package! And these two amazing hosts could not be more proud of their town, their space center and their work for our nation’s space program.


Heather and Craig, I am so grateful for your time and all your scheduling efforts You cannot imagine how much fun I had... I felt so lucky and happy to benefit from how excited you were to showcase all the amazing elements of your space center! Great job!

Over the next week, I’ll be adding more photos to my NASA Marshall photo gallery and describing some of the fun stuff there. You will definitely see why it's Alabama's Number One Tourist Destination!