Oct. 17, 2008 Vol. 48, No. 21 Spaceport News John F. Kennedy Space Center - America’s gateway to the universe www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/snews/spnews_toc.html Parsons thanks Cabana KSC work force to step s I end my NASA the people who make the in as new career here at Ken- agency what it is. Through Anedy Space Center, triumphs and tragedies director I want to thank you all for we have faced challenges ormer astronaut and the support you have given together as a team. NASA NASA Naval aviator Robert to me and the dedication I have had the oppor- Bill Parsons Robert Cabana that you have to America’s tunity to work at several Cabana is Kennedy’s the center will be in good F space program. centers in various positions, new director. director at Stennis in October hands with Bob Cabana. I began my NASA ca- Cabana, a native of Min- 2007, Cabana served as and the commonality I find I’ve known Bob for a long reer here at Kennedy Space nesota, comes from Stennis deputy director of Johnson is that people across the time. He is an exceptional Center in 1990. In a sense, Space Center in Missis- Space Center. agency have pride in the leader, and I’m glad that he I’ve come full circle. In sippi where he served as the In addition, Cabana has work they do. With the ac- will be stepping in to lead November of 1985, I was Center Director for the past worked as chief of NASA’s complishments of this past the center. given the opportunity to see year. He graduated from the Astronaut Office; manager year, Kennedy Space Center It has been my privilege a space shuttle launch, and U.S. Naval Academy in 1971 of international operations employees should indeed to serve as center director it was at that moment that I with a bachelor of science in for the International Space feel a great sense of pride in over the past few years. knew I wanted to be part of mathematics and was com- Station Program; director of their work. Thank you all for allowing the space program. missioned as an officer in the NASA’s Human Space Flight As the center prepares me the opportunity to serve My time with NASA U.S. Marine Corps. Program in Russia; deputy for the upcoming launches with you. It is with a heavy has been extremely reward- He has flown four space director of the International of humans and payloads heart that I leave NASA, but ing in many ways, but made shuttle missions, serving Space Station Program; and the work of the Con- I look forward to all of your more special because of as the pilot of Discovery and director of Flight Crew stellation Program, I know future successes. the talented people I have missions STS-41 in October Operations. worked with across all the 1990 and STS-53 in De- “Bob has seen it all and NASA centers. Kennedy “It is with a heavy heart cember 1992; commander done it all in human space- Space Center employees are of Columbia on STS-65 in flight, and done it with an among the finest group of that I leave NASA, July 1994 and commander open, collaborative style,” people I have had the op- but I look forward to all of of Endeavour on STS-88 NASA Administrator Mi- portunity to work alongside. your future successes.” - the first International Space chael Griffin said. “He will This agency is remarkable, Station assembly mission - in be a terrific successor to Bill and as I have said on more Bill Parsons December 1998. Parsons as Director of Ken- than one occasion, it is Before being named the nedy Space Center.” Heritage: Visitor Complex Inside this issue . Pioneer 1 launched celebrates NASA’s 50 years ago 50th Anniversary Heavy lifting STS-124 Crew Return Page 2 Page 3 Page 7 Page 8 Page 2 SPACEPORT NEWS Oct. 17, 2008 NASA/Kim Shiflett Suspended by the 325-ton crane, Endeavour slowly rises inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. The process, which calls for a team of about 16 technicians, takes between 20 and 24 hours. Getting shuttle vertical a delicate task By Cheryl Mansfield Del Dewees, a lead mechanical tech- their eyes.” he says. “Crane operat- toward the high bay. Spaceport News nician and veteran crane operator or ing is one thing, but they’re doing “We take it out in the middle of ground controller for more than 95 what they’re told to do. But ground the bay so we can pirouette it, then ost crane operators don’t shuttle lifts, “but it’s fun once you’ve control, that’s the guy who really bring it back on the mark,” says use words like “ballet” done it a couple dozen times.” has to coordinate both cranes and Dewees. “We have to get it perfectly Mand “pirouette” when The process, which calls for a they have to do exactly what he tells lined up before we lower it down.” describing their work. But, most team of about 16 technicians and them, and then he has to fine tune it. Once inside the high bay, there crane operators don’t perform the normally takes between 20 and 24 You have to pick it up horizontally is little margin for error. “Between delicate task of maneuvering a space hours, requires skill and precision. and you have to rotate it with both the platforms, which are retracted, shuttle several hundred feet in the At the center of the operation are cranes. When it comes out great, it and the tank, you have interference air, sometimes with only inches to two pairs of crane operators and a looks like there’s nothing to it.” from the wings, and you have just spare. ground controller. Once the shuttle is Dewees assists in certifying the inches of clearance,” he explains. Before each mission, the space maneuvered into the vertical position roughly 40 operators trained in the With a description like that, shuttle designated for that flight is using a 175-ton crane, it’s discon- serious work of maneuvering the many people might think his job rolled from its processing hangar nected and attached to a 325-ton space hardware high overhead. In sounds stressful, but not Dewees. to the center transfer aisle of the crane. The operator, located in a tiny addition to the crane operations, the He grew up near the space massive Vehicle Assembly Building cab 467 feet above the floor, begins team is responsible for the mainte- center and remembers driving in the at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center the lift as the ground controller nance and operation of more than truck with his father as they heard in Florida. Once there, the process guides him from below. 800 pieces of equipment in the cav- the sound of pilings being driven begins to first raise the shuttle to a While all the focus would ernous building, including the giant during construction of the Vehicle vertical position, take it up and over seem to be on the crane operators, doors, which they must ride to the Assembly Building. He watched a 170-foot high transom, and then Dewees says the harder and equally top for service. Given the scale of as the Mercury astronauts lifted off carefully lower it into one of two important job is that of the ground the building and the jobs involved, from Cape Canaveral to pioneer high bays where the external fuel controller, who acts as the eyes of it’s obviously not a place for the American spaceflight. tank and twin solid rocket boosters the operators. faint-hearted. Even after working around are waiting on one of the mobile “Ground control is a lot harder Certainly a calm and steady space hardware for almost 30 years, launcher platforms. than operating the crane. That’s the hand is required as the crane op- he says simply, “it’s one of those “It’s a ballet, it really is,” says hard part, but the fun part too. You’re erator guides the dangling shuttle jobs that never gets old.” Oct. 17, 2008 SPACEPORT NEWS Page 3 STS-124 crew returns with message of hope By Linda Herridge workers a good perspective It also was the first mission Spaceport News of each crews’ experiences that employed three robotic in space. “It’s always inter- arms: the shuttle remote ma- etails of an event- esting and the astronauts all nipulator system, the space filled space shuttle have great senses of humor,” station remote manipulator Dmission were Casper said. system and the Japanese shared with workers Sept. The mission included remote manipulator system. 29, when STS-124 crew three spacewalks with vet- Hoshide operated the members returned to Ken- eran Fossum and first-timer station’s robotic arm to pull nedy Space Center. Garan. As they stepped Kibo out of the shuttle’s Pilot Ken Ham and away from the shuttle payload bay. With barely a Mission Specialists Mike for the first time, Fossum two-inch clearance on each Fossum, Ron Garan and Ja- NASA/Kim Shiflett humorously said he advised side, Hoshide said the move pan Aerospace Exploration Mission Specialist Ron Garan, center, and Pilot Ken Ham were among Garan not to look down. had to be precise. Agency astronaut Akihiko members of the STS-124 crew who shared stories, photos and videos of Both performed work on As each STS-124 crew their journey with Kennedy workers Sept 29.