Tag Archives: Space

3 2 1 Lift Off or Not

4 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

This has been another busy week and I want to apologize to my friends who blogs I usually visit. Three of Rebekah’s novels have been involved in sales this week and has kept me glued to my computer. Also, a Facebook group I am a part of held a three-day Facebook party and I agreed to be a moderator. That means I spent time on the party page, making sure everything flowed smoothly and that our guests arrived on time. Actually, it was a lot of fun and I won several books and an audiobook.

Today was a change of pace. Rebekah and I arose early and headed out to the Indian River to Space View Park to watch the launch of the next generation space vehicle, Orion. The launch was scheduled for somewhere around 7:05 am

Sun rising over the Indian River

Sun rising over the Indian River

When we arrived, somewhere around 6:45am the sun was just coming up over the horizon and the crowd was on its feet and excited, but there was something missing-noise. In the past, multiple radios could be heard, giving out updates and people stood chatting with strangers. Today all I saw was people on their phones, watching on live stream or a NASA stream. I had my phone out, tweeting and sharing photos on Twitter. It was fun seeing people from around the world talking about it, but what happened to talking to the person next to you?

The launch was delayed due to a boat being in a restricted area and the countdown was put on hold until the boat cleared the area. The countdown began again and was stopped repeatedly for either wind or mechanical problems and ultimately the launch was scrubbed.

photo 2There was an amusing tidbit that came out of the morning. Down in front of us a man was set up with a portable TV, an antenna and a booming voice. As each event occurred he would shout HOLD or FOUR MINUTES and eventually the dreaded word SCRUB. Having grown up listening to “The Voice of NASA”, it gave me a chuckle to think the very serious and professional voice had been replaced in this new era of space flight.

Since the sequel to Rebekah’s book Jessie will take place and possibly begin in the shuttle era of the space program, she and I will be up early  tomorrow to try again. I plan to tweet less and talk more, BUT if you are on twitter look for my tweets @iluvscoops.

 

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The Best Job I Ever Had~Part 3

29 Oct

A Slice of Life

By Bill Lites

Bill Lites

Bill Lites

 

One of the largest assignments I was responsible for was the 1st /2nd stage separation system. This system was used in two places on the S-II stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle; to separate the first stage S-IC from the second stage S-II, and again 30 seconds later, to separate the protective S-II Interstage from around the S-II engines. The S-IC and S-II stages were both 33 feet in diameter, so the test fixture used to test the full scale separation system was massive.

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The test fixture was designed to lift a simulated section of the separation plane off the ground so that when the explosive system fired, the lower portion could be photographed while it fell to the ground. This was the closest we could come to simulating the actual event, and we learned several important things from these tests that would drive the final design of the separation system itself. The first thing we discovered, was that the originally designed charge assembly would warp as it was unreeled from the installation spool, making it difficult to keep it lying flat on the tension plates it had to cut. Next, we found out that any amount of water between the charge assembly and the tension plate would diffuse the cutting ability of the explosive. The Los Angeles fog taught us this fact. This happened when we installed the separation system one day for a full-scale test the next day, and when the fog rolled in that night, the moisture ran down the stringers, onto the tension plates, and collected in the “V” of the shaped charge in several places. The final design consisted of a vinyl wrapped charge assembly that kept the moisture out of the cutting area, and a retention system that held the charge assembly tight against the tension plates. The manufacturer of the charge assembly also supplied a disposable holder that kept it from warping as it came off the installation spool.

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This separation system did not use a large size explosive charge, but because it had to cut the 216 tension straps around the 103 foot outside circumference of the vehicle, it ended up being a large explosion. After the first three tests, we had to move the entire test fixture to an El Centro desert facility because of complaints from the local Downey, CA residents.

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After finalizing the ordnance systems testing for the Apollo and Saturn S-II vehicles, I was transferred to the NAA Field Operations Group and moved to Florida in 1965 to be one of the Field Test Engineers responsible for the processing and installation of many of those same ordnance systems I had tested in California. My job now was to write the procedures for, and supervise the processing and installation of, these flight ordnance systems on the Saturn S-II launch vehicle that helped boost the Apollo Astronauts and their spacecraft to the Moon. What a thrill it was to be able to watch that giant 363 foot high Saturn V launch vehicle lift off, in all its glory, and see those systems work as they had been designed and tested. But of course, as it turned out, that job wasn’t near as much fun as the job of blowing up those system test specimens back in the early days at the home plant (Will I ever grow out of being a kid?).

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You may have seen the picture below or a video clip of it in an Apollo documentary or an advertisement, but this was the S-II Interstage falling away from the S-II Stage booster 30 seconds after separation from the S-IC stage, which occurred during each Apollo/Saturn V launch from the Kennedy Space Center.

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Most people have no idea how many unseen systems have to work perfectly, and in the proper sequence, during any rocket launch. I still get thrilled every time I watch a video of one of the Apollo/Saturn V launches, and see each of the many ordnance systems function as they were designed. And, it’s gratifying to know that I played a small part in that historical program to place the very first men on the moon.

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—–The End—–

 

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The Best Job I Ever Had~Part 2

22 Oct

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill

 

I would design and have built any test fixtures required. Then I would coordinate with the various support groups necessary for each test. In most cases, the specimen would have to be tested in at least the three realms I mentioned (high temp, low temp, vibration) to verify that they would function under those conditions. This meant the Ordnance Design Engineer had to have at least three of his system specimens built and supplied to the Test Group for testing. It was something to be able to blow up these various test specimens when they worked as designed, but when they didn’t, and the Ordnance Design Engineer had to take the mangled pieces back to his office and his drawing board, to figure out how to make the system work properly, it was rather sad for him. You might have heard the old saying, “Well, it’s back to the drawing board.”  Well, that’s just what he had to do. This would go on until the system was perfected and the test results satisfied the original/modified system designed acceptance requirements. Of course, everyone had their own critical time schedule that they were working to, and any delays caused by malfunctions or unexpected test results only added to the pressure each group involved would feel.

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Many of the system specimens we tested were small, which made them easy to setup and test. They included mostly self-contained fuse assemblies and guillotine type cutters, used for cutting such things as parachute shroud lines, etc. The guillotine cutters used pressure cartridges to instantly force the cutting blade thru the lines. The reason most of the explosive systems used on the Apollo Spacecraft and the Saturn V Launch Vehicle had to be self-contained was to prevent damage to the vehicle in which they were located.

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For example, one of the main explosive systems used to ignite solid rocket motors was Confined Detonating Fuse (CDF). This was a small flexible lead sheathed explosive core wrapped in alternating layers of plastic and fiberglass weaved cloth. This allowed the explosive train to be routed thru various parts of the vehicle to the rocket motors, or other explosive devises, and still confine the explosion. Then there were the parachute mortars, which were used to deploy the various parachute systems during spacecraft re-entry.  The diagram below shows an example of how CDF was routed and connected for use on a retrorocket system.

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There were also various methods of separating the multiple components and stages from each other. All of these explosive devises had to work as designed and exactly when required to insure specific component and overall mission objectives.

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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Meet My Blogger Friends and a Chance to Win a Prize

5 Aug

My daughter Rebekah Lyn’s  new release Jessie is traveling around the blogosphere visiting with some of our friends. I thought it would be fun to re-blog some of them here. Be sure to click the blog title to visit their blog and tell them Onisha sent you!

Blog Tour Graphic copy

 

July 22, 2014 Shanna Hatfield’s Blog

Shanna was the first stop. She shared an excerpt. Be sure to click above to read the whole post.

A-OK

Chapter 3

May 5, 1961

The call of a blue jay screeched through the open window, jarring Jessie from a dream. He rolled onto his side, rubbed his eyes, and pushed up on his elbow to look out the window. The sun hadn’t risen above the orange trees yet so he guessed it was about six. Spotting the offender on a limb not forty feet from the window, he wished he had his shotgun nearby.

“Jessie, you awake?” Ricky whispered from the upper bunk.

“Yeah,” Jessie muttered, pushing the thin sheet back and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Ricky dropped down from the bunk above, his eyes glittering.

 

July 22, 2014 Stop Two Faith Blum, Writings, Ramblings and Reflections

Faith was kind enough to read and review Jessie! Visit her site to read the whole review.

My Review

When I first signed up to be part of the blog tour for Jessie, I was thinking that the book would be a nice, easy read with some good historical information about the time Jessie lived in and that would be that. Boy was I shocked to find out just what kind of book it was. Rebekah Lyn took her book and made each and every character seem truly alive. I wanted to meet all four of the Cole boys just so I could actually see them in person. I wanted to take Mr. Cole by the scruff of his neck and tell him to shape up and fast before he completely lost all respectability

 

July 27, 2014 Third Stop Author Brooke Williams Blog

Brooke is a new friend we met through DiVoran Lites. She interviewed Rebekah. I liked this question and answer! She is in the middle of her own blog tour so visit her site and learn more about her.

We’d love to hear a few quirky facts about you they don’t usually come up in interviews. 

I am mildly obsessed with my garden, particularly my lemon tree. I visit the back window several times a day just to look out and admire it. I enjoy watching birds visit my feeder, but I don’t want them getting close to me. I had a bad experience in an aviary years ago that has made me skittish when birds get too close. I have a particular path I follow when shopping at Target and get anxious if we stray off that path.

August 1, 2014 Fourth Stop Sara B. Gauldin’s Blog Segbwrites

This stop almost didn’t happen! I forgot to send  the information to Sara and she graciously forgave me and posted it anyway. Be sure to visit her blog!

The tea sounds like it was a great success. Aside from writing do you have any future plans and will tea be a part of them?

Yes they are! The dream I have for my future is moving to the mountains of North Carolina, which I love, and opening my own tea shop and bakery. I would run my tea shop from April to November and spend all winter writing,-bringing together the two things I love most and seems to take me back to those days of watching Aunt Virginia in the kitchen, pouring out her heart to make others happy.

August 5, 2014 Fifth Stop Annie Douglass Lima’s Blog

Rebekah finds writing a conversation far easier than an interview so she chose to create an “off the record”  conversation among the Cole brothers. There is a hint  in the interview of a problem one of the brothers will experience. If you have read Jessie, comment below  and be entered to win, a lovely bracelet we are making.

Afternoon with the Cole Boys

Max, Ricky, and Sam snaked through the underbrush, arriving at their fort ten minutes after the final school bell rang. “How long you think Jessie is gonna keep going to these tutoring sessions?” Ricky asked.
“Until he’s caught up and his grades improve,” Sam replied.

“It was more fun when he didn’t care about school and we could all hang out together. I miss going hunting or fishing anytime we wanted,” Ricky said.

 

We have more stops coming up ! I will post them next Tuesday. If you  visit the blogs and   leave this  comment “Onisha Sent Me” you will be entered to win a digital AUTHOGRAPHED copy of Jessie!!

If you would like to enter for a bigger prize, take a chance on our rafflecopter giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Some really cool stuff in this bag!

Some really cool stuff in this bag!

 

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