Brevard County, Florida ping.Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.
(not associated with the county government)
Posted on 10/22/2013 9:47:15 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
We all have stories, as engineers, of fixing some crazy thing at the last minute right before the demo goes up. We have all encountered situations where we needed to fix something that was our fault and we needed to fix it now.
This story is something that I think about in those times to remember to stay calm. No last minute fix could ever be this dramatic or important.
My grandfather passed away about a week ago. At the service, I was asked to say a few words and read from his memoirs. This was my choice. RED TEAM 4 TO THE POD
The first unmanned launch of a Saturn V on November 9th. 1967. From the personal memoirs and the pen of William E. Moore January 28th. 1994.
There was five of us Rocket Scientists lounging around the ready room listening to the Apollo 4 Countdown on loud speakers and headsets. We were members of the Red Team Group and we were the Electrical Systems experts on all hardware interfaces between the firing room and the Saturn V vehicle three miles away. Our ears were now being drawn into a developing situation happening on the net. No response was received from an electrical circuit that controlled the separation of the S-II Stage from the S-1C Stage in flight.
"That was one of my electrical circuits!"
It just so happened that circuit is controlled by a series of relays located almost directly beneath that cold beast that was spewing out all kinds of funny colored, very cold gases -- the Saturn V rocket. We took a look at our blue prints and found the relay that must be the problem and called for a recycle in the countdown to a point where we could cycle the switch on the electrical networks console to see if the relay would pick up -- that was a "no go". Now things got serious. The NASA Test Conductor was talking 'scrub the launch' but our S-II Stage Test Conductor was talking 'go to the pad'.
Well, the Red Phone rings.
"Bill, how sure are you that this relay is the problem? Are we going to send people to the pad to rewire the rocket and not be able to launch because we guessed wrong?" said "AC" Filbert C. Martin
"It's worth a shot, the signal is not reaching the vehicle and that relay module is the only active component between the Firing Room Console and the Vehicle. You snap out the old Relay Module and snap in the new one and we will be able to tell if that was the problem a few seconds later."
"Well, we are a little concerned about sending a team to the pad with a fully loaded vehicle. We thought your team would do a lot of blueprint trouble shooting -- I'm not sure we planned to actually send anybody out to a fueled vehicle"
"Just don't let them launch this mother till we are at least half way back from the pad -- OK!"
About thirty minutes later the five of us (Bob Kelso NRR Sr. Tech, Bill Moore; NAR Engineer/ Team Leader, the NASA Safety Engineer, the NRR Quality Control and the NASA Pad Leader) got the official word to head for the Launch Pad with our new Relay Pod. It was 11:30pm. It was a dark, slow, three mile trip. As we got closer to the Saturn V it was shrouded in a white cloud of venting gases which relieved the pressures building up inside the vehicle fuel tanks.
Our goal was to enter this two level hermetically sealed, all welded steel coffin called the Mobil Launcher Base topped by a fully loaded 363 ft. high Saturn V, weighing 6.2 million pounds, and the permanently attached 380 ft. high Umbilical Tower, weighing 500k pounds. We finally stopped and left our van to walk up and into the second level of the Mobile Launcher Base. About this time, it came to my mind that during one of our training sessions we were told that one of the fully fueled prototype S-II rocket stages had been exploded out in the desert. The results showed that all buildings better be at least three miles from the launch pads - which they are. We were now within 25 feet of this 363ft tall bomb that sounded like it's giant fuse had been lit, and we were soon going to get much closer.
The Saturn V was more noisy and ghostly than I had ever expected and it had grown much taller and certainly more threatening since last week. The venting fuel made loud hissing sounds when relief valves popped or opened up suddenly. It was very easy to let your imagination infect your brain. This is a very dangerous place and everything seems to be moving in the heavy foggy mist. There was no way to talk to each other, heck, we could barely see each other and...we hadn't thought of this problem so we held onto each others yellow protective clothing like kindergartners crossing the street. We all wore safety helmets but they just did not make you feel like you were really safe.
As we climbed up the last step prior to opening the sealed submarine type entry door that led into the second level. We slowly opened the heavy steel hatch-type pressurized door it was like stepping into the jaws of a huge steaming dragon. The nitrogen fog, used to suppress fire, and the dim red glow from the emergency lights of level A made it look like a hollywood swamp scene. We started making our way through the 21 compartments to find our Relay Rack as the noise took on a more penetrating tone that seemed to bounce from wall to wall.
The smell became a mixture of kerosene with a mild touch of burnt paint and rubber. I was glad that the astronauts did not take this path to go aboard the Saturn V because my goosebumps were changing to a weird color of purple. With the realization that this was a much worse place to be trapped in, the team moved more rapidly to the relay rack. We replaced the old relay module and then had to cycle the switch on the firing room console. We then checked that the relay kicked in and that the signal was picked up on the vehicle. We resealed the cabinet, signed off on all the paperwork and got the out of there without any more sight seeing.
The drive back to the ready room very was fast and uneventful. The five of us were like stone figures, thinking about where we had been and what we had just accomplished. What could have happened and didn't. All of this without ever realizing that this experience was as close to being in the shoes of an Saturn V astronaut as any of us would ever be again.
In later letters, my grandfather mentions how fortunate he really was, having growing up a farm boy in West Virginia to have not just once in a lifetime experiences, but really once in many lifetimes experiences. The service was about celebrating his life, and this seems like one of those incredibly unique events that really does celebrate his life, both in terms of how he handled a mind bogglingly stressful situation and how he tells it the comfortably detailed and slyly humorous ease that was so characteristic of how he spoke.
A really incredible man who really contributed a lot to the world around him and meant a lot to those close to him, he will be sorely missed.
Has anyone produced a game based on that?
//sarc
Hey Jack. Sorry for your loss. We’ve talked before about the space program and having dealt with “Red crew” situations over the years on the shuttle systems all I can say is thanks for remembering him in that manner. For those that didn’t have the opportunity and honor to work on those systems, appreciate the effort that so many folks put out on the Saturn and Shuttle systems. Maybe never to be seen again, a US human space program. No direction and minimal funding so it’s probably up to the private sector.
Brevard County, Florida ping.Keep in mind that space is going commercial. SpaceX and Blue Origin/ULA are arguing over who is going to own Pad 39A. SpaceX wants to launch the Falcon Heavy there.
We’ll be on Mars by 2022 as a one way trip for the first colonists.
http://nypost.com/2013/08/10/more-than-100000-apply-for-mission-to-colonize-mars-in-2022-40-picked-will-never-return/
Yup. That’s what I meant about the private sector. Now that I’m retired and not in the area any longer, I don’t keep up like I used to. Of course SNC is HQ’d here in Reno and their “mini shuttle” is pretty interesting. Tow tests have been done and I read they are going to do some helo suspended flights or have already. Thanks for your grandfathers work.
I am also proud of my Dad's contribution to the Space Race. Around the same time, 1965 - 1967, my Dad worked for GE as a main frame computer programmer on the parts inventory for the Saturn V. Probably the most ambitious effort of programming up to that time.
He worked in one of those old one story wood frame converted Army barracks buildings next to the headquarters building. They were designed as several huts in long straight rows connected by short walkways and as I remember it, the Computer Room was in a newer construction connected at one end. I remember mag tape cabinets were crammed in everywhere.
We lived 10 miles from the arsenal and when they did a static tie-down test of the main booster the ground shook more than in most earthquakes. Wonderful times in "The Rocket City" back then.
1706-1790 - Benjamin Franklin
Selections from Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758
“Haste makes Waste.”
“Little strokes fell great oaks.”
“Well done is better than well said.”
Hats off and salutes to a great man, just doing his job and believing in the “can do” NASA approach the catapulted this country forward by decades.
Today, we have little vision and little self-confidence and that is a national shame. In tribute to the men and women like your grandfather, we need to rededicate ourselves to manned missions.
We also need to fight the “Hoax” community who actually believe the Space/Moon race was faked.
Bookmark.
Great post - I just love this kind of stuff.
I always incorporate stories like this when I am comparing what has been achieved by older generations to the ones now that design social apps (or the one’s that designed Nobama’s webpage).
Guys like these fellows and the like of Kelly Johnson are sorely needed.
Thanks, great story.
Awesome story Jack. We owe men like your Grandfather a tremendous debt of thanks. They opened up a frontier to all mankind, though we seem to have not really taken advantage of it since the politicians slammed the door shut due to their short-sightedness. Someday we’ll be back, if our aversion to risk hasn’t become so great as to doom us all to this stinking rock.
Thumbs up!!
Wonderful story.
Just a bunch of old crackers, wasting money instead of sending it right to EBT cards.
We’re SO much smarter and better off now.
(Very sorry for your loss, which is, really, all of our loss).
Amazing post. Sorry for the loss of your grandfather; he sounds like he was quite a remarkable man!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.