JSC, Houston, Texas (Continued)
JSC, Houston, Texas (Continued)
SESL: "The Very Large Easy-Bake Vacuum
Oven"
You're nobody in the space
program unless you have a really big door. An incredibly
massive door (image: above far right)! I mean, look at the size
of this mind-bogglingly huge door! Of course, it is so
well-balanced, an out-of-shape-middle-aged-guy like me (image:
above far left) can easily move it. The Space Environment
Simulation Laboratory 
(SESL) is the closest thing to the intemperate
vacuum outside our atmosphere as you'll find on Earth. Spacecraft
as large as the full Apollo Command and Service Modules sat in
this huge chamber, engineers pumped out the atmosphere, then and
fired-up the giant death ray guns (image: above far right).
Though the original high intensity halogen heat lamps did
resemble the beam weapons of science fiction, they were simple
highly focused radiation lamps. The inside even resembles a
starry night, with the black interior and sparkling lamps way at
the top of the dome. Fortunately, crews did not have to sit in
this giant oven - they had their own smaller
"spacesuit-sized" vacuum cooker just across from the
big one (image: far right).
Here's where astronauts and engineers work and
play all day. Where once sat full-sized Lunar Modules, we now see
Space Shuttle payload bays and Soyuz Orbital Modules, and every
currently habitable portion of the International Space Station
laid out on the huge hanger floor. The Space Vehicle Mockup
Facility (SVMF) provides crews a full-scale reproduction of every
major flight vehicle component, providing the best possible
familiarization with these complex machines. You can practice
loading and unloading cargo modules, using either the ISS or
Shuttle Canada Arm - or work on the docking collar, or learn
about Russian microgravity toilets. During our visit, some crew
members and managers were having a meeting 
(image: below far right), though we couldn't hear
if waste management was on their agenda. Everywhere you look are
computers, piles of procedural manuals, tools, odd pieces of
hardware. The whole facility has a comfortably lived-in feel,
much like I imagine a well broken-in spaceship should be. A
docking ring sits right beside a pressure suit upper torso
portion (image: bottom near left), illustrating how the Docking
Module wears a much larger collar than even the biggest-headed
astronaut.
With all the excitement over seeing operational
and training training portions of the Center, I never forgot to
come back and see the wonderful museum. In it are three flown
spacecraft from each of the original manned series, as well as an
array of relics, and even cooler - the best look at Moonrocks you
can get anywhere! Well, the rock storage vault is just down the
street after all. But Holy Cow, look at these samples, identified
by their distinctive number - just they way they were bagged and
shipped from the Moon more than 30 years ago. Though I've viewed
lunar material before, it was often thin sections or crumbs,
never full samples, and never with the distinct geological types
side-by-side. Basalt, Breccia, and Anorthosite were common words
used on the Moon, as the crews made the most of their time
collecting the first pieces of a new planet.
Colonel Gordon Cooper, USAF (Ret) (1927-2004) should feel pretty good about his NASA legacy. Though he never made it to the Moon, his contributions to the program are well-represented at JSC. Cooper's Mercury 9, best known as Faith 7 (image: above far left), flew the final record-breaking day-and-a-half Mercury flight. His second command, Gemini V (five), flown with pilot Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr, Captain, USN (Ret) (1930-1999), hangs nearby. This two-seater version of the McDonnell Douglas spacecraft recreates an early spacewalk - though notably no one aboard Gemini V made an actual EVA. The now familiar gold-coated helmet sun visor and long snaking umbilical made their debut a few months earlier in 1965, on Gemini IV. The actual gas-powered manuevering gun used by Edward White II (Lt Col, USAF, 1923-1967 - who perished in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire) on this historic first U.S. spacewalk, sits nearby. Note the camera mounted atop.
Apollo
It is wonderful to see the last mission to the Moon celebrated as the main Apollo exhibit! Apollo 17 was my favorite lunar landing mission, mostly because I was finally old enough to really appreciate what I was seeing, and be totally wrapped-up in the TV coverage. A large lunar diarama hosts two figures representing Mission Commander Eugene Cernan, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. Their Command Module Pilot Ron Evans is hopefully up there in orbit somewhere. Jack is busy drilling a core sample, and Gene is apparently pointing out a geological feature. The Lunar Roving Vehicle sits beside them, it's antenna appropriately pointed at the painted Earth, waiting to take them on to their next station stop. The center of the room hosts their ride to and from the Moon, spaceship "America" (Command Module # 114). The spacecraft interior, lit by a yellow-orange lamp, looks awfully clean for a cabin which was once fouled by floating Moondust. I looked into the lower bay to find the American flag and mission patch seen during the flight, but alas these have been removed - though hopefully now in the hands of the crew. There is no Lunar Module near this exhibit, but a full-sized LM trainer hangs in the visitor's center main lobby. (Note the Commander's legs in the open hatchway.)
The Skylab exhibit is perhaps the most impressive
of the whole museum area. It houses the full-scale 1G (Earth
gravity) trainer used by the astronauts to practice living in
space. Including the Airlock Module, Multiple Docking Adapter,
and Apollo Telescope Mount, this spacecraft was just plain huge.
Using Apollo "leftovers," the U.S. launched what was
then the largest structure ever put into space, in May 1973. The
main living working module - the Orbital Workshop (OWS) - was a
former Saturn S-IVB rocket third stage, and the Apollo Command
& Service Module provided taxi service to andfrom the
station. The coolest part of the exhibit is the recreation of
scenes (images: below left to tight) aboard Skylab using animated
robots (see, I told you this is NASA Disneyland!). One astro is
spacewalking outside on the telescope mount. Dr Owen Garriott,
Skylab 3 Science Pilot, is having lunch in the wardroom; Skylab 3
Pilot Jack Losuma is taking a shower; and Skylab 4 Science Pilot
Ed Gibson is doing a sommersault in the upper level dome.
I was completely enthralled with this Apollo follow-on program as a kid. I followed the three crews closely during their then record-breaking 28, 56, and 84 day stays, respectively. All of the crews were made up of folks who had either flown to the Moon, or would have gone, if the lunar portion of Apollo hadn't been killed early due to NASA budget cuts! Even sadder for space fans in the 70s, this first U.S. space station had a notably short life: just about a year of active mission service, and then 5 years of slowly falling from orbit. Because of the thrifty use of adapted Apollo hardware, the program was meant as a short term first space station, not designed to be constantly resupplied or supported long term. A grand scheme would have had a Shuttle flight perform a Skylab rescue by attaching a booster rocket to adjust its orbit. Unfortunately, the Shuttle did not launch until 1981, and America's first space station was destroyed reentering the atmosphere in 1979, infamously hitting parts of Australia. Sure would have been nice to have kept her flying...
I can't think of a more wonderful
closing image for my wonderous first visit to Johnson Space
Center in more than 30 years. Here is the celebratory garment of
a living legend: Flight Director Gene Kranz. As told in the film Apollo
13, Gene's wife made him a vest (waistcoat) for each Apollo
flight, which he proudly wore while on duty as head of the
Mission Control White Team. Gene wore this unabashedly patriotic
red, white, and blue version as Apollo 17 splashed-down,
culminating the Apollo program. Oh, to have been in Mission
Control that day... but it was a dream fullfilled to stand in the
same spot, and feel the triumph still hanging in the air, after
more than 30 years !!!
