One Minute at Zero G's, $600; One Minute at Two G's, $600; Not Hurling in the plane, PRICELESS!

Lyle and Marsha, 2 minutes from blast off!

Some of us are not morning people.  Some of us are.  The morning people win.  The morning people get up in the 4's.  What is wrong with them?  Luckily, they usually go out and play until around 6 a.m.  This  morning, one of the morning people, Lyle, was a bit subdued and didn't run his usual 3 miles. ( It had been suggested that we reserve our hydration for our blood cells, and Lyle took this to heart.)  Marsha herself did not sleep all that well, as she was making a list and checking it twice.  They were psyching up for one of the most exciting experiences on earth, evidently, one that Monica, Joe and I are psyching our own selves up for right now!

Taking off into the Wild  Blue Yonder

                  

As Marsha and Lyle were having two last meetings, one for the rules of the airplane (they ARE picky about that plane) and one for the distribution of drugs, the rest of us were on the plane fine tuning our project.  (One medication calms the sicky feeling, while the other counteracts the zombie feeling the first one gives you. You take them if you choose.  I gotta tell you, every NASA person on the flight takes them. That's good enough for us.)  Marsha and Lyle flew:  Here they speak: "The meds made us a little more loopy than normal, but we managed to focus on the task at hand when we needed to, and perhaps a bit too much.  The trip out to our flight path over the Gulf of Mexico was easy, followed by a 2 minute period of 2-G force where it is more comfortable to lie down.  The first parabola producing zero-G was the most jarring of the day.  Lyle flew to the ceiling and Marsha was thrown over our experiment. The men in blue suits were kept very busy keeping people from colliding with walls, equipment and other people.  We re-positioned ourselves so as to have access to straps for holding onto. Christy, our engineer mentor, had to operate the computer where Marsha was initially stationed.  We were able to produce bubbles in several parabolas as expected - without getting water into the pump.  It was very exciting, especially since we'd been told that it might not work at all!! Toward the end of the flight, we were able to spend a few parabolas "free-floating" in zero-G - too much fun! The whole experience was unforgettable and much too brief.  What a ride!"

Three down, (or up, really) Three to go....

Lyle disembarking with his own two feet!

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM:
There is a storm in the Gulf.  We were immediately told that we were flying this afternoon.  Go have a light lunch, come back at 2:00 and be ready to fly.  We got delirious with excitement.  15 minutes later, we were not flying.  The "track" taken by our plane was not available.  Soooo, if it is too "rough" in the morning, Joe, Monica, and I will fly in the afternoon.  If it is rough then, it will be Saturday morning.  Needless to say, we are concerned.  Firstly, because we don't know what "rough" means.  More importantly, we are terrified we will be out of luck.  They promise we will make it.  Fingers crossed, people.  
Matthew, Laura, and Nancy arrived this afternoon for a sweet reunion.
Matthew would not remove his arms from around Joe's neck for at least 15 minutes, no kidding.  Adventure is exciting and fun, family is ...... priceless.

Gone too long, Daddy.

 

 

Life at Warp Speed!

You remember when you went to sleep away camp, and you looked forward to mail call everyday, and you so hoped for a letter, maybe even a box of homemade cookies?  Well, that's how we feel.  We are telling you about all our amazing activities, and very few of you seem have noticed.  (Thank you Joe's family.) We don't need the box of cookies, but a comment would be most appreciated.  We kind of feel like we are on Mars.  Just saying.

What will happen if I push this?

 Last night we played Pig at the basketball hoop outside our rooms.  Yes, my boys, I played also and I did not lose the very worst. Almost.  Problemo: Lyle claimed injury and didn't run this morning. (It was his layup, of which he is so proud.  Don't worry.  He is faking it and will fly tomorrow.  Just needed an excuse not to run this morning or tomorrow morning when he is not supposed to.  Slacker.

Don't worry, I have Mission Control under control.

Houston, we have a problem.

Under a flag that flew on the moon.  Really.

"I've found the PANIC button and I'm going to push it!"

Two or three days of activities are crammed into each one--a true time warp. We are exhausted at the end of the day.  Today, once again, we were Early, though Monica was sure we would be Late.  There was enough time for Joe to have me hold his cup of coffee and for me to throw it on Marsha.  It was an accident.  She took it very well.  From there we boarded buses to have an in depth tour of NASA, starting with three mission control rooms.  The first one controls the ISS, the second, the shuttle, the third, the old one from the Apollo days.  The most fun: the old one.  Remember Apollo 13?  There is a plaque of gratitude from the crew, with an attached "rear view mirror," one of the pieces of junk they had to use as ballast to make up for the rocks they didn't get to collect.  

 I said blow the hatch at 13:15 not 13:14!

From there we went to the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.  Fascinating.  A mock-up of the ISS is completely submerged along with the bay of the shuttle.  Our tour was given by a tiny, cute diver who described the grueling test she had to take to get the job.  The depth of the pool is 40 feet; it took a month to fill it at a rate of 150 gallons per minute.  We will save you the math. That is 6,000,000 gallons.  Long, blond hair on that diver.  Ladies, the shampoo to use is Ultra Swim.  She swears by it.

Astronaut Finck describing the new transport to the ISS

Just a small corner of a huge pool.

 Building 9 is packed with mock-ups of the shuttle, as many parts of the ISS as they can get in there, and an area devoted to robots. One of the astronauts who had just returned in the Endeavor was being filmed as he described a trip in the Soyuz, the little beer barrel that the Russians throw into space with 3 guys in snowsuits.  It is in the Soyuz that our precious American astronauts will travel to the ISS in the future.  By the end of the month, the shuttle mock-ups will leave the building after 30 years.  The nostalgia at NASA is palpable.

Robonaut is cute but nothing like the real thing.

Haste makes waste, Ladies.

I think we got it, with the help of Fernando and Thin Mint

After our 3 hour tour, we grabbed giant teas from Sonic and flew to the hanger to complete our construction.  We had to get everything ready to load on the plane.  Luckily, we can handle some 7/16 wrenches and countless screws. Only had to start over 3 times, but we got it. 

Is it rightie-tightie, lefty loosey?

All the teams flying on Thursday and Friday had to load today.  Everything is bolted into a plexiglass glovebox, then bolted into the plane.  Each groups gets a particular spot with straps around it that will hold our feet so we can work without floating off.  These boxes were forklifted onto the plane for final testing of electricity, kill switch, and camera.  We rehearsed a bit, then went to get our flight suits (each with our name on them!) and a 30 minute instruction, with video, on how NOT to get sick.                            

What could possibly go wrong?

 

A little more tape, right here, should do it.

 






So,
Here we go.  Lyle and Marsha in the morning.  What will happen to the water, the pump, the bubbles?
Will everything stay in the right place or will knocking gravity out of the equation force us to alter our experiment in mid flight?  I think that is what we are here for.  How lucky can you get? Go Saints'!

Lessons from Space

Lyle directing us to Rotisserie Chicken

By the way, last night was Gabby Gifford's first public appearance.  We feel so privileged to have been there.  It was really quite touching.

This morning, those of us who secretly believe that they can still grow up to be astronauts went out training again.  The first riser is Joe who stomps around upstairs to awaken Monica, the trainer, whose room is directly below the stomper.  Funny, it doesn't awaken me.  This process occurs at the hour of 4:50 a.m. They dawn (that is a purposeful pun, people) their gay apparel (except Lyle who evidently wears an All Saints' shirt and shorts from 1970). Joe puts on his super-duper cooling socks with his new running clothes.  (Did we mention the new clothes, Laura?) And off they go. They return right around 6, and awaken the two sane members of this team; I am not mentioning any names.  Then we must endure the two fanatical time-keeper members who INSIST that we be every where 30 minutes ahead of time, even if it means sitting in a hot car.  (Once again, no names, but Gee COLIN, how do you take it?  And Laura, you know who one of them is.)

Today we learned of the amazing resources NASA Education has for us.  Unbelievable.  Although the direction of the "organization is changing," they are more determined than ever to get kids interested in science and math.  Hence, the reason we get to go on a rather expensive joy ride!  They gave us toys, such as jump ropes, soccer balls, lacrosse, pecking hens, catch the ball thingie, and yo-yos. We got the yo-yo and guess what?  Engineer Joe comes through again.  He is a yo-yo!  No, wait, he can handle a yo-yo like the best of them.  We were to determine how these toys would act in space.  Then they showed us videos of the toys being played with by astronauts on the space station.  FUN!

Peggy is a sucker for the strong, silent type, right Steve?

In the afternoon, a precious engineer who designs spacesuits, took us through the evolution of their design, from Mercury until now.  She kept mentioning, "the new direction..." Poor kid. Maybe out of
a job, soon.

Monica has taken over galley duty, and seems amazingly devoted to a certain chicken salad recipe. Four days running (there's that word again) rotisserie chicken has been ripped apart and has provided a picnic lunch for us, together with fruit borrowed from breakfast.  She is making it again, as I write this, so you can see how helpful it is for me to be sitting here with this laptop.

Today was rather relaxing in a rather hectic sort of way.  (Is there such a thing as a relaxing day
with Monica, Colin?) By the way, Joe has driven Marsha's Suburban all over Clear Lake, Texas.  I say Joe has driven, but it is actually Marsha from the back seat.  It is a darn good thing we see the humor in all of this and can't stop laughing.

All Systems Go!!

This blog has been hijacked by Monica Wilson for this afternoon's post. First and foremost the person mentioned in Friday's blog who was unable to follow the rules was Peggy. At least one of us has had to escort her since that time in order to keep her in line and out of trouble. However, she was cleared today to fly on Friday...HOORAY!!! The whole team is stoked about this news, it just wouldn't be the same without her. I'm just excited that I am coming home in one piece. The threats to harm me are OVER! Another joyous occasion today was that we were cleared by the reduced gravity office to fly with our contraption. A few minor modifications had to be made and those were cleared as well...HALLELUJAH!!
On a "how's the team getting along" note, we're getting along great. I believe a running monster was created in Joe due to his great new shoes. This time next year Lyle and I would not be surprised if he were getting ready to run a marathon in the fall.
Lyle continues to amaze me as he thinks anything and everything is sold at CVS pharmacy. How much stock does he own in CVS?? Unfortunately, CVS does NOT sell food coloring or a rotisserie chicken. One item CVS most certainly did not have was his official NASA/All Saints' shirt. How do you forget something like that? Fortunately, sweet Nancy overnighted his polo to the nearest FedEx. Luckily, his forgotten shaving kit could be replaced at none other than CVS! And his lost comb replaced yet again at CVS. AND most importantly his forgotten prescriptions.
Marsha continues to do us proud as our team leader. We passed our inquisition by 20 NASA scientists, not an easy feat. Hopefully, she will be in bed before midnight tonight. Our weight limit was a max of 40 pounds, we came in at 39 pounds...whew!
More from our fearless blogger, Peggy, later.

It is later.  We had a fabulous night.  As luck would have it, tonight at NASA was the STS 134 debriefing, with Mark Kelly, flight commander, and the 5 other astronauts showing us pictures and a video of their mission.  Kelly's wife, Gabrielle Gifford, was there in a wheel chair and waved to everybody.  A standing ovation when she came in.  Awards were given out to personnel on the ground who supported their success.  Kelly was so sincere in his appreciation of NASA and of the the audience being there. We stood in line for an hour, with about 250 other people.  When the astronauts received their medals, Kelly walked over and gave it to his wife who managed to stand up and hug him.  Oh, my, give me a tissue.

Lyle and Joe got in touch with their mechanical engineering selves and fixed us up a darn good reverse flow apparatus, whatever that is, in order to, surprisingly, reverse the flow.  You see, we want no flow of water to be drawn into the pump.  NASA wants no flow of water spewed around their plane.  This accomplishment took 2 trips to Home Depot, one to Lowe's, then another trip to HD, and a few phone calls to an RV repair man.  Here, for your edification, is what this thing finally looks like, until we change it tomorrow for some reason.

Weekend "off?"

At this moment, we are working madly on our "spearimint."   Actually, they are.  I am writing this.  Joe is grilling chicken.  Monica is washing clothes and making tomorrow's lunches.  Where's Lyle?  Really only Marsha is working on the write-up.  It is 7 pm, the night before we face the inquisition and we are still coming up with new ideas.  But more on that later.
Yesterday was the down day.  Lyle, Joe, and M&M went to Galveston.  They aren't telling me much.  I do know that Lyle's Emily managed to take time off from working on her PhD at Galveston's medical branch to have lunch with them.  (How we love it when our grown children manage to toss time our way.)  They explored the Strand, walked the beach, went to a movie, (Super 8) and played basketball.  Peggy, (your correspondent) went to Houston to visit son, son's fiancee (yea), cousins, brother, and the old homestead.
Did I mention that Joe has taken up running? Today consisted of Joe, Lyle, and Monica going to Luke's locker (a Mecca for running geeks) for Joe to pick up a new set of sneakers for his new hobby. A few dollars later Joe and Monica managed to walk away with new sets of running shoes.

I managed to coerce my brother John, my son Chris and his beautiful fiancee to come back to the hotel to see our experiment and meet the team.They were suitably impressed.
It was about this time that Joe came up with a fabulous idea for another way to create bubbles other than boiling...drop alka-seltzer tablets into the water. Really, science on the fly is a beautiful thing.  Although this is a great idea, this creates HOURS worth of work for Marsha who has to expand on our procedure for the Test Equipment Data Package (TEDP). (Even the size of the tablets must be included.)  She is in one corner with her head spinning while Monica just wants to go outside and play basketball. There is a convenient sports court located outside our door and it has been a nightly game of horse for Monica and the boys.  She wins every time. (She had me add that.)
Lyle's writing now.  I hope we are about to complete this very involved dissertation.  If it is not accepted, or incomplete, in the eyes of  15 NASA scientists, we are done, caput, over and out. I have confidence that the professionals among us will pull it off. It's 10 and Lyle and Marsha are still working. I am just going to keep writing a silly, little blog and feeling guiltier by the minute.  

The Right Stuff???????

Not the Vomit Comet, the Weightless Wonder

Up before dawn, 3 crazy people jogging down Bayshore Blvd. at 5:15, (Joe, Lyle, Monica...yes, Laura, Joe!)  We made it to our NASA check-in by 7:45.  Being on time seems to be a major issue around here.
There was some discussion at some point about whether this was a psychological or physiological shakedown.  We knew we had the psychology part aced, (no comments, please) it was the physical test we had to endure this morning: sitting from 8-11:45, learning how expanding bodily gases create high pressure in a low pressure environment (on board aircraft at high altitude), which can result in forceful exits from the human body.  Let's discuss vomit.  The word on the street is that this aircraft is no longer to be called the "Vomit Comet."  It is now the "Weightless Wonder,"because, NASA insists, only 10 % of  participants will hurl.  IF, and this is a big IF, the flyers will just listen and follow directions, a task at which, in NASA's experience, teachers are really, really bad. Our own Marsha was chosen to be twirled in a chair to demonstrate the disconnect between eye, ear, brain, and evidently, various other body parts, in an attempt to induce staggering.  Being a veteran of previous zero G flight, (she didn't puke), this experiment was unsuccessful, to the obvious disappointment of our trainer.

"Is that the spot you wanted me to point too, because that was easy."

Joe and Lyle checking out logistics.

Following a run through Subway, we arrive at Ellington Field, where we test our Very Special Security Tags to get into our hanger, that can be a Very Dangerous Place.  Teams get "strikes" for Not Following the Rules.  Like: Being Late, Crossing the Yellow Lines, Touching the Pretty Planes, Going Anywhere without an Escort, or Taking a Picture in the Wrong Direction toward Homeland Security, where men with guns seem to have little sense of humor.  Two strikes and we are out.  One team got a strike for being late. The NASA people are strict, but fun.  Perhaps the fact that it costs $41,000 an hour to fly us makes them a bit picky.

Testing pump with Christie

Ok, now why are we here, other than to be in one of the coolest places on earth, which is actually very hot.  Oh, the experiment. We spent the afternoon identifying and solving, hopefully, a couple of little glitches.  Our mentor, cute Christie Varghese, cheered us on as "Thin Mint" (really) explained what he thought would happen to our water.  At the end of two hours, we decided the situation is well in hand.  So, there, Thin Mint!
Tomorrow is a break from military precision, Peggy to visit her son in Houston; Marsha, Lyle, and Joe, to babysit Monica on Galveston Beach.  This task will take all 3 of them.

Count Down Begins...

We're Off!

Home of the Biggest Bathroom in Texas

Now, I am going to do my best to describe the trip down to Houston.  Where to start...   One last, "to Infinity and Beyond" pose and off we go.  For a few minutes.  (Teachers, please forgive my run-ons.  I know one when I see one.)  Immediately, Monica needs water.  I mean, as we leave the gate.   Marsha had already asked "who is a member of the itty-bitty bladder club?'"  I admitted a junior membership, Monica said NOTHING!  We are in two cars, Marsha's suburban, my hybrid Camry.  I have Monica.
We can go for hours!  Not exactly.  We got to Mansfield.  Water, large diet cokes, bathroom breaks, banana, cheese:  We're off!  To Corsicana.  Monica is hungry.  (Really? bathroom, large waters, large cokes, salads, at Jack in the Box.)  Ok, now we can get going.  We do.  To Centerville.  Joe had brought walkie-talkies for the fun of it.  "Breaker, breaker, we need a break."  We stop at Woody's for the world's best jerky and a bathroom.  Monica insists we must stop at Buckees" 30 minutes down  I 45 "for the experience."  (She had actually told me that they have the largest bathroom in Texas.  I am beginning to worry about this girl.)  All this time, Monica is certain I am going to kill her with my driving.  As she talks to the father of her children, I grab the phone and before I say anything he says, "welcome to my world, just threaten to throw her out."  A couple of more stops, Houston rush hour on I45 (I grew up here, can take it) we arrive (7 1/2 hours.)  Throw our bags in rooms, rush to "happy hour" dinner in the lobby, relax and talk for two more hours.  The best comment of the day from Joe Morris: "Monica, you do realize the flight is at least 1 1/2 hours, maybe 2.  Can you make it?"  Ladies and gentlemen, I just may make it on that plane after all.  By the way, this was a great day.

Blast Off Dinner

Impressing civilians with the magic of air pressure.  We are so cool.

We met at Joe's tonight for our blast-off dinner, as we leave Thursday morning for NASA.  Our spouses came to share Joe and Laura's hospitality, smoked pork, and cherry cobbler cooked in coals.  (A man of many talents, that Joe is.)  Lyle brought a vacuum pump and bell jar so we could watch, once again, the magic of water boiling at room temperature, then turning to ice.  You know, you just can't get enough of that.  Marsha's husband Steve called us "witches" so I think we are set to go.  What an opportunity!