Tag: General

At the buzzer!!!!!!!!

For the moment, forget SPB, forget the Hubble breakdown, forget it all.  A couple of match ups came down to a few last minute votes.

IF the results hold (and they should,) Voyager 1 & 2 beat Cassini by 29 votes and Expedition 1 beat MRO by 84 votes.  Throughout the day, these missions swapped leads and battled for advantage.  You can whine about SPB and multiple voting all you want, but there was drama at 11:59pm, and it was AWESOME! 

Congratulations to everyone, and specifically to Voyager 1 & 2 (Vger lives) and Expedition 1.  You fought hard and won!

On a sad note, Apollo 13 gets bounced.  Hubble?!?  What happened? 

Well, you get one day to rest, and then back to voting.  Although, SPB can probably take a few extra hours off and still win.

Round 3 should be fun.   

Check out the match ups and then get ready to vote.

NEBULA
Apollo 11  vs  LRO
Freedom 7  vs  Mars Pathfinder

GALAXY
Vikings I & II  vs  Pioneer 10
SOHO  vs  Skylab

STELLAR
SPB  vs  Expedition 1
X-29  vs  Orion

HORIZON
Expedition 16  vs  JWST
Voyager 1 & 2  vs  New Horizon

See the results for yourself here:  http://mission-madness.nasa.gov/mm/results.html?1

My bracket is trash, I have no one left to pull for…

The Co-Host

Round 1 Delivers a shocking upset and plenty of drama!

As one of our guests said on the vodcast… “Rovers can’t throw touchdowns.”

No tournament would be complete without an upset or two, but the stunner between MER and SPB will be talked about for years to come.  48 hours ago MER fans were talking about who they might face in the championship.  Now they are talking about what went wrong.  Meanwhile SPB is flying higher than ever, aloft and heading into round 2 with a lot of momentum.  Unbelievable.

Round 2 should be interesting.  You can visit the results page for your own analysis:

http://mission-madness.nasa.gov/mm/results.html

Here are the likely match ups for round 2:

NEBULA
Apollo 11  vs  Mars Phoenix
LRO  vs  Hubble
Freedom 7  vs  WMAP
SR-71  vs  Mars Pathfinder

GALAXY
Viking 1 & 2  vs  Ares I
Pioneer 10  vs  Bell X-1
Apollo 8  vs  SOHO
Surveyor 1  vs  Skylab

STELLAR
SPB  vs  Mars Odyssey
MRO  vs  Expedition 1
X-29  vs  STS-8
Orion  vs  Apollo 13

Horizon
X-43  vs  Expedition 16
JWST  vs  NB-52
Cassini  vs  Voyager 1 & 2
STS-1  vs  New Horizons

There you have it.  Baring some bizarre database anomoly, These are the round two match ups.
Let the trash talking continue…

The Co-Host

Voting has begun!

The story lines for the tournament are starting to take shape, and there are some early surprises.  If you have any reactions, thoughts, issues or taunts, start posting. 

Make your case to fellow fans, and get out the vote!

The Co-Host

P.S.  You have to love Hubble’s taunt of the day… They said they could beat Aura with their bad lens.  Cold, but after looking at the early numbers, it may be the cold, hard, truth.  What do you think?

P.S.S.  This has to be the real shocker…

Looks like the Mars Rovers need to send back images of some more votes!

Until now, 2009 Mission Madness has had only minor, anticipated controversy.  An agency with hundreds of valuable missions will certainly go through some expected growing pains as they narrow the field of competing missions. 

Tonight, however, features a new controversial second front.  Mr. Gerstenmaier is appearing tonight on the excessively popular and influential news show, The Colbert Report.  Even if Mr. Gerstenmaier doesn’t mention any of Space Operations’ 16 participating missions, will his appearance have an unfair influence on 2009 Mission Madness voting?

As self appointed Commissioner of Astronautics, medianaut, and 2009 Mission Madness watchdog, I may have to look into this matter further.

What do you, the real voters, have to say?

Ever watchful,

The Co-Host

Ok, we are literally hours away from announcing the field of 64 Missions competing in 2009 Mission Madness. 

And this year’s field of missions will no doubt spark some controversy.  Some will be angry about their favorite mission not being among the top 64.  Some will be angry that their mission is going up against Apollo 11.  Some will demand that all missions be judged on the amount of science they have generated.  Some will demand that the greatest mission should simply be the coolest mission imaginable.  Tensions may run high, tempers may flare. 

So, I would like to suggest the following guidelines to ensure a successful outcome:

1.    Print and fill out 64 brackets to account for all winning scenarios.
 
2.     Fill out your bracket in pencil in order to make adjustments less obvious.

3.    Create decoy brackets for your friends that disagree with you.  When they leave their desk to go to a meeting, switch their bracket with your better bracket.  If you do this enough, you may actually influence their votes.

4.     (For those folks whose favorite mission was overlooked) Find out who is actually on the selection committee, befriend them, use your skills of persuasion to influence them in the selection process for next year.

5.     Vote like mad.  Voting doesn’t begin until the 19th, but you are allowed to vote as many times as you like.  So, print your bracket next week, and then when voting begins, vote away.  NOTE: By following guideline number 3, you can possibly reduce your need to vote incessantly by half.

This list is not complete, but it should offer some initial strategy to select the winner for 2009 Mission Madness.

Of course, you could just download the NASA EDGE 2009 Mission Madness Selection Show on Monday and vote for the missions that the Co-Host is supporting.  Just a thought.

The Co-Host

“40 years later, and the Apollo astronauts still have a better 40 yard dash time than any rover.”

“Apollo 11 was great, but where is the science.”

“You might want to keep an eye on Expedition 16.  They have quite a following.”

“Lunar Prospector 1 was the original LCROSS”

“Orion?!?  That’s like nominating a film in pre-production for Best Picture.”

Get used to it, folks.  This is what you will be hearing over the next three weeks as people begin to sort through and size up the matchups for the 2009 Mission Madness Tournament.  And this is where you want to come to make your case for your favorite mission (ER2 is the real front runner) or trash missions that face some pretty tough odds*.  Of course, there are also plenty of missions that didn’t make the field of 64.  We really want to hear from you.  Remember, all information exchanged during this year’s competition will be evaluated by the Selection Committee for next year’s competition.  So don’t be afraid to let your opinions be known.

Good luck, and may the best mission win!

The Co-Host

P.S.  I know I don’t need to say it, but please refrain from using profanity, foul language or any other abusive language.  Not only is it not going to be posted… it will count against your mission.

*2009 Mission Madness does not support gambling of any kind.  The use of the term odds here is merely coincidental.

Here are some pics of the Ares 1-X Crew Module/Launch Abort System (CM/LAS) being loaded into an Air Force C-5 cargo plane.  Enjoy.

Credit:  Ron Beard, NASA EDGE

Credit: TBD

I’ll be posting pics through out the day.

Final Call for Ares I-X: CM/LAS flight to NASA Kennedy Space Center.  Credit:  Ron Beard, NASA EDGE 


Sean Smith, NASA Langley Research Center Photographer.  Credit:  Ron Beard, NASA EDGE


Is the Co-host able to fit in there?  Credit:  Ron Beard, NASA EDGE

C-5, transporting the Ares I-X CM/LAS, taking off from Langley Air Force Base.  Credit: Franklin “Everyman” Fitzgerald, NASA EDGE

Credit: Franklin “Everyman” Fitzgerald, NASA EDGE

Funny story.   Franklin was hanging out in front of the Langley Air Force Base runway on Armistead Ave.  The cops came by and told him and a few others they had to leave.  There were about 20 NASA Langley workers watching the C-5 take off.  Everyman managed to slip off the road in front of the main gate and take a couple of pics.  Great job Everyman.

**Before I begin this post, let me warn you ahead of time that anything typed in another color other than black should be taken very lightly.  The Co-host has been color happy lately.**

The NASA EDGE team is in Promontory, Utah at the ATK Test Facility covering the Orion Launch Abort Motor full-scale test firing.  If you’ve never been to the test facility here’s what you see as you drive up to the main entrance.   I actually suggested that they refer to this event as a test hiring rather than a test firing.  I got nothing.

ATK Test Facility, Promontory, Utah.  Credit: NASA EDGE/Chris Giersch

On November 20, NASA, ATK, and the Orion Project team will conduct the first full-scale test fire of the Launch Abort Motor for the Orion crew exploration vehicle.  A full-scale test like this has not been conducted since the days of the Apollo Program.  This test and earlier motor and component tests are paving the way for the Pad Abort-1 Flight Test scheduled for the spring of 2009. 

The Abort Motor stands over 17 feet tall, spans three feet in diameter and is equipped with a manifold that has four nozzles and turns the flow of the flames to create a pulling motion.

Abort Motor attached to the vertical test stand.  Credit: NASA EDGE/Chris Giersch

It is the primary motor in the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS).  The LAS will be able to pull the crew module to safety away from the Ares I launch vehicle in the event of an emergency on the pad or during the initial phase of ascent up to 300,000 feet.  Speaking of scale, this thing is huge.  It always seems smaller in the animations we use on the show.

In the picture above, the Abort Motor is fitted into the vertical test stand, with the nozzles pointed skyward.  The burn time for the test is five seconds.  I believe the flames exiting the nozzles may reach a height of 100 feet.  So we’ll see what happens during burn time.  Should be fun.

Today we had a chance to view the dry test run from the control room.  The dry run took about 45 minutes and involved a series of checks before a they ignited a small charge.   Import Dry Run Note: Remember not to drink a 64 oz. cafe latte before the test.  The script doesn’t call for bathroom breaks.

Control room for the Abort Motor test firing.  Credit: NASA EDGE/Chris Giersch

The team from ATK did a great job and I think everyone is ready for the test on Nov. 20.  Our coverage of the Abort Motor test is part of a NASA EDGE vodast we are doing on the Orion Launch Abort System.  Today we had a chance to conduct a few interviews for the vodcast. 

Chris and Blair interviews Heather Angel from Lockheed Martin.  Credit: Linda Singleton
WHAT!?!?!?!  Ron is a set therapist for ATK too!

Heather Angel is a propulsion engineer for Lockheed Martin.  She’s been with the company for a little over six months and has done an outstanding during her short tenure.  We expect big things from her in the years to come.

Blair, Steve Gaddis, Barry Meredith, and Chris.  Credit: NASA EDGE/Ron Beard
Did you notice the gradual increase in height from left to right?  For the record, we were on a slant.

We can’t produce a LAS vodcast without interviewing the head honcho for LAS, Barry Meredith.  Barry currently works at NASA Langley Research Center and has been with NASA for 40 years.  He works in the same directorate as me at Langley.  I can’t say enough about Barry.  He’s a straight shooter who knows how to get the job done.  Unfortunately Barry is leaving us in December and is retiring from NASA.  I am definitely looking forward to his retirement party.  And for his final act before retirement, Berry Meredith names Blair Allen as the nations top Medianaut with an emphasis in Magnetospherence!  If that doesn’t work, I can always emcee his retirement party.  I just bought a new karaoke machine.

Anyway enough rambling for one day.  Hey, the test firing is right around the corner and I think Ron is setting up the cameras.  We’ll be back to give you our take on the test firing and see if Blair’s hotdogs survived the burn.

All the best,
Chris