ET-134 Arrives at Kennedy Space Center


This video montage shows space shuttle external tank ET-134’s arrival at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 


Watch this video (Windows, streaming)


At approximately 8:00 a.m. EDT on Oct. 24, NASA ship Liberty Star transferred Pegasus and ET-134 to tug boats Lou Anne Guidry and WP Scott in Port Canaveral. After a four-hour trip along the calm waters of Port Canaveral channel and the Banana River, Pegasus and ET-134 arrived on dock at the turn basin in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where it was prepped and off-loaded.

 


Public affairs officer/blogger Steve Roy surveys the ocean ahead during the voyage of
Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 from Gulfport, Miss. to Kennedy Space Center.
Aarg!

ET-134 Rolls Off Pegasus on to Kennedy Space Center


2:11 p.m., Eastern, Oct. 24
ET-134 Rolls Off Pegasus on to Kennedy Space Center

Following arrival of Pegasus on dock at Kennedy Space Center, the Pegasus crew leveled the barge with the dock and opened the cargo doors, readying the vessel for an invasion of a small army of Kennedy-based technicians. These teams of United Space Alliance technicians from External Tank and Integration, Launch and Recovery Operations swarmed around ET-134, removing support stanchions, hydraulic lifts, and lowering ET’s transporter on to its four massive wheel assemblies.  


In the images above: ET-134 journeys into the Vehicle Assembly
Facility, where it will be readied for a February flight into space. Credit: NASA

ET-134, looking handsome and ready to fly, rolled on to Kennedy Space Center at exactly 2:11 p.m., continuing on to the distant Vehicle Assembly Building. Pegasus, its day not quite done, was towed back into the turn basin by the Lou Anna Guidry and WP Scott and began its final journey of the day to docks at Port Canaveral. Like Liberty Star, Pegasus will be pressed back into service to sail again very soon.
 
It’s been an amazing journey for all of us; hard-charging Liberty Star; obedient and protective Pegasus; eager to fly ET-134; and television producer Mick Speer and public affairs blogging Steve Roy, both proud to have served with the crew of Liberty Star and  Pegasus. 

The watch is now reporting … all is well.

Pegasus Arrives on Dock at KSC


12:41 p.m., Eastern Time
Pegasus Arrives on Dock at KSC

After a four hour trip from Port Canaveral to Kennedy Space Center (under observation by numerous alligators, dolphins, manatees and pelicans), Pegasus has arrived on dock at the turn basin in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). ET-134 is being prepared for immediate off load and move to the VAB. More later…

In the meantime, check out this this awesome video that just became available this morning. It shows Liberty Star on Day Two and day Three of the journey, under way in the central Gulf of Mexico after leaving Gulfport, Miss. The seas were rough, swelling to 12 feet, with high northeasterly winds with gusts up to 30 knots.

Liberty Star is in the Home Stretch


6:15 p.m., Eastern Time, Oct. 23
Captain’s Corner, Liberty Star

This evening Liberty is under way for home waters, currently just north of Ft. Pierce, Fla., making about 5 knots with quartering winds from the southeast. This speed permits arrival off Port Canaveral early tomorrow morning, at approximately 7 a.m., for a daylight transfer of the barge Pegasus and ET-134 to two commercial tugboats.

The tugs will tow/push Pegasus through the Port Canaveral channel to the Banana River, then north to the turn basin at the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. Meanwhile, Liberty Star will proceed on her own through the Port Canaveral channel to the Banana River and on to her dock at Hangar AF, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Today, we’ve shortened the tow cable from 1,800 feet to 300 feet, permitting safer transit in shallow waters along the remainder of the route.

The ship is in great shape, but has a lot of work to accomplish before getting under way on Monday to support the Ares 1-X Test Flight scheduled for Tuesday.

The crew of Liberty Star is eager to close home port and get ready for the next mission.

Mike Nicholas
Captain
M/V Liberty Star

Life On Board Liberty Star: A Typical Day


9 am Eastern Time, Central Gulf of Mexico, Bearing south for the Dry Tortugas

From the point of view of sailing on a ship, everything at sea seems to be integrated into one experience; the sea and the weather as one, the crew and the ship.  I could be wrong, but that’s what it seems.

The Weather and the Sea
The weather is clearing but still partly cloudy, giving the sea an unqualified, but pleasing, purple color. Swells are rising from 4-6 feet and north northeasterly winds at 20-27 knots are continuing to roll the Liberty Star from port to starboard rather unpleasantly for land lubbers — but certainly not dangerously. Some rolls to starboard are up to slightly over 20 degrees; these you really notice, throwing you off your feet, if not prepared. Winds are expected to continue unabated throughout the voyage. 

Pegasus’ bow plunges majestically a few feet, throwing white sea spray onto and over its bow. Reports from Pegasus say ET-134 is doing fine, its black beak occasionally lifting skyward, as if doing its part; lunging forward to reach Kennedy Space Center. 

A few rain squalls are passing on all sides of Liberty Star, but don’t pose any problems. Hundreds of white caps top the sea’s surface. 
In other words the weather is fine, posing no problems for Liberty Star or crew, except anticipating that side-to-side roll, which is absolutely relentless and perfectly normal.

The Crew
The ten-person, well-trained and highly-experienced crew of Liberty Star is in constant movement throughout the ship. Captain Mike Nicholas roams the vessel keeping his own schedule, checking the tow, the engines, the sea and weather, and questioning the status of operations. 

The cook, Dragan Jurkovic, is in constant motion in the galley preparing meals as he is hurtled from starboard to port, saved by grabbing on to galley furniture and other fixtures. Dragan sustains the crew with wonderful full comfort meals of pork chops grilled to perfection with browned potatoes, peeled by the blogger public affairs officer — well, it’s what he does at home for his wife! — tasty stewed vegetables, crisp baked fish, savory chicken marsala, grilled New York strip steaks, cups of piping hot café latte, spreads of luncheon meat and six kinds of bread, chicken salad wraps and this afternoon…BBQ pork ribs…and tonight, filet mignon and sea scallops.

In the main deck engineers Trish Hershock and Danny Dugan share tough six hour shifts monitoring the status of the two Electric Motor Division (EMD) engines and drive shafts, generators, status of fuel and all other machinery necessary to push the ship forward. In addition to keeping up with Liberty Star’s current operations, the engineers are also planning for future operations: Trish ordering fuel for the sailing the next Monday for support of the Ares 1-X launch and booster  recovery operations, and Danny, who normally serves as Maritime Operations Port Engineer, also making plans for future operations and upgrades for port facilities.

The rest of the crew performs their primary functions as well as the vital function of standing watch on the bridge. A two-person team is always on watch: Cody Gordon and Al Grivina stand the watch together; John Jacobs and Clint Small another watch; and finally, John Bensen and Todd Rose stand watch.  Each team stands watch four hours and is off duty, roughly speaking, eight hours. 

Oddly, when moving around the ship in the middle of the day, one encounters few members of the crew, as many crew are resting for the next shift. At night, the bridge watch stands vigilant in near total darkness preferring to use radar imagery and personal vision conditioned for darkness rather than spotlights to view the ocean ahead.

The crew knows what to do, when to do it and how to do it.  Orders don’t seem to be issued per say; just quiet conversations, heads nodding agreement, crew moving off to work on some tasks.

It reminds me of a passage in one of the Patrick O’Brien books in the Master and Commander series. HMS Surprise under Jack Aubrey is under full sail heading south with the trade winds toward Brazil for his own rendezvous with destiny. The ship plows on, steadily, easily over one hundred miles a day, the watch changes with little fanfare, the cook serves up meals in the galley three times a day, the crew lounges on deck, rigging is adjusted with hardly an order; sailing on in this routine day after day for weeks on end; like sailors for thousands of years; like spacefarers in the centuries ahead, beautiful.

The Ship
Liberty Star yaws and pitches, rolls starboard to port and back to starboard; engines humming continuously; vibration is constant.  Frothy seas follow Liberty Star and 1,800 feet to our aft, the Pegasus as well. 

Constantly rotating radars in the masts high above the living and working decks of the ship point out crossing vessels to the watch as the sea sloshes by and occasionally sprays the upper weather decks.

The American flag stands straight out in the 27 knot wind, as Liberty Star sails on with little fanfare.  Freighters pass in the distance; identified well in advance.

During the day, you don’t notice the creaks and bangs you will notice later during the night in your bunk; as cabinets and minor loose storage in your stateroom rolls around the floor. In the staterooms of the second deck living quarters are stuffed with personal possessions, clothing and carrying bags. The RV-like-equipped staterooms are more than sufficient for these relatively short voyages and at night you have little problem hearing the sea rush pass the bow and sides of the ship.

The ship bends like the crew; to the routine of sea and weather; all seemingly working together; rolling, pitching, sleeping, standing watch, cooking, eating, quietly passing each other in the ship.

Liberty Star and Pegasus are under way over the sea; weather and sea; crew; ship; timeless; relentless; beautiful.

When You’re Hot,You’re Hot: Engine Room of Liberty Star


Assistant Engineer Danny Dugan takes us on a tour of the engine room as he checks and services the all-important propulsion system.

Starting aft of the engine room is the very end of the ship, a very cramped area called the lazarette. Here the hydraulic actuated rudder posts and steering gear are located.

Forward of the lazerette a few feet, we find the main engine room. A lot of very warm (hot) physical work goes on here in the engine room, where now we are below the water line. The all-important engine room houses the main propulsion system for Liberty Star, two main engines made by General Motors, providing a total of 2,900 horsepower turning two-six-foot propellers with controllable pitch. Controllable pitch provides greater response time and maneuverability. The engines generate 900 revolutions per minute (rpm) at full speed and at idle about 400 rpm. The Chief Engineer, Trish Hershock, and the Assistant Engineer, Danny Dugan, share continuous six-hour watches monitoring the engines.

Life Aboard Liberty Star


10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, Oct. 23
On Board Liberty Star

Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 are well north of Miami, but moving north much slower than hoped. A much-hoped for pick up from the Gulf Stream has not occurred, apparently a very unusual occurrence for these trips north along the Florida coast.

Sail along with Liberty Star at sea! Windows, streaming


Scenes from a day at sea: looking at Pegasus from the weatherdeck of Liberty Star.
Credit:
NASA 
View all blog images in this Flickr gallery

 A new arrival time at Port Canaveral has been set for Saturday morning, Oct. 24,  7 a.m. Eastern Time. Liberty plans to sail to the eastern edge of the Port Canaveral channel, where it will rendezvous with two tug boats.The tugs will take up the tow/push of Pegasus for the final leg of the trip into and then north along the Banana River and channel to the dock at the turn basin in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. 


Scenes from a day at sea: Pegasus navigates swells. Credit: NASA

Unfortunately, the delay in return to home port will mean several members of the dedicated, hard-working crew will not have the opportunity to go home over the weekend before sailing Monday for recovery operations associated with the Ares 1-X test flight scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27. A wide variety of equipment, including Doppler radar and booster recovery gear, absent from Liberty during external tank towing operations, will have to be returned to the ship for installation.


Scenes from a day at sea: Libert Star’s crew pays out tow line. Credit: NASA

At this point in the trip Liberty, which sailed from home port with 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel, is down to about 13,000 gallons.  Engineer Trish Hershock has already placed an order to replenish the ship in readiness to sail Monday. Cook Dragan Jorkovic has already set his plans for replenishing the crew.

Newly promoted Second Mate Allan (Big Al) Gravina has just supervised on deck shortening the tow of Pegasus from 1,800 feet to about 500 feet. A shortened towing cable reduces the depth of the cable between the two vessels as Liberty moves into more shallow waters at slowed speeds, limiting the possibility of the tow snagging on unreported, underwater obstacles. The way the tow cable rides between the vessels, like a heavy kink of chains between two fence posts, is referred to as the catenary from the Latin word catena.


Scenes from a day at sea: Liberty Star and ocean skies. Credit: NASA

Sustainment of the crew continues at a heady pace. Cook Dragan providing tasty, wholesome, and comfortable field rations that every worried mother would appreciate, including more perfectly grilled New York strip steaks; mixed, steamed vegetables; homemade fish soup; crisp bacon and sausage; eggs Benedict; perfectly textured mashed potatoes; savory chunks of roasted pork smothered in piping hot gravy; mixed green salads with all the fixings and of course Balsamic vinaigrette; mixed fruit plates covered in strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, kiwi and pineapple; choice of three kinds of cheese cake; chocolate ice cream and, oh well — chocolate mousse covered in whip cream. Aarg!  Aarg! And Aarg!


Scenes from a day at sea: mornings clouds over the horizon. Credit: NASA

The bridge has just sighted St. Lucie Inlet! Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 are bearing north for homeport.

The watch reports — all is well.

Liberty Star,Pegasus and ET-134 Entering the Home Stretch


Captain’s Corner, 6:30 p.m. Eastern
Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 Entering the Home Stretch

Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 have a long way to go, but they’re beginning the home stretch to Cape Canaveral and Kenndey Space Center. We are making progress, but less than we had hoped for by swinging a few miles south and east to pick up the Gulf Stream current to bring us home faster. Thus far, we have benefited less from the Gulf Stream than hoped.

We’re clearing Plantation Key to our north and hope to pass Miami by the early morning hours.

Liberty Star is currently underwway at nine knots — about 10 miles — per hour, heading into southeasterly winds of 13 knots and seas running at 3-5 feet.

Pegasus is following with ET-134 in good shape and the Liberty Star crew in good spirits, knowing we’ll soon be closing on home waters. We’re looking at an arrival at Port Canaveral tomorrow evening, Friday, Oct. 23.

Michael Nicholas
Captain, M/V Liberty Star

Meet the Crew: Liberty Star


More about the skilled professionals that are guiding ET-134 on its journey…

Todd RoseTodd Rose, Ordinary Seaman

Let’s meet Todd Rose of USA Marine Operations, serving on this trip as Ordinary Seaman with primary duties of serving as bridge lookout with the officer of the bridge. Todd, 42, is a unique seventh generation Floridian who currently resides in Merritt island, Fla.

Todd normally takes care of the ship’s retrieval equipment, serves as a diver during retrieval operations and participates in the disassembly of the boosters.

Todd enjoys all aspects of his multifaceted job and his contribution to the space program.

When not on the job, he enjoys being with family, diving, fishing and drag racing.

Allan Gravina, Second Mate

Second  Mate Allan Gravina (Big Al), 36, is from Long Island, N.Y.,  and has served onboard Freedom Star for some nine years. As Second Mate, his responsibilities onboard ship include the maintenance of all navigational equipment and medical supply inventories. Typical of Second Mates, he stands two four-hour navigation watches when the vessel is under way.

Big Al currently holds a 1,600 ton mate’s license. A 1,600 ton ship would be like one of the medium-sized coast guard cutters you can see docked at Port Canaveral near the cruise ships.

When asked what he likes about his job he says, “the part I like about the job the most is that I am one of only 20 people in the world doing what I do. It helps that I love being on the water and being part of the space program.”

When not at work he spends time on his boat with his wife and family.

John Bensen, Second Mate

Let’s now meet the Liberty Star’s Second Mate, John Bensen, 57, of Miami, Fla. The second mate, or second officer, is a licensed member of the deck department of a ship, third in command of the ship, a watch keeping officer, and customarily the ship’s navigator. Other duties vary, but the second mate has often received medical training and may also be in charge of maintaining distress signaling equipment.

John Bensen, also known as Russ, JB  or Gunny, has been on board Liberty Star an amazing 26 years. He’s seen a lot of the space program in that time. During most launches John is located off shore and close to the booster separation and down range impact area of those same boosters. He has seen 115 launches. He has an associate degree in Marine Science from Miami-Dade Junior College in Miami. His responsibilities on board ship include the maintenance of all navigational equipment and medical supply inventories. Typical of Second Mates, he stands two four-hour navigation watches when the vessel is under way.

The part of the job he likes most is going to sea and completing the job on time, safe and error-free.

When not sailing with NASA, John is into Civil War reenactments throughout the South and keeping up with his three daughters. His nickname “Gunny” comes directly from his role servicing a Civil War artillery piece during reenactments.

Michael Nicholas, Captain

Today, I had the opportunity to sit down with Captain Michael (Mike) Nicholas for a few minutes. 

He’s been sailing with the NASA booster recovery ships for 22 years and he holds a 1,600 ton Masters license upon oceans. Mike started work with the retrieval vessels when only 19 years old, in 1988, and has risen through the ranks from Ordinary Seaman to his current position of Relief Master. Quite an accomplishment in any career.

The 41-year-old, who claims Cape Canaveral, Fla., as home, oversees all operations of the vessel from safety, training and navigation to the accomplishment of the mission.

He says he may not have been an astronaut, but feels he’s a vital part of the space program. While it’s his job to ensure the Liberty Star, Pegasus barge and external tank make it safely from port to port, he’s also concerned with ensuring his “family” on the ship are well taken care of and learn during their time on the sea.

Mike enjoys the changing and challenging aspects of life at work on the sea. And believe it or not, when Mike is not on the ship, he still enjoys being on the water — fishing and diving.

Joe Chaput, Manager, United Space Alliance Marine Operations

Joe Chaput participates in firefighting training at Cape Canaveral, Fla., as part of normal Coast Guard certification training. Some months ago, in preparation for this trip on board Liberty Star, I met Joe Chaput. He took me on a tour of Liberty Star and onboard the Pegasus Barge. He is in charge of NASA/USA maritime assets with headquarters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. We also talked by phone and e-mail several times and here’s how his very interesting career evolved. 

Joe is a native of Evanston, Ill. (a northern suburb of Chicago) and was raised in neighboring Wilmette. Fishing with his dad and watching the shipping on Lake Michigan stirred his interest in working on the water. In 1983, he graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.  After the academy, he worked on supply vessels and then on military supply ships for Military Sealift Command (MSC). While aboard a MSC ship in Port Canaveral, he witnessed the Liberty Star and Freedom Star get under way. Having met his future wife and looking for a place to call home, he applied for a position with the NASA fleet. They happened to be crewing up for a third vessel and he was hired. He eventually worked his way up to Captain of the Liberty Star where he served for 11 years. He then was moved to Marine Operations Manager in 2001.

If you want to know how to jump-start a seaborne career, I bet a talk with Joe would do the job. Many thanks to Joe for making this trip possible for NASA public affairs.

Liberty Star,Pegasus and ET-134 Under way in the Florida Straits


0945 a.m., Oct. 22 — Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 Under way in the Florida Straits

Last night I stood by the watch on the bridge for a short time. The bridge, completely darkened, was lighted only by soft, red LED lights and the glow of the two radar scopes. The watch, John Jacobs and Clint Small, were checking readouts of wind direction, speed, the tow of Pegasus — depending upon their vision and the excellent ranging of the radars for vessels moving within the area of interest of Liberty Star. It was a dark, cloudy, starless night, as black as space.

Radar scopes fill up with targets now; off Liberty’s bow, the Strofades, a freighter pushing east; off Liberty’s starboard side, a tanker passing east and a freighter passing west; off Liberty’s port bow a yacht moving east; Key West packed with moored ships.

Seas are running 4 to 6 feet and we are moving at eight-and-one-half knots.

Pegasus, spray washing over her bow, reported all is well.

The Captain has just closed a meeting with his senior officers concerning plans for the remainder of this tow and upcoming missions beginning next week and into the busy weeks ahead.

A radio squawks! Coast Guard Station Key West via International Hailing Frequency: small craft advisory throughout the area.

The routine of weather and sea, ship and crew continues. All is well. Aarg!