It's been a while, so I figured I'd give y'all an update. Shuttle launch is still set for March 11th, at 2:28 am central time. It'll take the first part of the Japanese lab module to the space station. I gotta be in the control room 4 hours before launch so it looks like my schedule's gonna get messed up.

The April launch has slipped and is now scheduled for May 24th.

The August launch has slipped to August 28th. This is the shuttle mission going to the Hubble telescope to perform one last maintenance job. We've started to make required modifications to the "Blue" flight control room for this mission.

I'll be COD mission manager for the launch next week as the official mission manager will be on vacation. And yes - I'm still going to have surgery the following week to repair those 2 aneurysms.

We're still planning on me being the COD mission manager for the May flight. COD = center operations directorate Johnson Space Center. Each shuttle mission has about 25 mission managers for the different aspects of the mission.

Some trivia -

Control rooms -

"Red" flight control room - 2nd floor building 30M - used for training

"White" flight control room - 2nd floor building 30S - shuttle missions

"Blue" flight control room - 2nd floor building 30S - currently for Hubble mission

Flight Control Room #1 - 2nd floor building 30M - Int'l Space Station (24/7)

"Apollo" flight control room - 3rd floor building 30M - historical landmark - looks the same today as it did in 1969 for the moon landing

The Russians have their control room in 30S. The Canadians, Italians, Japanese, and the European Space Agency are in 30M.

Ok, I've killed enough time. Time to go to the daily meeting!

Tom

Wow, that's coming right up. I'd be a nervous wreck.



So, how much coffee do you drink at a time like that?

Ummm - 17 pots a day... I'll cut back before the surgery...

Tom

thank you for the update, and godspeed on your recovery from the surgery, dont over do it


peace

Thanks Tom for the update.

Would you be kind enough to post that link again where we can check out about the missions? You did once before, but I can't find it. Thank you

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

this is a good link to start at i watch the missions on my pc around here or on the nasa tv channell on direct tv

if u do a yahoo search for nasa tv you will get a few sites for live streaming

not sure if this is the same site tom mentioned prior
hope this helps

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

This is the sight that tells ya when ya can see the space station and shuttle flying overhead. It looks like a bright star. When they're coupled, it's really bright. Just pick your area. Country-State-City...

If ya get a 5 minute window from horizon to horizon, it's kinda cool to watch it. It'll be close to directly overhead. It'll look like a fast moving star (I watch it all the time).

Gotta love this crap. You can watch the trajectory on the NASA channel if you can. This is how I know when to watch. I follow it in the control room.

Tom

all those broadband users you know if you drag the icon in front of the web address to your pc's home page you can make a short cut to that paticular

web page on your pc's front and or home page yes u need to make the windows u have opened smaller so u can drag it to front page,

there are other ways copy the address, and on front page of pc right click make a new shortcut and follow directiosn its easy i hardly go to my book marks i just have icons for these sites

Wow~~ thanks for sharing Tom. Still keeping ya in my prayers for your surgery. You are one busy dude!!!

take care.....