Thursday, December 18, 2008

Fun in the Sun, Warmth and NASA

Group Shot - Can you find me?


Space shuttle returning to Kennedy Space Center after Mission to ISS


Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Not much has been new with me for a while. I've just been working both jobs and keeping busy on Sunday's being the Asst. Sunday School Superintendent (acting as Superintendent for the month of November and half of December & January 09) at my church.


Not too many of you knew that I went to Florida the week of December 8-13 for a meeting at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). It was 65-85 degrees everyday and very humid/windy. Palm trees everywhere. Alligators and armadillos everywhere. I didn’t really enjoy the weather. It was way too humid and windy for my liking. I was happy to get back to Huntsville on Saturday the 13th, where the temperature was 43 degrees and rainy.

This was our once a year meeting of the Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP); which is the project I work for. I was happy to go to FL since I have never been there before, but I didn’t like that it was in December and that I was flying back on my 30th Birthday.

While in FL, we got to go on tours of KSC. We got to be up close and personal with one of space shuttles (I don’t know which one). There is a building that is the “shop” for the space shuttle. It is where they do routine maintenance and repairs. They were repairing the landing gear at the time we were touring and we got to walk under the shuttle. It was very neat to finally understand what they mean when talking about tiles on the space shuttle. I never had a clue where the tiles were, but they are the black part you see on the bottom of the shuttle. They are about 8x6 tiles, placed in a staggered brick pattern, that are serial numbered and once they have been through one trip they get a small sprayer place inside to spray the liquid heat shield. It was very cool! We also got to get very close to the launch pad, go on the Air Force side and see where they launched the Gemini rockets and capsules, and go to the “warehouse” where they construct and store the pieces that still need to be attached the International Space Station (ISS).

It was great to get out of the office, but I glad to be home. I now have to scramble to get my Christmas shopping done and cards in the mail. I hope I can shop and write fast enough to get everything where they need to go before the 24th.

I forgot to take the digital camera, so I will post pictures as I get them from my co-workers. I’m sure they will be good ones once I get them.

Have a merry Christmas and a great New Year’s day.