Author Topic: "Shuttle Sunday"  (Read 5075 times)

Offline litton4

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"Shuttle Sunday"
« on: 09/24/2018 03:25 pm »
Apologies if this is the wrong location, but I dodn't want to pollute the Shuttle sections with stupid questions.

In all the time I've been on this site, I've never seen an explanation of "Shuttle Sunday"

I see Chris bump threads often enough for Shuttle Sunday (the STS-135 re-entry "video" being the latest example), but have never actually realised what SS actually is.

Can someone explain it??? Is it just a site tradition or is there a deeper meaning?

Thanks!
Dave Condliffe

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #1 on: 09/24/2018 03:37 pm »
Apologies if this is the wrong location, but I dodn't want to pollute the Shuttle sections with stupid questions.

In all the time I've been on this site, I've never seen an explanation of "Shuttle Sunday"

I see Chris bump threads often enough for Shuttle Sunday (the STS-135 re-entry "video" being the latest example), but have never actually realised what SS actually is.

Can someone explain it??? Is it just a site tradition or is there a deeper meaning?

Thanks!

It's just something Chris B started... like Throwback Thursday and Follow Friday on Twitter.  Alliteration to remember the past and the program from which this site was born in 2004 and the RTF from Columbia.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #2 on: 09/24/2018 05:29 pm »
Because Sunday's ARE for Shuttles. ;D
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Offline woods170

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #3 on: 09/27/2018 11:16 am »
Because Sunday's ARE for Shuttles. ;D

More specifically: the very first shuttle, Columbia, was launched for the very first time on SUNDAY April 12, 1981.

Offline Lar

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #4 on: 09/28/2018 03:31 am »
Because Sunday's ARE for Shuttles. ;D

More specifically: the very first shuttle, Columbia, was launched for the very first time on SUNDAY April 12, 1981.
It was a lot more challenging to watch things like that back in the day. No internet to get precise timings from, only the local and national print media and broadcast media. And you had to find a channel that carried it. But I watched the scrubs. Each time. And the launch. And the landing. Back then I believed we were at the dawn of a new era.
 
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Offline JAFO

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #5 on: 09/29/2018 10:46 pm »
On my 9" black and white tv with rabbit ears before going to IBM 35 assembler class, carrying my backpack full of punchcards.
« Last Edit: 09/29/2018 10:48 pm by JAFO »
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Offline Hog

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #6 on: 10/01/2018 04:57 pm »
Tuning in Shuttle missions on the BUD(Big Ugly Dish) in my backyard.  AKA as the TVRO (TeleVision Receive Only)10 ft parabolic,
Back then it was called NASA Select and was set up so that managers and engineers had a realtime access to missions.

The changeover from Analogue to Digital was completed in 2005 after the 2nd return to flight of STS-114(STS-26 being the agencies 1st RTF).

I remember after the Test flights (STS-1-STS-4) when the mission numbers went from sequential to the Fiscal Year, Kennedy Space Center(prograde West to East-GEO) or Vandenberg(polar launches to the South-military missions using OV-103 Discovery missions) launch designations in 1984, the first digit is the Fiscal year 4 means 1984, 5 means 1985 and the 2nd digit was either 1 for Kennedy Space Center and "2" designates a Vandenberg AFB launch. And the 3rd digit(actually a letter) designated the sequence of that year. A=the first launch of the year, C- the 3rd launch, D=4th.  STS-62A was the first manifested launch from Vandenberg. 6=fiscal year 1986, "2"=Vandenberg AFB polar launch, and A=the first launch from Vandenberg that fiscal year.  The last launch using the conventional numbering was STS-9 and then I watched STS-41B and I thought I had missed like 30 launches when I saw STS-"41" on the screen during the STS-41B launch of Feb 3 1984. Obviously for the first post Challenger RTF mission, the mission numbering went back to the old numbering scheme with STS-26 pr STS-26(R) internally at NASA, R=reflight.

Satcom F2R  (COSPAR ID 1983-094A) was launched September 8, 1983. It replaced Satcom F-2 (COSPAR ID    1976-029A) which was launched on March 26, 1976. Both satellites were launched on a Delta 3000 launch vehicle.
For years NASA Select programming is carried on SATCOM F2R, transponder 13, located at 72 degrees West longitude.
It is now currently carried on Galaxy 13 (aka Horizons-1) located at 127º West longitude launched on October 1st 2003 on a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle from the Ocean Odyssey of Sea Launch.  This C-band service uses Transponder 11 using Vertical Polarity.

NTV-1
(Public-Education) is broadcast in HD
Video PID = 0x112 hex / 274 decimal,
AC-3   PID = 0x113 hex / 275 decimal,
MPEG I Layer II Audio PID = 0x114 hex / 276 decimal.

NTV-3
(Media) is also broadcast in High Definition
Program 103
Video PID  =  0x1031  hex  / 4145decimal
AC-3 PID    =  0x1034  hex  / 4148 decimal
MPEG I Layer II Aud PID = 0x1035 hex  /  4149 decimal   

NTV-4 (UHD) 
is now broadcast in Ultra High Definition (UHD)
Program 104
Compression Format: HEVC @ 13 Mbps
Video PID: 0x1041 hex/4161 decimal
MPEG I Layer II Audio PID: 0x1044 hex/ 4164 decimal
​AAC-LC PID:  0x1045 hex/4165 decimal


This is also a NASA’s Live Interactive Media Service (LIMS) available only on KU-band.
NASA LIMS (Live Satellite Interviews) Now KU-Band*

NASA’s Live Interactive Media Service (LIMS) has moved to KU-Band service. KU-Band parameters are provided prior to each event. NASA will schedule each LIMS event on a satellite in proximity of AMC18 whenever possible. AMC-18 is located at 139º West. AMCX-18 was launched on December 8 2006 on an Ariane 5ECA V174 launch vehicle from Kourou ELA-3 in French Guiana by Arianespace.

Uplink provider = TBD
Transponder = TBD
KU-Band

Bandwidth = 18 MHz
Transmission Format = DVB-S, 4:2:0
Data Rate = 12 Mbps
Modulation: QPSK/DVB-S
MPEG-4 encoding (MPEG-2 available upon request)
HD 16x9
*C-Band LIMS service is not available.
Paul

Offline SkipMorrow

Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #7 on: 10/03/2018 03:16 pm »
Are there other official audio and video sources today (perhaps streamed) that NASA staff (and families perhaps) can use from home? I remember the movie "The Right Stuff" and the wives would be listening on a special radio that allowed them to hear the radio calls. Other than watching NASA tv, I was wondering what else NASA staff might use to stay in touch when they are out of mission control.

Offline Hog

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #8 on: 05/19/2019 05:02 pm »
Are there other official audio and video sources today (perhaps streamed) that NASA staff (and families perhaps) can use from home? I remember the movie "The Right Stuff" and the wives would be listening on a special radio that allowed them to hear the radio calls. Other than watching NASA tv, I was wondering what else NASA staff might use to stay in touch when they are out of mission control.
I remember at one time that at the NASA TV page, there was a window that was titled (internal use only).  I remember someone saying that all the NASA centers had access to that "internal use only" feed.

Other than that, using a C-band dish with the appropriate receiver allows you to pump digital quality audio AND 4K UHD video into your home, as I described above.

Caution, there are letters arranged in a certain manner in which certain individuals may feel "offended".

I do remember Jim Lovell's (Tom Hanks) "wife" Marilyn Lovell(Kathleen Quinlan)during Apollo 13 having a "box" that was a radio in her house in Houston that had a NASA emblem stuck on it.  She got on the horn and called Mission Control and said "No don't give me that NASA Incorrect."  Caution, there are letters arranged in a certain manner in which certain individuals may feel "offended". 
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/7986f0c4-ba20-4db7-993d-a84ec9ea0f5a

I can't find an exact clip of the Apollo 13 "squawk boxes" that were used in the film.

pics
1  NASA "squawk box"
2) NASA squawk boxes I believe to be Apollo 13 vintage
3) Marilyn Lovell listening to updates of Apollo 13
Paul

Offline IRconfused

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #9 on: 08/08/2020 06:33 pm »
Because Sunday's ARE for Shuttles. ;D

More specifically: the very first shuttle, Columbia, was launched for the very first time on SUNDAY April 12, 1981.

I know its a Saturday but I ran across a couple of pictures I took a few years ago with a Kodak 110 Instamatic and I thought I would share.  Props to anyone who can come up with when and where these were taken.

Offline penguin44

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #10 on: 08/15/2020 04:36 am »
Great photos mate. Maybe looks like she's at palmdale getting ready for sca ferry to KSC?

Offline John Santos

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #11 on: 08/15/2020 05:04 am »
It looks pretty beat up...  I'm thinking maybe Columbia after STS-2(?) when it landed at White Sands and was being prepped for the ferry flight back to the Cape?

They originally used the tail cone on the Enterprise's captive and first few glide flights, to minimize turbulence.  After they got used to the aerodynamics of it, they removed the cone for the final few flights to more accurately replicate a shuttle return from orbit.  But I think they later used the tail cone for ferry flights from Edwards and White Sands (and from the factory in Palmdale) to minimize drag and maximize the 747's range.

P.S. I originally clicked on the photos to open full-sized in a separate tab but couldn't read the name on it.  I just discovered I could click a second time and it would enlarge, and it is definitely Columbia.

P.P.S.  The title of the image is "Columbia ...", which should have been a hint  :P
« Last Edit: 08/15/2020 05:09 am by John Santos »

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: "Shuttle Sunday"
« Reply #12 on: 08/15/2020 07:40 am »
These are photos showing Columbia on the way to Edwards AFB from Palmdale and on top of the 747 carrier aircraft at Edwards. To speed up the schedule, Columbia left the factory with quite a bit of tile work still to be completed, which was done after Columbia arrived at KSC. There's a similar photo on page 171 of Jenkins' Space Shuttle book.

From page 164 of Jenkins' book, the trip from Palmdale to Edwards was on 12 March 1979, with delivery to KSC on 25 March 1979.

Here's a nice photo showing Columbia leaving Edwards on 20 March 1979.

https://www.air-and-space.com/palmdale990925.htm

Some more photos from link below.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/40-years-ago-space-shuttle-columbia-arrives-at-kennedy-space-center
« Last Edit: 08/15/2020 08:02 am by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

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