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NASA Shuttle Specific Sections => Atlantis (Post STS-135, T&R) => Topic started by: Chris Bergin on 11/12/2009 11:28 pm

Title: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Chris Bergin on 11/12/2009 11:28 pm

Feature news article by Philip Sloss (his first for this site - and it's a good one!) JSC kindly allowed Philip to sit in on the 129 Flight team's ascent sims, and interview Flight Director Bryan Lunney.

The result, shuttle goodness! :)

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/11/sts-129-practising-launch-flight-controllers-put-to-the-test/

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Longhorn John on 11/12/2009 11:39 pm

That was awesome. It'd of been interesting enough to know what was thrown at them in the sim, but to have the flight director explaining the thinking behind it was great!

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: robertross on 11/12/2009 11:50 pm

Wow, that was a great read. Thanks Philip!

Talk about some hair-raising experiences, all in such a brief period of time.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: psloss on 11/12/2009 11:54 pm

Quote from: Longhorn John on 11/12/2009 11:39 pm

That was awesome. It'd of been interesting enough to know what was thrown at them in the sim, but to have the flight director explaining the thinking behind it was great!

Glad you liked it -- Mr. Lunney's explanations are really central to the story.  We were fortunate not just to get to talk with him, but also to be able to talk to him after the sim was over, so he could explain some of what happened.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: RobbieCape on 11/13/2009 12:34 am

Interesting stuff. Manual throttle down sounds sporty!

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: generic_handle_42 on 11/13/2009 02:17 am

I normally don't comment on an article after it is posted because I would just be saying "Great article, Chris (or whoever)" every single time. 

This article was absolutely excellent though, and pretty much forced me to say how good I thought it was.

Excellent work Philip... for your first article on the site, it was definitely one to remember!  I know I'm not the only one who is envious of your experience.  8)

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Edward Carlson on 11/13/2009 03:46 am

Very enjoyable read and I think Mr Lunney enjoyed it too as how many times would he get to speak like that to media? There's a hint of Mike Moses in him with the long answers and that always works with me ;D

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Satt on 11/13/2009 05:03 am

That,was brilliant.Thank you.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Carl G on 11/13/2009 05:33 am

Loved it!

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: psloss on 11/13/2009 11:36 am

Quote from: RobbieCape on 11/13/2009 12:34 am

Interesting stuff. Manual throttle down sounds sporty!

There's a diagram of the Speed Brake/Thrust Controller in the SCOM; reference:
http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/scom/213.pdf

(Page 36 of the PDF.)

The one that can be used for manually throttling the engines is on the right side of the C3 panel, close to the pilot seat.  In the motion-based simulator at least, there was an overlay with marks indicating a few throttle settings.  The one in the simulator gets used a lot more than the ones in the orbiters. :)

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: DaveJSC on 11/13/2009 02:02 pm

Excellent work Philip!

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: jeklund on 11/13/2009 02:38 pm

Quote from: Chris Bergin on 11/12/2009 11:28 pm

Feature news article by Philip Sloss (his first for this site - and it's a good one!) JSC kindly allowed Philip to sit in on the 129 Flight team's ascent sims, and interview Flight Director Bryan Lunney.

The result, shuttle goodness! :)

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/11/sts-129-practising-launch-flight-controllers-put-to-the-test/

Awesome stuff!   Manual throttle control and I'm visualizing jumper cables strung through the middeck! 

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: daveglo on 11/13/2009 02:44 pm

Excellent writing.  You've set yourself a high bar, best wishes on future efforts!  We're all looking forward to it.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: dawei on 11/13/2009 04:49 pm

Outstanding!  Hard to top that but I'm already looking forward to future articles.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Kel on 11/13/2009 05:07 pm

Awesome!

Thanks for the great read Philip :)

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: JSC Phil on 11/13/2009 08:45 pm

Very enjoyable article. Sims rarely get coverage.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: psloss on 11/13/2009 09:05 pm

Quote from: JSC Phil on 11/13/2009 08:45 pm

Very enjoyable article. Sims rarely get coverage.

Thanks!

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Jester on 11/14/2009 05:29 pm

*tips his hat*

nicely done sir :)

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: Jorge on 11/14/2009 05:53 pm

Great article, Philip! Hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay in Houston.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: psloss on 11/14/2009 07:20 pm

Quote from: Jester on 11/14/2009 05:29 pm

*tips his hat*

nicely done sir :)

Quote from: Jorge on 11/14/2009 05:53 pm

Great article, Philip! Hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay in Houston.

Thanks, guys.  Had a great stay; would love to do it again.

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: DaveS on 11/14/2009 07:38 pm

Yep, great work an little-covered aspect of crew training, the sims! I wonder if it would be possible to obtain the Flight-loop for these 4 sims?

Title: Re: STS-129: Practising launch – Flight controllers put to the test
Post by: psloss on 11/14/2009 09:32 pm

FYI, just now saw Part 4 of the great Behind the Scenes pieces that Mike Massimino did and at the end of it, there's a little bit of the flight deck crew in the motion-based simulator, a little bit in the Shuttle Flight Control Room next to Chris Ferguson, who is CapCom for ascent and entry, and then a short interview with Bryan Lunney at the end talking about one of the runs.  This would have been during one of the previous three ascent sims.  Pretty cool.

John44 has posted that already; here's a link to his post here:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=19017.msg503041#msg503041