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#2400 by roma847 on 21 Jul, 2023 22:32
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Hello everybody,
due to the occasion, here is a small detour back to NASA's Astrovans, which have also developed further in the course of the various programs, which I discussed in detail in Reply #2119 at the end of 2021.
After that, this model was used during the Apollo Program,
Source: wikimewdia.org
as well as at the beginning of the Shuttle Program,
Source: NASA
and was later replaced by more modern vans, which also offered enough space for larger crews.
Source: NASA
Source: live.staticflickr.com
And these are the current Astrovans, three specially designed, all-electric and environmentally friendly Crew transport vehicles for the Artemis missions, which arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on July 11, 2023,
Source: flickr.com (NASA)
Source: flickr.com (NASA)
wherewith we are also completely up-to-date in this regard.
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#2401 by roma847 on 23 Jul, 2023 20:23
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Hello everybody,
and now the same fragile pipe linkage again for the other Canister side (Port side).
How good when you've done it all before.
So first the connecting pipes have to be cut to size again.
And then it goes on: The same procedure as on the other side!
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#2402 by roma847 on 26 Jul, 2023 11:36
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Hello everybody,
OMG, after the rod was glued to the Screw Jacket Worm gear and shortened to the required length, I almost had the other end glued with the central door drive without the two rings,
but what I quickly made good for it.
Then the other round rod was glued to the left Worm gear, shortened to the final length, provided with the two rings and fixed for gluing by Balsa clamping bars.
Both pipes were then be glued to the drive.
After drying, the linkage could be carefully removed from the balsa fixation and looks confusingly similar to its twin, 
wherewith also the Door actuator for the Port Side is complete.
For the sake of completeness, I have also added the already finished Outrigger,
and have put the Ladders, which first have to be airbrushed.
Thereto also a few small parts will come that have already been completed and are well stored.
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#2403 by roma847 on 02 Aug, 2023 18:20
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Hello everybody,
long enough I have ducked out of painting the ladders, because I just wasn't sure how to hold these fragile structures during painting without, in the worst case, scrapping them.
Then I wasn't sure too whether I should paint them with the Spray cans from Tamiya or rather with the Airbrush.
The use of spray cans has the disadvantage that the paint jet can hardly be dosed, at best via the distance to the object, which is not a reproducible solution.
So I guess I'll try airbrushing.
In order to be able to paint the ladders from both sides, I finally came back to a holder that I used years ago, for which I've glued the end of the ladders' columns with UHU-CA onto a bent-out Paperclip,
hoping this compound will withstand the airbrush paint flow,
which is why I have to proceed carefully when doing so. 
To be on the safe side, I will first test this on a Dummy,
to see if this is a workable solution.
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#2404 by roma847 on 03 Sep, 2023 21:39
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Hello friends,
don't be surprised about my long break, but firstly I still need new seals for my airbrush gun before I can paint the ladders for the Payload Canister and secondly I'm very busy preparing for my trip to Florida (3 weeks), to which I'll fly on October 2nd from Stuttgart via Atlanta to Orlando. 
From there I'll drive with a rental car to Cocoa Beach, check in there for a week in the Best Western Hotel and hope that I can watch the Psyche Launch of a Falcon 9 Heavy from the Apollo Saturn V Center, which is scheduled for the 5th October 10.38 am.
And if everything goes well, I'll be very close to you in four weeks today.
So please keep your fingers crossed!
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#2405 by roma847 on 18 Sep, 2023 15:14
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Hello everybody,
my Florida trip is getting closer and closer and time is running out, so I have to rush with an update.
In 14 days (October 2nd) at this time I will be on board a Boeing 767-300 towards Atlanta, from where it will continue at 6.35 p.m. in a Boeing 757 to Orlando.
From there I drive the next day with the rental car to Cocoa Beach, where I'll stay at the Best Western Cocoa Beach Hotel for a week and will visit the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
The highlight will rise there according to plan on 5. October, if according to the current schedule at 10.38 a.m. a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy is supposed to take off from Launch Pad 39A for the NASA Psyche Mission.
Source: kennedyspacecenter.com
Hopefully the schedule stays that way, because I bought tickets for my friend Mike Robel and me for watching the liftoff from the Apollo/Saturn V Center,
who lives in Merritt Island and is a loyal follower of my construction report here in the forum.
In the meantime, I've dealt again with the Diorama planning.
Together with my friend Arno (McPhönix), who has built the Current bank for the LED lighting,
we have checked the cabling again to get a more detailed overview of the respective connections and interfaces on the Diorama. 
To do this, I rolled out my Dio floor plan again and temporarily placed some prefabricated assemblies on it for illustration, what with the Tower and the RSS was again a shaky and stressful affair.
In memory of my friend Thomas Emberger (golgi863), who died six years ago, I put his Hammerhead Crane with Lightning Mast on his FSS Tower, which his wife had left to me as an estate at the time.
Then I've added a few more models, for which I would like to show the following pictures here in a loose sequence without many words.
I hope that you like the images and that they compensate a bit for the longer break, as well as that they provide a good overview of the diorama, on the floor plan of which I will now mark and measure the essential cabling routes for a detailed planning, which I definitely want to do before my departure.
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#2406 by roma847 on 18 Sep, 2023 23:32
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Hello friends,
in the meantime I have dismantled the fragile Dio assemblies and stowed them in a cupboard, better safe than sorry.
I showed this image years ago when I presented Thomas' model building estate. He had made a small scaffolding platform especially for his Hammerhead Crane, on which the crane equipped with LED lamps with the red warning beacon on the top of the lightning protection mast could stand reasonably safely.
Such a beacon never existed there at any time during the Shuttle program, which he initially had vehemently denied and then finally accepted when I provided him with the photos as evidence, but his Beacon remains on it, as he wanted it at that time.
And because we're reminiscing so nicely, I have a little bonus here, namely the simulated legendary Stunt of my friend James MacLaren standing on the top of the mast of Pad 39B, which he was involved in buildup during the whole time.
Source: James MacLaren - 16streets.com
He's currently in the middle of moving inland from Cocoa Beach, but if time allows, we could perhaps meet short-dated, which I would be very happy about.
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#2407 by mike robel on 20 Sep, 2023 17:41
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Thanks for the great update. How is the shuttle model? I noticed it was not shown.
I expect we will meet up soon! -
#2408 by roma847 on 20 Sep, 2023 23:10
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Thanks Mike, old Swabian,
the Shuttle stack has been dismantled a long time ago, and the External Tank with its endless SOFI tape spiral is still waiting for the airbrush painting ...
Looking forward to meet you and James in person for watching the NASA Psyche Mission Launch together. You can't imagine how excited I am about this.
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#2409 by roma847 on 01 Oct, 2023 22:46
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Hi guys,
Breaking News: The launch of the NASA Psyche mission has been postponed until October 12th.
Source: NASA
Hopefully all will work then better.
It's time to say Good bye for three weeks. See you later.
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#2410 by roma847 on 30 Oct, 2023 22:35
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Hello my friends,
first just a short message.
After three and a half weeks I'm back from an extraordinary and highly impressive vacation in Florida and several visits to the Kennedy Space Center, which I even flew over in a Helicopter Ride (doors off!),
whereby the gigantic ET/Booster Stack in front of the Atlantis hall looked so small like my model Shuttle stack (1:144). 
BTW, the launch of the NASA Psyche Mission has been postponed once more, to Friday October 13th, which is my lucky day.
And therefore it was a picture book launch of the mighty Falcon 9 Heavy, which totally has thrilled me and my two friends Mike Robel from Merritt Island and James MacLaren from Cocoa Beach.
Since I first would still have to upload my original video, you can watch here a fantastic NASA video of the Psyche Mission Launch from Launch Pad 39 A.
Enjoy!
Source: NASA
On the KSC Explore Tour one can get closer to the interesting areas of the huge Launch Complex, such as the Launch Pad 39 A, or what's left of it.
But perhaps more on that elsewhere. I first have to transfer my more than 120 GB of photos and videos from my son's 1 TB Family OneDrive and the rest from my Samsung smartphone to my PC.
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#2411 by roma847 on 02 Nov, 2023 13:33
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Hello friends,
every day in the KSC Visitor Complex, astronauts report on their shuttle missions in the Astronaut Encounter and answer questions from visitors.
So also did Wendy Lawrence Monday last week, who flew four missions from 1995 to 2005, STS-67, STS-87, STS-91 and STS-114, the so-called Return To Flight Mission, the first mission two years after the Columbia disaster STS-107 (2003).
Source: KSC Visitor Center
I asked her two questions, the first about her feelings after being selected as a crew member for that very important mission, STS-114, against the tragic backdrop of the previous Columbia disaster.
For the second question, I had thought of a special and admittedly somewhat unusual question that really surprised her, that she hadn't expected, which is why she had to search for words first.
But this is a story about a sensitive subject, which is controversially discussed in public and which has interested and concerned me for a long time.
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#2412 by roma847 on 11 Nov, 2023 07:44
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Hello everybody,
for the sake of completeness, I would like to briefly state my two questions and Wendy's answers.
1st Question:
"What were your feelings when you had been selected as a crew member for the Return to Flight Mission STS-114, given the tragic Columbia disaster two years earlier?
She analogously replied that on the one hand she was fully aware of the importance of this test mission after the Columbia disaster, but on the other hand she felt very honored to have been selected for this very important mission.
My second question, which may have been a bit delicate for a NASA astronaut, caused a murmur in the room ...
2nd Question:
"What do you know about Area 51, Complex S-4 and the UFO Crash in Roswell 1947, the year I was born in Germany?"
And that was her answer.
"Nothin’ (laughs). I’ve never been to Area 51, not a question I can really answer, although I do think that it’s interesting now that there’s been some attention devoted to UNEXPLAINED AERIAL PHENOMENA - UAP, that’s what it’s called by the government right now.
Have I, did I see anything during my Shuttle missions? NO. I know of people who, flying in high altitudes, saw some things they couldn’t explain, so, there is no harm in doing that research trying to figure out what it is, what people had seen there."
She at least tried to answer honestly, for which I thanked her.
After the round of questions one could have a photo taken with her in front of the Astrovan and receive an autograph with a dedication on her mission photo, which I was very happy about.
All in all, a successful conclusion after the interesting Explore Tour on my last day at the KSC, at the end of a fantastic and eventful Florida trip, which I will remember for a long time.
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#2413 by roma847 on 16 Nov, 2023 22:57
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Hello friends,
indeed, it was a fantastic vacation and the discovering of the KSC Visitor Complex step by step during my Mission STS-2023 was a complete success, more than I ever expected or dreamed of.
The support from my friends Mike Robel and his family, Pad 39B old hand James MacLaren and Richard Chamberlain was great, I couldn't have asked for better tour guides.
Mike Robel and his wife, visiting the Canaveral National Seashore with me.
James MacLaren and Mike Robel, on the way back after watching the overwhelming Psyche Mission Launch.
Richard Chamberlain and me next to the front section of a B-52 in the War Bird Museum in Titusville.
And here are a few snapshots from the KSC Visitor Complex. Of course, a photo of me in front of the NASA Meatball right at the entrance should not be missing from the photo collection.
An awesome view from the spectacular Helicopter Ride,
and during the KSC Explore Tour.
At the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB),
near Launch Pad 39-A,
at the beginning of the Orbiter Access Arm (OAA),
with the White Room.
Visiting the Atlantis hall with greetings from her majesty.
The legendary Shuttle fleet.
Last not least some new pictures for my Filder Space Center Gallery.
Maybe I also should write a travel report.
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#2414 by mistergoblin on 16 Nov, 2023 23:36
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Great page of updates! Glad you enjoyed your trip to KSC, and I loved seeing the tower and pad in context together with the wider launch pad layout. Nice to zoom out from the details and see the scale of the whole project.
Amazing work, as always! -
#2415 by roma847 on 17 Nov, 2023 17:51
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Thanks my friend for your nice words,
I always have to think back to the great time, the memory of being live at the historical sites and objects of US Space flight is totally overwhelming.
Nevertheless, I have to and want to come back to my craft table soon in order to go on.
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#2416 by mike robel on 17 Nov, 2023 23:13
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I am looking forward to modeling updates.
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#2417 by roma847 on 18 Nov, 2023 00:22
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Hello Mike, my old Swabian,
all in its proper time, first I have to organize and save my countless photos and videos ... You know best how many there were. 
Say hi to your loved ones.
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#2418 by roma847 on 26 Dec, 2023 23:35
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Hello my friends,
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are doing well.
I have just started my German travel report, so my construction report with the Payload Canister will continue soon too.
Best wishes and a Happy New Year.
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#2419 by roma847 on 28 Jan, 2024 14:50
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Dear friends,
this year too, let us stay for a moment in silent memory the memorable day in 1986 of the Challenger accident 38 years ago and together remember the crew of the STS-51L mission,
Source: NASA
which ended in a disaster 73 seconds after lift-off, in which the Challenger Crew lost their lives ...
Front: Michael Smith, Francis Scobee, Ronald McNair; Back: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik
Source: wikimedia.org
May they rest in peace - Keeping their legacy alive forever.
