The Black Vault

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html
any NASA or ex NASA folks, here?

if so..this gotta hurt

if you feel down go re-watch the movie Apollo 13, I did ..insperational..a miracle, actually

Apollo...thirteen

It will be a very sad day for me, having dedicating 30 years of my life to that program. I wish you could have attended some of our Rocketdyne open houses over the years. Most people have no idea how complicated a space shuttle main engine is, how long it takes to build, and the ways they have to build it. I was a Journeyman cerified welder, and a Robotic welding programer and operator. I've welded on every shuttle motor, I have welding on every mission since the first flight. I've done the most flight critical weld joints on the powerheads and fuel pumps, developed and converted many of them to robotic operations. Done many repairs to pumps removed from the orbiter, between flight repairs, where they returned and launched again. One weld joint I;ve programed joined the powerhead to the main injector, joining a 15 million dollar part to a 10 million dollar part.

In my job, I have met countless Astronauts, recieved the Silver Snpopy NASA award from the Challenger return to flight pilot, seen some of the most famous National New anchors. I've gotton to see speaches from several heads of NASA, Generals, Crippen and Young, Engle and Truly, Sally Ride, Jesse Jackson who toured the plant, BArry Goldwater, The mayor of Los Angeles, Govenor Pete Wilson, and President Bill Clinton, was only 8 feet from me.

I've been very lucky to have had such a career. It was the Cadilac of any welding job in the world, no other welding compares to what we did and our standards. Our space program is very complex, and the technology is mindboggling even to people like me who see it everyday.

I will be very sad to see the last flight for sure.

CONGRATS !! GREENEY 2 , HAD NO CLUE YOU HAD A GREAT JOB LIKE THAT. wonder what thay are replacing the shuttel with. now i see where john gets his drive from.

My son is an electrical engineer that has worked

on the External Tank of the Shuttle (they call it the
ET) since he graduated college. This is a sad time for us.
I have always loved the program and have so many wonderful
and sad memories. Katrina was scary and it took its toll on'the
facility but they came back fine. I have so many momentoes
that my son has given me. When he goes in to suppot this
last launch it will be hard...tears are on my face as I type...this is very
emotional for me.

Thanks Thunder, Johns grandfather, my Dad, was a areonautical engineer for Bell Aircraft in Buffalo, duing the 40s and 50s. He worked on the first American Jet aircraft, the Bell Aerocomet, the X1, X2, X5, Rascal Missile, and a bunch of other programs, most are either in the AF Museum or the Simthsonian. Dad had all the Lindberg newspapers and loved aviation as a kid. He had permission to run out of the house and down to the runway, whenever he herd a airplane landing, without having to ask first.

Island girl, I'm sure his company will be scaling back like rocketdyne. I retired 3 years ago becasue the programs were going to end, and we were sold by Boeing. I got out when I was still able to recieve the Boeing retirment promises, that Pratt Whitney was going to take away from us. A lot of people swallowed a real bitter pill, and got forced out, after give their lives to this program.

Greeney,
What an amazing life you've been having!
That is so cool.

And your son, too, IG?
You must be so proud.


I am really sad about the space program and hope that it gets some good luck coming it's way sooner than later

Last launch went without a hitch. A few of my co-workers got sent down to see the last launch. Wish I had gotten to see one in my 30 years. Sad Day for me, I think its a sad day for the USA, and I have serious concerns about the possible private companies, picking up the space business. There are many reasons why the shuttle and manned flight is so expensive, its a subject in itself, so will not start it here. Cheaper means doing less, and doing less or lowering standards and specs, will be a disaster, all of us who build these things knows it. Branson was on a CNN special tonight telling how he and his kids have fares already paid for the first mission of the space ride on that Virgin airline program. The space shuttle to those who do not understand this kind of thing was a piece of junk because of so many scrubbed launches. They do not get it, that there is so many redundant safety features and sensors, the orbiter is programed to not go, it every system is not perfect. Do it cheaper means cutting corners, less sensors, less instrumentation, lesser welding standards, lesser non-distructive testing standards, will cause failures. One prime example is in south america a dozen or more people were killed on a launch pad explosion that was so basic and remedial to our practices, it could have never happened. Another example was Ted Turner launching a $1B satalitte on a chinese rockets because it cost less, and the rocket failed. The learning curve will not be user friendly, and the reason the US space program is so expensive is the level of risks that are eliminated, and a history of 50 years of knowing liquid rocket engines like Rocketdyne knows. Not a single man has been lost since Alan Shepard due to a Rocketdyne engine. Manned flight Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, The Shuttle, The Space Station, all powered by Rocketdyne engines, thrusters, and other energy systems. Unmanned include ovre 500 Atlas systems, Delta, and many other unmanned systems.

Pioneers! Oh, Pioneers!
-w.w.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hWeTaL4ovI

Greeney,

Thanks for directing me back up
here from my post in the song thread.
I thought it had rolled off.
I live in St, Tammany Parish (Eden Isles)
between the Michoud Facility where my son
works and Stennis where relatives and friends
work.

http://www.nola.com/northshore/index.ss ... d_fin.html

It was a bitter sweet kind of day, huh?
And Betty Ford passes, too.
It's like the shuttle launch was a metaphore for her, in a way.
Because you just know her friends and family will be like, "she passed on the day the last shuttle launched"
hmm..
poetic, kinda