Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

Real Spacecraft
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Hello folks, then let’s go, probably the last time before I start my vacation in Florida next Monday.

And from the cover plates of the Rainbirds now to the openings below, and thus the question of how to do this best, where already the marking out of the openings is not easy.

For the slender birds they should be approx. 4 mm wide and 3 mm high, and that is a bit tricky for the thin tube.

Then should also still be produced the beveling (8°) for the cover, with which I have started, but perhaps it would be better to make the opening at the end after reworking.

The beveling was still relatively easy. The only problem is that these operations and the resulting basic contour (length, incline) should also be uniform for all six Rainbirds why probably again a template would be appropriate.

Then I tried to saw the opening at a distance of 4 mm with a mini-saw blade. But the handling is quite tricky for the small diameter, and the opening should be reasonably clean.

And this is the result, which shows that the opening so is feasible in principle, but in terms of accuracy and reproducibility it is still not sufficient.

For the two thicker central birds this will be certainly simpler, because the opening is half the diameter (180°).

So I initially have thought of a template, in order to get the length and incline of pipes reproducible. In addition I have drawn the length and incline to a 6 mm thick plastic strip,

and sawed with a fine saw guides for cutting the tubes.

And so I could serrate the pipes with the slant for the covers, as I did here.

Now only the opening at the front must still be sawed. Perhaps it would be better not to cut the tubes to the final length immediately, but rather to cut only the opening, to rework it accordingly until the opening is right, and only then cut to the final length.

Then I had a feeling of success in our hobby shop where I found this nice part for the two middle Rainbirds. This is a Knitting needle with 8 mm diameter, which corresponds exactly the diameter of the thicker foot part, I have marked.

And the top corresponds to the shape and dimensions pretty much the central conical part of the bird, what really has surprised me.


Source: nasatech.net

Now only a pipe with Ø 6,3 mm must then be fitted with the wide opening and cover, and the shell construction is finished, that could work.

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Hi Mike,

now already tomorrow. Would you like to come along?

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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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Man if I could, I’d be there in all 18 wheels and drive around the Florida Keys.

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Hello my friends,

first just a short message.

After three and a half weeks I am 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 therefor 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.

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 smartphone to my PC.

First of all, just a few little models and spectacular photos which especially my friend Mike (Stryker45) will particularly like.

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Hello everybody,

here you can have a look at a fantastic NASA video of the Psyche Mission Launch from Launch Pad 39 A.


Source: NASA

Enjoy!

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Oh yeah, that sure looked awesome launch. Glad you had a great vacation and I cannot wait to see what else you will share. One thing for sure, now you can say “Been there done that and got the T-shirt to prove it.” :rofl:

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All I have to do is step out the front door and view launches (depending on weather/cloud coverage). Never gets old. My almost 20 years at NASA provided an even closer look! :wink:

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OMG, you should have said that sooner, then we could have met.

Where do you live, John, and how far is it from your house to the Launch pad?

What did you do working at NASA?

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Glad the holiday was so eventful … impressive launch and looking forward to more updates :+1:

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Thanks John,

I fulfilled a long-held dream and lived it to the fullest.

There is a lot to report, but I have to sort it all out first.

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From my house to the doorstep of where I worked is 17 miles. After my 22-year Military career, I worked as a Government Inspector on the Space Shuttle and then in the International Space Station Facility on experiments, satellites, payloads, etc. I put in 18 years then retired at the end of 2020. I still go out there giving tours from time to time.

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Very cool career John …:+1:

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Hi John,

it’s a shame we couldn’t meet.

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Next time…you’re a space geek, so, I’ll eventually see ya. :grin:

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Maybe next year, I would be happy my friend.

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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 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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Did you ask her about taking a dump in zero gravity? I bet nobody asks that! :laughing:

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Unfortunately I can’t upload the video of my questions, but this was my second, somewhat provocative question that caused a murmur to go through the room.

What do you know about Area 51, Area S-4 and the UFO crash in Roswell 1947, the year I was born in Germany?

And this was her answer:

Nothin’ (LOL). 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 in/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 are seeing.

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