Beach House

There's a little beach house on KSC that astronauts get to take their wife or husband to before going on their flight. They've also had parties there for muckity-mucks.

Here's some pics:

How the payload gets in the shuttle

Here's a bunch of pictures to show how our payload gets installed in the shuttle.

Our carriers that carry the payloads: MULE, FSS, ORUC and SLIC from left to right

Here's the pad. On the left is the RSS which is where the payload goes (light gray area).
Our stuff gets out to the pad via the ''can''.

Our payload is installed in the can then rotated to this standing position.
Here's the can leaving for the pad

Can enroute to Pad A

Later that day, the can arrives at the pad. Techs will lift it into the RSS and
prepare the payload for removal.

Here's a pic of the RSS with the can installed (white rectangle in middle of gray structure).

That's the can in the middle of the RSS. The RSS stays open until our
stuff is removed from the can.

One last picture of the RSS with the can.

There is a room in the RSS called the Payload Changeout Room (PCR). We spent A LOT of time there. Above is a picture of the can with its doors open.

A big machine called the PGHM (pronounced piggum) pulls the payload out of the can and then sticks it in the shuttle. The PGHM is the white thing on the right that rolls and grabs our stuff.

When the payload is inside the PCR, the can is lowered and the RSS rotates
onto the shuttle as seen above.

The shuttle's payload bay doors open and the payload is unbagged. The PGHM can now roll forward and install our carriers.

That's all there is to it! We spent a whole week in that PCR watching techs only to get our mission delayed and everything taken out! Yay!

Our carriers are back in the processing facility and this coming week we will do our last tests before returning to Maryland. Then, in a few months, we can come back and do it all again!

DJing at the Chili Pepper

This past thursday I DJed at the Chili Pepper again...this time without a hardcore band! Here's some pics:

Double Shuttles

Here's some pretty pics when the shuttles were on their pads together (Pad A is closer with Atlantis, B is further away with Endeavour).

Purple Suit Colin

I've had an exciting weekend! It all started when Breda and I had dinner at a restaurant called the Chili Pepper. This random guy recognized the band on my shirt so he came over and started talking. He reminded us of the guy in Superbad who hits Seth with his car (So you guys on myspace...or...). Anyway, he was all excited about djing at the chili pepper and we decided to come back the next day to set it up.

Well, i came back the next day, and the guy never showed up. Not to let the night go to waste I talked to the owner about it and i was able to get a try-out set before this hardcore band Everyth. I told everyone at work that i was djing and they all showed up to watch me. I did about an hour and a half and then Everyth came on. They were cool, but most of my work friends couldn't handle the noise.

After I finished djing, i talked to the owner and he said he had a party in a couple days and would call me about it. The party he wanted me to play was a pool party at this swanky cosmetic dentist's house. Of course i said i'd do it.

The guys house was amaaaaaaazing, here's a pic of his view:


There were about 20 people at the party and I played with this other guy Nick, who likes the same dance music I do. I got to eat some pulled pork and chill by a pool for like 4 hours. Most of the people there thought i was from Europe or something because of my outfit, which isn't the first time i've been mistaken as a foreigner. Here's a couple pics of me: