Rookie Astronauts Describe Atlantis Launch

Kemara · Post by **Kemara** » Tue Oct 08, 2002 8:26 pm

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2002
1130 GMT (7:30 a.m. EDT)

Before going to bed last night, Atlantis astronauts Sandra Magnus and Piers Sellers, both making their first flights, providing a detailed glimpse of what it's like to ride a space shuttle:

SELLERS: The whole business of getting off the ground was a lot more violent, I think, than either of us thought. We kind of looked at each other and our eyebrows went up and then the whole world seemed to turn around, the sun flashed across the cockpit as we rolled and then we just kept getting faster and faster, everything shaking and banging away. We're coming up on SRB (solid rocket booster) separation... Sandy?

MAGNUS: We were getting ready for SRB sep and we were focused on the, uh... and you can see us right there checking the mirror, we were kind of pointing at each other and saying, 'hey, you've gotta look at this, you've gotta look at this, this is really cool!' We were watching the ground fall away behind us with the clouds and the Earth just falling away as we were getting up here. We were also wondering how the ET camera footage was going to look, so we're really anxious to see that when we get back down there.

It wasn't as shaky as I thought it was going to be, actually. But it was definitely noisy. And we're getting ready for SRB sep here... and there is SRB sep! And I couldn't stop myself, I had to say 'wow!' because it was such a bright, flashing light and a big noise. And I'll turn it over to Piers...

SELLERS: Yeah, we saw the flash and felt a big thump - something dramatic happened! - and it really smoothed out for a little while as we moved forward on the shuttle's main engines. Sandy and I could see the stuff, the fuel (from booster separation motors), coming by the windows, all very dramatic. And while all this was going on, the sky was turning colors, going from blue to kind of a deep, dark blue and slowing changing to black. Somewhere around about here, we ... passed the 50-mile point.

MAGNUS: Of course, the 50-mile point is the place where we became official astronauts. We kind of looked at each other and went, 'wow!' That's pretty cool. And it was really special because Piers and I are classmates, so we were sharing this together. And we hollered down to the middeck to let Fyodor (Yurchikhin, a cosmonaut making his first flight) know as well that we were truly astronauts now. And we continued on our way and Piers is right, it really was a lot smoother here, although you could still, of course, here the roaring of the engines.

We were all fixated on the CRTs and looking at what the data was doing and sneaking looks in the mirror occasionally. It was real interesting to see the clouds. You can see us right there looking in the mirror and I was like, 'Piers, you've gotta see this!' Because there's all kinds of neat clouds going by underneath us and the texture was amazing. We were sharing the mirror there, back and forth, trying to... this is actually the 50-nautical mile point, right here, you can see us celebrating a little bit... You know, there were times, I was really focused on trying to do my MS-2 job and make the right calls and Piers was doing a great job of calling the comm boundaries, but I have to tell you, half my brain was trying to absorb all the sounds and sights and feelings and trying to remember the moment.

SELLERS: Yeah, it was really strange. There you were, trying to do all the stuff you've been trained to do in the (shuttle simulator) and there is something familiar about this from the sim, but there's something else going on out there that is totally unfamiliar. Sandy and I were looking at each other, and looking at the scenery just change, second by second, out the windows. It was unbelievable. You could really feel yourself hurtling through the air and then through space, faster and faster and faster. And it was quite extraordinary.

MAGNUS: I have to tell you, the other thing that was going through my mind was picturing all the people at the Cape who were watching the launch. Having seen a launch once or twice before, I was trying to imagine what they were look at and what they were thinking because, having seen it from the outside and now being on the inside, it was really interesting because I just pictured everybody out there at Banana Creek, at the LCC, everywhere, just watching and watching and watching. And here we were just shaking and rattling and heading all the way up to space.

SELLERS: As you can see, things are pretty smooth, the motors (main engines) are just burning away behind us. What's happening now is the acceleration is beginning to pick up and we're all beginning to feel the load build, mostly shoving you back into your seat. And really toward the last minute or so, it kind of got mostly uncomfortable. You're being stuffed back in your seat and all the little lumps in your suit and things in your seat back are beginning to stick into you. Luckily, we over ate at crew quarters so there was plenty of padding.

MAGNUS: You just saw me shake the mirror at Piers, I was like, 'Piers, Piers, you've gotta see this.' We're starting the roll here and what was happening was we were far enough up that you could see the horizon so we weren't just looking at clouds with texture ... and it was absolutely gorgeous! We had the bright blue and puffy white clouds of the Earth and then as you got up above the horizon a little bit more the blues got deeper and deeper and deeper and it was just like one big blue rainbow as it went through the different shades of blue. It was gorgeous. If I hadn't have been strapped in my seat I would have just been floating for the sheer joy of it at that point.

SELLERS: So right now we're at about three Gs, shoving us back in our seats here, coming up on mach 20. As you can see, one of my checklists has decided to go for a walk there, it's ripped itself off the velcro and it's just hanging straight back. The mach numbers are really streaking by now, going very, very fast. It's a little uncomfortable, 30 seconds to go (until main engine cutoff). Sandy and I don't really know what to expect in 30 seconds. All I could think about was how this was aching a little bit. You should see MECO when my checklist in the right hand corner of the screen just goes weightless, you'll see it happen. Right now, my checklist, along with my brain and my kidneys is being pulled back at 3 Gs... and there it is, MECO, you can see how the cables go limp and stuff starts floating around in the cabin. And Sandy and I are just suddenly sort of floating out of our seats.

MAGNUS: "It was really noticeable once we hit MECO that we started floating out of our seats. And I just had to do it, I put my checklist in front of me and I let go of it and it was just floating there, and it was like, 'Piers, look! It's floating!' I just started giggling because it was so cool.

Astronaut Cady Coleman in mission control thanked the astronauts for narrating the in-cabin view, saying "I just can't thank you enough for sharing that experience."

"We sure wish we cold bring you guys up here because this IS an experience," Magnus replied. "Unfortunately, I don't know if words can really convey it ... but I wish you could all be here."

"And for everybody down there, I can't wait until they invent antigravity and you do this, too!"

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 7:27 am

Wow great story makes me want to go even more.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 4:16 pm

Yeah, I think I'm going to bring this one and the other one Kemara posted to ASA next year... I'll read them before missions and stuff -- to get pumped

Kemara · Post by **Kemara** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 4:50 pm

Yeah! We'll make our own "Chicken Soup for the Space Camper's Soul." Hee hee.....

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Oct 09, 2002 7:23 pm

Sounds like a pretty good idea. You guys just keep making me want to go back more and more.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 4:04 pm

Honstly, I think I'm going to incorporate them into the journal of ASA I make next year... they're great!

Though, Chicken Soup for the Space Camper's soul does sound interesting.... lol =)

Kemara · Post by **Kemara** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 4:23 pm

You mean like a scrapbook? I've done a couple of those. Mom and I have been meaning to do something with my Space Camp stuff for a long time now. I have a neat idea for some of the pages. The EDM pages could have pics of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek (pick your favorite ship) for obvious reasons. The ISS pages could have Deep Space Nine....and so on. And it'd be an excuse to use those trek fonts that are taking up space on my computer...Hmm...maybe I'll break out MS Publisher tonight and see what I can do....

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 5:02 pm

sounds like a good idea.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 6:21 pm

Well, no, not quite what I had in mind but it sounds like a good idea.

No, I turned my Space Camp / Academy experiences into a 150 page book that describes (as best it can) some of the things that took place, events and experiences while incorporating certain pictures or other scanned things. [And this without any notes from back in 1989/1991]

I always planned that when I returned to a program that I'd keep a journal and write copious amounts of notes so I could turn it more easily (and accurately) into a sequel "book"

And now that I have a laptop... it'll make it that much easier to do while I'm there... just whip out the lap top and make an audio recording of a particular moment - I can record "hi's" from the team and what not. Should be cool. And, I've hooked up my digital camera to it so we can see the pictures right away =)

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 6:23 pm

The rest of my stuff (application brochures, museum guides, post cards, patches, SpaceCamp News issues and other miscellanious stuff) has become HL3-10 and will eventually (if I ever get FTP access back to my site) incorporate everythign I have in one place. Then I'll burn it to CD and have that as my quintisential Space Camp archive. =)

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 8:28 pm

Well i hope its working again soon because i really enjoyed reading the old brochures. I'm itching to read more.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Thu Oct 10, 2002 8:38 pm

I know you are

I'd like to get back on it myself...

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Fri Oct 11, 2002 1:42 pm

do you know anyway to get the ftp up and running again?

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Fri Oct 11, 2002 4:45 pm

No, unfortunately not. A friend of mine (whose server it is) is working on it... slowly...

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Fri Oct 11, 2002 8:43 pm

Well i guess we will just have to wait then.