Posted 9/26/2012
We are fortunate to have two space experts here is Clallam County, one with expertise on the Launch and operations aspects, and one on the development, maintenance and design aspects of programs like Apollo, Shuttle, Space Station, and deep space/Mars Landers. These two have offered to present a four hour long class where they will go through their experiences on the inside of these programs, their successes and less than successes, and with ample opportunities to ask questions. Donations of $20 suggested to cover materials for this fund raiser. Anyone interested please call ahead, 457-1672 or email odonnell@q.com. Location is 2194 West 4th Street, Port Angeles.
Richard Labrecque worked the Apollo missions and will talk on what was done to prepare for these first manned landings on another celestial body, and how training was accomplished. Insights on astronautical guidance will reveal the difficulty of getting the first flight off to the moon and back. This will be followed by how the Shuttle program got started, what it was geared to accomplish, and what were its strengths and shortcoming. The various strategies for accomplishing the Space Station and its missions will be discussed in some detail. An overview of NASA, the contractor community, and various operational teams will provide insight into the overall program strengths and weaknesses, what worked and what didn’t work so well. NASA DVDs of the space program, and models of the various spacecraft will be reviewed.
He will cover the keys to planning space missions:
- How to plan a successful mission and why Russia failed to reach the moon.
- How does guidance work and why did we do what we did.
- What were the key developments needed.
- How do you train for success, and what are the critical ground and space interactions.
- What was unknown and how did we fill the gap.
Tom O’Donnell has over 45 years of involvement with the Aerospace world. His initial experience was on the Apollo/Saturn program, building components for the Command/Service Module and for the LM Adapter used on the Moon landing missions. He was involved for over thirty years with the Space Shuttle, retiring two years ago. In his time with the program he worked as mechanic, senior design engineer, and manufacturing manager in the Thermo Protection field. His areas of expertise include tile design, manufacture, installation and repair. The presentation being given is an overview of the Space Shuttle, with special emphasis on the Thermo Protection system. To include samples and the following topics:
1. Why the Shuttle required thermal protection.
2. What kinds of Thermo Protection Systems (TPS) have been used in various programs.
3. How the Shuttle Thermo Protection System (TPS) was developed.
4. Tile installation procedures and challenges.
5. TPS other than tile.
6. Losses.
