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Cassini Poem from USAF -FORWARD
>>> "John W. Lyver, IV" <jlyver@hq.nasa.gov> 10/24/97 06:42am >>>
The attached poem comes from the USAF. One of the Lieutenants must be very
creative. See footnotes at the
end for the secret acronym decoder ring and more obscure references.
-----------------------------------------
Twas the night before launch, and all through the pad
Not a box was malfunctioning, not a CAPS to be had.
The new actuators were pinned to the nozzles with care,
In hopes of steering Cassini on its course through the air.
Propellants were loaded, all snug in their tanks
While the rivets in the skirts had no cracks in their shanks.
With Charlie the core, and Kermit on top
We were set for a mission even protesters can't stop!!
The only thing bothering the launch crew that night
Were the flu-like symptoms from that damn mosquito bite!
When up from the ROCC there arose such a clatter
I jumped on the MET NET to see what was the matter.
I was told about Wanda, a most hideous beast
Who had shifted the wind to blow out of the east.
The toxics screen with its now reddish glow
Gave the luster of oxidizer to objects below.
When what to my still bloodshot eyes should appear
But a vision of the beach, and people drinking beer.
With a shiny airline knife, guarded closely all night
I knew Wanda would soon shift and blow left to right.
More rapid than blowdown the wind shifted west,
And elated the team who had all given their best.
Now Air Force, now NASA, now Lockheed and Boeing
On Alliant, On Aerojet, let's get this launch going!!
So in the hopes of launching three Titans this fall,
Now launch away, launch away, launch away all!!
Then up from SLC 40 and pushing on past max-Q,
Launched the Cassini spacecraft, and the Huygens probe too.
And then in a moment, just after the view,
I heard the rumble and thunder of each SRMU.
Just as the turbines started spinning around,
Down the solids came with a bound.
They were painted all white, each and every square foot,
And the nozzle spewed residue of ashes and soot.
The LRE fired, the core now doing its share
It looked like a candle burning high in the air.
Its GCU worked fine, its rate gyros spinning
The mission looked great, the whole team was grinning.
Everyone at the Cape was yelling "Go Titan Go!"
And the plume from the exhaust was as white as the snow.
Looking up to the sky, I gazed with affection
And saw the clean separation of each fairing section.
Then the first stage shut down, and the pyros they blew,
Then the start cartridge fired, and lit up stage two!
For a hundred sixty seconds, that engine did burn,
Sending Cassini to go off to Saturn and learn.
Moments later came Centaur, its LOX seals replaced
Pushing its payload off into space.
Two good Centaur burns, then we all held our breaths
After good S/V sep, we had Mission Success!!
The lead protester laid his finger up inside of his nose,
He went home to dream up another conspiracy to expose.
Then I grinned to myself as the skies started to lighten,
Cause there's nothing as great as the launch of a Titan!!
And I heard someone say as it flew out of sight,
"God speed Cassini, and to all a good night!!"
By Lt Steve Behm, a true steely-eyed missile man
Footnotes:
- A CAPS is a problem statement sheet.
- The ROCC is the Range Operations Control Center (which looks like
the NASA flight control center, only smaller)
- We had a minor problem early on with rivets that didn't pass
x-ray.
- The vehicles are always nick-named. (Kermit and Charlie, this
time)
- Encephalitis warnings are up in Brevard country - transmitted by
mosquitos.
- The toxics screen is a computer simulation of wind effects on the
residue from the solid rocket motors (just a wee bit rich in sulfuric
acid and other products) and depicts their fall-out concentrations
superimposed on a map.
- An LRE is a Liquid Rocket Engine
- A GCU is a Guidance Control Unit
- The reference to the LOX (Liquid Oxygen) seals is in memory of the
earlier Mars probe which may have blown up when its LOX seals didn't
remain intact during the protracted time in space flight to the
planet. One theory is that when the engine was readied for re-start
as the vehicle approached Mars, oxygen residue which had built up in
the line might have ignited.
- The reference to the knife is a traditional "ceremony". One
explanation of the ritual is that, like "burying the hatchet", all
stress and conflict is buried in the sands at the beach by throwing
the knife into the ground. A goodly amount of libation is consumed
in order to seal the spell and is presumed to ensure good luck during
the launch. There is also a "guard" cadre of personnel not essential
to final launch processing, who remain with the knife until launch -
continuing the essential flow of libation so as not to break the
spell. It works, don't knock it; but launch delays are really hard
on the guard. (I was one of those "non-essential" personnel back in
the old T34D days. That is a story for another time.)
It was a near perfect launch, about 200 milliseconds into the launch
window. The final trajectory was off less than .006%, radially (yes,
that's .00006). I believe that equates to an adjustment of less than
25mph. Titan/Centaur threaded the needle again. Go Cassini!
***************************************************
John W. Lyver, IV
NASA HQ - Code QS
Office of Safety and Risk Management
Washington, DC 20546-0001
(w) 202/358-1155 (fax) 202/358-3104
***************************************************