Elite Team Managed Shuttle’s Controls During Ground Ops

By Bob Granath

From the Space Shuttle’s first flight in 1981 to its final mission in 2011, thousands of professionals made the program a technical marvel. On the front line were highly skilled mechanics, technicians and engineers whose innovative work launched landmark missions such as deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and assembly of the International Space Station.

For one elite group, their workstation was the space program’s “inner sanctum” — the crew modules of the Space Shuttle orbiters. They were spacecraft operators, or SCOs, technicians whose job it was to configure the spacecraft’s crew cabin to support varying mission requirements and support all “power on” operations.

In late 1985, I had my first opportunity to enter a shuttle’s crew module, the living quarters for the astronauts while in space. As a Public Affairs specialist, my job was to climb through the orbiter’s circular hatch to interview three of the SCOs, seeing and photographing them at work. They were preparing the shuttle Atlantis for its next flight.

At the time, the technicians and I worked for Lockheed Space Operations Company, or LSOC, NASA’s Shuttle Processing Contractor at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. From October 1983 to July 1996, LSOC was the company responsible for all ground processing of the Space Shuttle orbiters, external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters.

The company also operated the key buildings and launch pads at Kennedy where shuttle operations took place.

The Shuttle’s Hangar

One of those locations was the Orbiter Processing Facility, or OPF. It included three custom-built, 29,000-square-foot bays, or hangars. Inside, the highly experienced mechanics and technicians performed much of the work to prepare the shuttles between flights.

These tasks included removing hardware from the most recent mission, making any needed repairs or modifications and installing equipment as well as some of the payloads scheduled for use during the next flight.

Like the SCO’s, I put on a clean room garment, better known as a “bunny suit.” These overall lightweight garments include boots and hoods and are worn to ensure those entering the crew module do not introduce contamination such as skin, hair or other debris into a pristine environment.

Mike Parrish was my guide explaining his role and that of other SCOs performing crucial work during preparations for missions to space.

A native of Moline, Illinois, he came to Kennedy in 1979 following four years active duty in the U.S. Air Force. He transitioned to LSOC from Rockwell International, the orbiter’s design contractor, in February 1984.

Once inside the mid-deck or “downstairs” section, we climbed up a short ladder to the flight deck. In space, microgravity allows astronauts to float between these sections.

Tight Quarters

My first reaction was that it seemed much more cramped than in the photographs and video I’d seen of astronauts during flights. Parrish explained that was because the television camera was using a wide-angle lens.

The 2,325-cubic-foot crew module is a three-section pressurized working, living and stowage compartment in the forward portion of the orbiter. It consists of the middeck (“downstairs”), flight deck (“upstairs”) and an airlock.

Outside the aft bulkhead of the crew module is the payload bay. Inside is a docking module and a transfer tunnel with an adapter that can be fitted to allow crew and equipment transfer for docking with the Russian Mir space station or the International Space Station. It also served as an airlock for extravehicular activities, better known as spacewalks.

In addition to the living quarters, the crew module includes the cockpit and experiment operator’s station located in the forward fuselage of the orbiter. Payloads are installed in the cargo bay in the mid-fuselage. The orbiter’s three main engines and maneuvering thrusters are located in the aft portion of the vehicle.

The instrumentation on the flight deck was extensive. Parrish noted that there are more than 2,020 separate displays and controls located on the flight deck alone. That’s about three times as many as the Apollo command module.

But, the SCOs needed to be knowledgeable about most of the orbiter’s systems.

“A spacecraft operator is always in the crew module when the power is on,” Parrish said. “We’re the eyes and ears for people monitoring tests and operations in the Firing Room here at Kennedy or in Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. We perform tests and checkouts of all spacecraft systems and we’re often called on by Johnson to help them with problems that come up.”

Expanded Responsibilities

As the Space Shuttle Program matured, Parrish and other SCOs accepted more responsibilities, taking on some of the testing once performed solely by NASA astronauts.

“When the first shuttle three flights landed, other astronauts made up the exchange crews,” he said. “Starting with the landing of STS-4 in July 1982, we went into the spacecraft to take over the controls after the crew had left the orbiter.”

Another activity in which SCOs fill in for astronauts is the pre-launch Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT, that includes training called a “malfunction run.”

“This is a series of tests that allows Firing Room personnel training opportunities to gain experience in responding to problems,” Parrish said. “The astronaut crews used to participate in this, but now we fill in for them. They leave after the regular TCDT is complete, now having the opportunity to do more training elsewhere.”

According to SCO Ed Carter, technicians such as himself performed all of the payload checkouts that used to be performed by crew members.

“We now do most of the cargo integration and interface testing,” he said. “Depending on the nature of the payload, some testing is done here in the OFF and other checks, such as satellite tests, are done at the (launch) pad.”

Carter came to Cape Canaveral from Detroit, Michigan. At the Cape, he worked six years for Convair in the Atlas Centaur and Titan Centaur programs. He then worked six years for Rockwell before joining LSOC in February 1984.

“Much of the work performed by spacecraft operators involves reconfigurations of the orbiter flight deck and mid-deck to support the needs of a particular mission,” said SCO Kirby Samples.

A native West Virginian, Samples came to the Space Coast in 1964. During the mid-1970s, he was employed by Pratt-Whitney in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 1979, he went to work for Rockwell at Kennedy, also transitioning to LSOC at the same time as Parrish and Carter.

As work in the OPF nears completion, much of the SCOs’ attention focuses on testing of orbiter systems. During my interview, Parrish, Carter and Samples, along with other SCOs were in the crew module of the Space Shuttle Atlantis completing preparations for the orbiter’s move from the OPF to the Vehicle Assembly Building for mission STS-61B. That mission flew between Nov. 27 and Dec. 3, 1985.

“The work we’re doing, for example, will include bus verification testing, video and instrumentation tests,” Parrish said. “Later we’ll be closing the payload doors.”

Carter noted that activities also included testing the Remote Manipulator System, or RMS, the robotic arm in the payload bay.

“We used ‘in orbit’ software in the spacecraft computer to move the mechanical arm in its cradle,” he said.

Spacecraft operators continued their work inside the shuttle orbiter right up to the day of liftoff at the launch pad.

“A good deal of our work involves stowing gear, loading perishables and testing during the countdown,” Parrish said.

When an orbiter’s general-purpose computer, or GPC, failed during the final countdown for the launch of Discovery for mission STS-51I in August 1985, Parrish and SCO Rick Welty were called in.

“We removed and replaced a GPC output-input processor,*’ he said. “Discovery successfully lifted off two days later for a mission in which its five-person crew deployed three satellites and repaired another.”

The SCOs credit much of their success to what Samples termed a “first rate” training program.

For all the “glamor” of working inside the shuttle orbiters, it is one of great responsibility.

“Sometimes one SCO is the only person in an orbiter and if problems come up, that individual has to respond,” Parrish said. “SCOs have taken care of problems that had the potential to do damage to the orbiter. It’s a complex job but it’s worth it to be a part of each successful Space Shuttle mission.”

Did you work at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center during the Space Shuttle Program?

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