Day 4: Getting up close for photos

Last night I joined a group at a restaurant called Dixie Crossroads in neighboring Titusville to relax over dinner. We even got a little silly! I threatened to place a picture of one of the team members with a spoon stuck to her nose here, but common decency got the better of me! Now, lest you think it was all play, we may be getting to know 3 new members of the ARC group online soon! Actually, though relaxing, the topic of Neurolab crept into conversation often. I've asked many folks if this prelaunch excitement ever gets old, and whereas many hinted that it probably does for those who have been around it many times, none were willing to admit to being a part of that group. The excitement just seems to grow with every hour!

So, Neurolab is never far from anyone's thoughts, and occasionally someone will be called to return to base unexpectedly. It's really pretty funny! Since people are scrambling around from place to place all day, to make locating them efficient, they're all wearing beepers. During dinner a beeper can go off, and about 5 people go for their belts to see if it's their's! Most don't have the audible signal, so periodically you might be talking to someone, and almost without reaction they pull up the beeper to check for a message much like the old western movie cowboys drew their guns.

After an enjoyable evening, we made plans to carpool to the big event (the photo shoot, remember?) in the morning. I was to pick up 2 others at their condo at 5:15 a.m. I went right to bed when I got to the hotel, and at what seemed like just 15 minutes of sleep I was awakened by my alarm (or so it seemed) so I banged on it to turn it off, but it wouldn't. I was torturing the poor clock radio by the time I finally woke up enough to realize that the alarm was not coming from my room! A loud speaker was saying, "There is an emergency on this floor. Please leave the building. Do not use the elevators!" I was up an out pretty quickly, joining the dozens of people moving down the stairs (7 stories for me!) When we reached the ground someone told us it was a false alarm, so I climbed back up 7 flights of stairs. It was 12:30 as I climbed back into bed and had just gone back to sleep when, you guessed it! The alarm woke me up again! This time I checked the halls, smelled for smoke, looked out the window, and had just about decided to ignore the alarm when 3 firetrucks pulled into the driveway. Needless to say, I found my way back downstairs. It turned out to be a false alarm, but when the real alarm clock went off at 4:00, I certainly was not eager to hop out of bed!

I did anyway, and what an experience. It turns out we were able to go out to the pad. We were really close to the shuttle as the sun came up. What a glorious sight! That majestic orbiter, hugged by rocket boosters, and supported by a tower of gridwork. I saw for the first time some cables that run down the ground provided as an emergency escape devices. It looked a bit like something people pay to do (even has a mat to stop them at the bottom much like I've seen in amusement parks!)

And then the photos began. There was a professional photographer taking the whole group, including just about every function surrounding this mission you can imagine. We got a unique reminder of the international nature of this mission, as PIs were speaking German and Japanese. By the way, when I visited Dr. Horn's lab, I was delighted to see that our NeurOn Neurobiology Team logo was on the door! I was told that they really liked it and the only drawback was that it says U.S.A. on it, and Dr. Horn's team is all from the University of Ulm in Germany!

I'm obviously not going to add all of the photos I took here. It would take too long to open the file! But I have attached some selected pictures you may see by clicking on the shuttle picture above. When I get my professional picture I promise to share it with you!

Believe it or not, despite the early morning and for many of us, very little sleep, the day was very full, and I got to witness a procedure for the first time. It is a Sharp Edge Test and is performed by a representative from the Astronaut office. The purpose of this test as the name implies is to inspect all items that the Astronauts will come in contact with for any sharp edges that might in anyway injure them. Pictured here you see Louise with gloves on running her hands over every surface of items that are part of the cricket experiments as Stefan Rosner looks on. Any edge or screw head that was suspect was rubbed with a piece of material that Louise explained is similar to the texture of skin. If it is scratched or torn, it is likely to do the same to skin.

We then went into the work area on the first floor (in Hangar L) to check the lockers into which the items would be stored onboard the shuttle. Meeting Louise had a couple of serendipitous results: first, she will deliver the NeurOn shirt that Dave Williams will try to wear on orbit, and she let me know that the crew members are scheduled to arrive here at KSC on Monday at 1500. I will have to see if I can arrange to get some pictures for you at that time!