UPDATE # 17 - Date

PART 1: We're on the move!
PART 2: Calendar of events
PART 3: Glen takes the orbiter for a drive
PART 4: But is it sterile?
PART 5: Subscribing & unsubscribing: how to do it!

WE'RE ON THE MOVE!

We had a great time this week celebrating Brain Awareness Week! If you
weren't able to join us on Wednesday the 18th for presentation, it's not
too late. The Webcast has been archived so that it can be used at any time
in your classroom. Naturally it would be without the live chat, but even
that is archived for your reference. Let me extend hearty thanks from me
to Dr. Eric Chudler for inspiring much brain awareness, to Kristi
Gustafson and her classroom for demonstrating true teaching techniques,
and to all of you who joined us online for this event! Participants can
still mail their results to me at: lconrad@mail.arc.nasa.gov    You can
still find all you need to do the activities at:
	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/events/baw

At Kennedy Space Center Neurolab, now nicely tucked inside of Space
Shuttle Columbia, is moving (literally) closer to readiness. Take a look
at the most recent pictures at:
	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/photos/KSC.html
The shuttle is expected to begin its rollout to Pad 39B at 7 a.m. on
Monday. Atop the giant crawler transporter, the Shuttle is slated to
arrive at the pad by 1 p.m.  The Rotating Service Structure will be pulled
around the Shuttle at about 4 p.m.

The moving of the shuttle from the Orbiter Processing Facility to
 the Vehicle Assembly Building reminded me of a recent journal in our
Space Team Online project written by the guy who was in the flight deck
when the shuttle was moved from the runway (following STS-89) to the OPF.
I've included an excerpt from that journal below. To read the entire
series of four journals by Glen Davis, see:
	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/journals/gdavis/

The Neurolab team is swamped with the last minute details, the HiBay looks
like a moving company is packing it up, and folks are getting ready to go
to KSC for the launch (27 days to go!). While they are pressed for time, I
have been trying to experience as much as I can so that I can write
journals to let you know some of what's going on. Naturally, we all look
forward to hearing directly from the members of the team personally soon!

Stay tuned to NeurOn,
Linda

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Mark your calendar:

->Wednesday, April 1 at 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time:
WITN Chat with Steve Sokol, Lead Forecaster, Space Meteorology Group
Steve is the lead forecaster in the Space Meteorology Group and has worked
over 70 Space Shuttle Missions.

->Thursday, April 2 at 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time:
Liz Bauer, Hardware Engineer, Johnson Space Center
Liz is a hardware engineer for SIR [Standard Interface Rack], a system
used
to take Earth things to space. She manages the work for 4 racks in the
Spacelab.

->Wednesday, April 15 at 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Pacific Time:
WITN Chat with Janis Davis-Street, Nutritionist returns!
Janis is part of a team whose job is finding out what foods and nutrients
are important for the astronauts as they venture into space. See Janis'
journal below.

All chats may be reached from: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/chats

GLEN TAKES THE ORBITER FOR A DRIVE

Glen Davis
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/gdavis.html

February 20, l998

All is well, so I give the move director a "go-ahead" to close the
hatch. Now it's my turn to be staring out the hatch window
from the inside as the white room truck slowly backs away. I
get a few hand signals and good-bye waves from the people on
the ground. Climbing the ladder to the flight deck, I ready
myself for orbiter first movement. Once the move director gives
the go to start orbiter movement, I have to listen to hear if any
noises are coming from things like the brakes. The first
movement has started and everything is going fine. Outside
everyone is walking next to the orbiter as we start to turn
toward the right edge of the runway. We will have to make a
U-turn and head the orbiter back south down the runway
toward the OPF. The runway is about three miles long and the
orbiter is close to the north end of the runway.

After about an hour, we are moving past the halfway point
where the aft convoy started from and we reported to work.
There are workers parking vehicles that are no longer part of the
convoy. Some of the people are waving at me from the parking
lot while taking pictures and giving the thumbs up, indicating
the orbiter passing by is a wonderful sight to see.

Another half hour has passed and we are now near the south
end of the runway. Out the left windows, I can see the
mate/demate device that would have been used if we were
returning from a landing at Edwards AFB. Just to the west of
the tower, one of the NASA helicopters is taking off. The
helicopter is based at Patrick AFB, about 20 miles south of the
space center, on the ocean. Also, three of the T-38 jets the
astronauts train in are warming up to take off. There are five
planes parked there; Mr. Goldin must have flown in the big
twin engine one.

Another half hour has passed and we are now within a mile of
the OPF. Now there is a sight for you to see! We are crossing
over a bridge. Out my left window next to the railroad bridge
there is a huge alligator lying on a sand bar; he must be 16 foot
long. If any of you has taken the bus tour from the visitor
center, you too may have seen this guy. The tour guides like to
slow down and let visitors see him when he's out. There are
two blue herons about 20 feet away from this guy. I hope lunch
will be three or four of those big fish that are swimming just in
front of him and not the birds. Maybe someone should walk
over to him and mention that fish are healthier for him than
birds, I think . . . not. To my right, there is a small lake and it
is full of alligators; not a good place to cool your feet, if you
know what I mean. One nice thing about this route is that in the
middle of a game preserve and it's full of bird and animal life.
I'd like to see more white tail deer; the population is not very
heavy for a preserve.

We are now making a slow turn to the left as we approach the
OPF. People are lined up on both sides of the tow way taking
pictures. I remember one time in the same spot a group of
college recruiters was filming the orbiter. One of them noticed
that I was in the window. They had no idea that someone was
riding inside. They got me to wave and they filmed me inside.
Later they interviewed me to see why I had to ride inside. I
explained to them that the fuel cells that power the orbiter on
orbit are still operating. We have to keep electric power on the
orbiter to preserve the experiments on-board, otherwise the
mission would be for naught. I'm on board in case something
goes wrong; I can correct problems before we lose power.

We now make a hard right turn lining up with the painted
stripes on the concrete. These lines help the tug driver to line the
orbiter up with the center of the hangar. Once they have
centered the orbiter, they can head straight into the hangar. Just
before we go into the hangar though, we come to a complete
stop. The white room truck is parked next to the hangar door on
my left. The white room truck is approaching the orbiter. The
orbiter test conductor has given me the go-ahead to vent down
the crew cabin for hatch opening. They spot the white room
truck and I vent the cabin. I tell the OTC to go ahead and open
the hatch. The hatch is opened and the new SCOs are climbing
in. They climb the ladder and get themselves settled onto the
flight deck. Van will be taking the "dash one" responsibility
over from me. I show him what temperatures I have been
monitoring and any other important readings he needs to
monitor.

Van and his buddy Bart will be locked inside longer than Scott
and I were. They will stay inside through spotting of the
orbiter. Spotting means the orbiter is in the exact spot on the
jacks to be raised to the working height. Once the orbiter is
spotted, it will be raised to its working height. Then the support
stands will be put into place. Once the orbiter is on the jacks,
the forward shop will lower the forward work platforms. The
next thing will be to open the hatch. Once the hatch has been
opened, Bart and Van will be able to break each other out. Since
the orbiter is in the OPF and the hatch has been opened there is
no longer a requirement for the SCO to have a buddy.

For me, I gather up all the paper work I have performed plus all
my personal stuff, and say, "Have fun," and leave. Once out in
the white room truck, I stop to help close the hatch. Standing
off to the side of the orbiter, I wave good-bye and give thumbs
up from outside the orbiter to Van and Bart. You know, from
where I'm standing, the orbiter does look awesome. Just think:
12 hours ago, this white and black space plane was several
hundred miles above the Earth, circling. Ten hours ago
astronauts climbed out and I've been in there since. I guess the
smile and gratitude I feel is special.

BUT IS IT STERILE?
by Linda Conrad

March 20, l998
Today I went back to school! The class was entitled: Aseptic Techniques.
In English that means "ways to keep things sterile." The reason I took the
class was that when I offered to help with loading the rat food bars, I
was told that this is class is a requirement for that process.

Did you know that there is a difference between something being sterile
and its being clean? That is a very important distinction made in the
class: Just because something is sterile, doesn't mean it's clean; and
conversely, just because something is clean does not mean it's sterile.
The goal of this class is to make workers aware so that they will keep
germs away from things they are working on.

Here's some of the things I learned:

First, it was important to know how to put on sterile gloves. Did you know
that sterile gloves come wrapped in paper, because bugs don't go through
paper unless it gets wet? So, first you have to checked the package for
water stains.

When you have carefully opened the inside wrapper, you can only touch the
folded over cuff of the glove (since it's going to be next to your skin
anyway) so that you don't contaminate the glove surface.  We all got a
chuckle in class because they had chosen an old pair to use for the
demonstration, and the gloves fell apart!

Once the gloves are on, you need to be aware of where your hands are at
all times. Even a quick touch to adjust your glasses can contaminate the
surface of the glove, and it will need to be exchanged with a sterile
glove. A solution suggested was to put 3 or 4 pairs of gloves on so if any
glove becomes contaminated you can peel it off and expose a sterile one.

Where you work was the next consideration. Apparently three types of
cabinets are used for work here and are not equally sterile so it was
important to distinguish between them:
1. Biohazard hoods have sterile working surfaces and air which is vented
out of the cabinet, 2. with Laminar hoods air flows into the working area
through filters (making it free of particles or sterile) and out towards
the operator, and 3. Chemical fume hoods simply suck room air in and
filter the air going out. All three of these cabinets can be kept clean,
but that doesn't necessarily mean they're all sterile.

When using one of those cabinets, only your hands are involved. Cleanrooms
are areas you enter with your whole body. At Kennedy Space Center, there
is such an area referred to as "behind the barrier." It is maintained as a
sterile environment. Anyone entering the area must pass through a
sterilization process including changing into sterile clothing (a bunny
suit), hair including beards covered, shoes covered, gloves, etc. Some of
the people in the class will be going to Kennedy to help there, and needed
to know that process.

So, what does this have to do with rat food? Stay tuned, because this
afternoon I got to "help" with the  process of loading rat food. They used
a biohazard hood for this process. I will write about that experience and
show you pictures soon.

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