Space For Sale by Pollard Jeff

Author:Pollard, Jeff [Pollard, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

After four complete orbits, the software fix was uploaded from the ground and in a tense moment, the crew tried their make-shift fix. The nitrogen tetroxide Heimlich maneuver worked like a charm, opening the valves one at a time and bringing all four thruster pods online. Kingsley celebrated by pulling up his panel and tweeting “Griffin no longer drifting, active control restored. #Griffin6aintnoApollo13 #spacetweet.”

They would find out later that the supplier that provided the valves for the NTO lines had switched to a slightly different valve without telling SpacEx. This valve, when cold, could shrink just enough that it would get stuck closed, needing a higher pressure kick to open it than specifications called for. This meant that had they tried an abort, the sudden command to fire the thrusters at full blast would have opened the valves and they would have been fine. Kingsley would immediately change suppliers when they figured out that the company had provided them with a different product without even notifying them of a change.

It's the kind of mis-communication that could kill. The supplier runs out of one product, but has another similar one that fits the same specs, so they supply that, thinking it will do the same job. But the basic specs don't tell the whole story, like what happens when the valve is in zero-g or extremely cold or rattled by a launch. In any case, SpacEx would have done extensive testing had they realized they were using a different part, but the SpacEx technicians hadn't even noticed that the valve was different, since it appears the same on the outside. One technician had noticed the part names didn't match, but when he opened the box, he thought he was looking at the correct valve, a part he had installed dozens of times in other capsules, and thus assumed the part was correct and the label on the box was wrong.

With control restored they continued on the flight plan. They performed an orbital rendezvous with a phantom target at the ISS's orbital inclination, thus proving they could perform the maneuvers necessary for meeting up with the ISS. Along the way, they documented the view inside the capsule and out their windows with an HD camera which would be used to create a film for prospective tourists.

After their rendezvous, they performed a plane change burn, they raised and lowered their orbit, gathering data on the atmospheric drag experienced at different altitudes. They tested the SpacEx space food, which was developed by a team of four that were former NASA employees. In zero-g, you get clogged up with mucus, which makes your sense of taste degrade in the same way it does when you have a bad cold. Thus things seem to have less flavor in space and this is often compensated for by adding ample amounts of hot sauce. It's an informal joke on the ISS that the world's first space currency is Sriracha.

After five days in space, mission accomplished, they returned to

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