Aliens Among Us...

This was my office for two days last week...

And this was the view out the window...


























Yeah, that's the shuttle launch pad in the distance...

After a 2.5 month delay, we finally got out to the Kennedy Space Center to install Nathaniel's dune vulnerability study camera. Originally we were headed out there at the beginning of February. But one thing after another delayed installation. Everything from scrubbed rocket launches, to conferences, to almost comical miscommunications bordering on interdepartmental turf wars. Finally, despite one shuttle landing and another scheduled for roll out to the launch pad, we got the camera installed.

The morning started clear, at least in St Petersburg. The shuttle Discovery was due to attempt a landing at KSC after being waved off the day before due to low clouds. By the time I got to work, mission managers had already waved off the first attempt, but were still hoping to land in Florida. It's cheaper that way.

As we waited to hear if they were going to make it back to Florida, we packed our vehicle and got ready to go. We'd been preparing for this for several weeks (before February, that is, when we first wanted to install the camera). I'd brought a large utility box with everything we needed and backup supplies of things that might be useful. Since we were about 90 minutes from the nearest Home Depot, it would have been a long drive to go get anything we didn't already have.

We'd been waved off so many times none of us were sure we were going to go until we were actually on the road. Something always seemed to come up at the last minute. So we gathered in my office and watched the shuttle land on NASA TV. Discovery was safely on the ground in Florida and we were on the road 15 minutes later. So far so good.


Two hours later, we bypassed the the KSC Visitors Center and went straight to the Badging Center next to the gate. We were finally there. After grabbing some lunch in the employee cafeteria, we met our escort and cooperator, Ron, and headed out to the site, passing several launch pads on the way there.

The tower is located on the northern border of the Space Center. It's a concrete platform about 2 stories high, allowing anyone stationed there a clear view along the beach in either direction. There is nothing for miles in either direction, except launch pads. If aliens ever wanted to invade, this would be a good place to land. No one would ever know they were there. The shelter has a 6-8 foot landing on 3 sides. The stairs on the tower were more ladder-like then stair-like, with each step was only half a tread wide on alternating sides of the stair, and very steep. It was a little daunting at first, but you got used to it quickly. Going down, however, required your full attention and a good grip on the rails.

They say that fieldwork never goes smoothly, and our first day was not without its share of delays. Once on site we had to wait for security to open the door of the shelter for us. Thirty minutes later, the guard was unable to open the door. That required a call to maintenance and another hour. It turns out the the lock on the door was jammed due to a bent hinge, but was otherwise fine. Once the door was open, the installation got underway in earnest, two hours after arriving on site. First, the camer's cables were snaked through the conduit into the shelter where the computer would be housed. Everything was connected up, the power turned on and, as Nathaniel said, "electrons began to flow". The camera was working. I got down to actually mounting the camera, while Nathaniel worked on adjusting the automatic functions that would operate the camera without anyone present.

The camera was mounted on the rail looking south toward False Cape. It was secured to the rail using three of the longest hose clamps I've ever seen. We had to cut about half of their length off before tightening them down. One neatly sliced my knuckle open, where by I proceeded to create my own little biohazard as we attached the camera housing to the mount. Band-aids was one of the things we didn't have with us. By the end of the day, the camera was collecting data. Our plan was to return the next day to be sure it was still running as expected and make any adjustments we needed.

All day we'd kept an eye on the VAB off in the distance. Shuttle Atlantis was ready to roll out. But we didn't see her. Maybe she would be on the pad tomorrow. Discovery was sitting on the landing strip. She remained hidden in the trees.

The next day Nathaniel and I returned to the tower with Ron. I tweaked the camera mount and sealed up the openings where the cables entered the housing, while Ron and Nathaniel worked out the programing. That took a little longer then expected, so I played with the other cameras we'd brought. The Nikon field camera, to document the installation, and my little Canon. I'm always up for a little extra photography on these trips. It gave me a chance to play with the marcro settling I found a few weeks earlier. There were several good opportunities to play with the settings.


Waiting for crabs to appear...


















Stopping to smell the daises....


















And admiring a bee's pollen collection....


















By the time we left, everything seemed to be working as expected. We'd come well prepared, so there weren't any delays resulting from having to go get parts. Three times I needed to change out a screw and each time my box of back up screws had the part I needed. We even used the drill I'd brought. Most of that stuff was borrowed from the hurricane response equipment, and we used nearly everything that came with us, we didn't want for anything and we didn't have much extra. We couldn't have asked for better weather, either. When we got there the sky was brilliant and the water a turquoise blue. Even the clouds that moved in by the end of the day helped keep me from getting too much sun.

In the end, we didn't see either shuttle. Discovery was stayed on the landing strip, waiting to be serviced before returning to the processing facility. Atlantis stayed safely inside the VAB, waiting for the OK from weather managers, before starting it's long slow march to the launch pad. I really wished we could have seen one of the shuttles. I was disappointed that we didn't. So I took consolation in the small sites, rather then the large ones, enjoyed a view of the Space Center that most folks don't get, and couldn't help wondering if maybe the aliens were already among us...