JOIN BOSSY'S OLD SCHOOL BLOG ROLL!

i am bossy

The Girl’s Guide To Super Bowl XLVIII

Hello and welcome to The Girl’s Guide to Super Bowl XLVIII. The first thing you should know is the X means 10 and the L means 50 and the V means 5 and III means 3 and put them all together and it EQUALS 68! Which is not the number associated with this Super Bowl, but rather 48! See how easy this is so far?

The two teams competing are the Seattle Ospreys Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. The Seattle Ospreys Seahawks are named for fish-eating birds of prey while the Denver Broncos are named for Ford’s Sport Utility vehicle.

You will be able to keep track of which team is which because the Seattle Seahawks’ uniform is blue with white and green or silver with green and blue or green with blue and white, while the Denver Broncos uniform is blue with orange and white or orange with white and blue and sometimes white with sister mercy just look at the helmets.

The Seattle Seahawks represent the NFC, which is short for the National Football Conference, which contains sixteen teams spread across four divisions including Bossy’s Philadelphia Eagles! The Denver Broncos represent the AFC, which is short for Absolutely Fooking Cute.

He’s Peyton Manning, but you can call him Manly Peyton. This 37 year old quarterback for the Denver Broncos was born and raised in New Orleans. From 1998-2011 he led the Indianapolis Colts to eight division championships, two AFC championships, and one Super Bowl championship, until the neck and arm pain that had plagued him for years resulted in two surgeries, a missed season, and the Colts trading him away, thinking his career was finished. It wasn’t. This year Peyton holds the NFL passing record of 5,477 yards.

The Seattle Seahawks also have a very famous quarterback — his name is Cornerback Richard Sherman.

Except Bossy likes Richard Sherman, whose graceful athleticism has helped the Seahawks achieve their current standing as Number One Defense. Richard Sherman also attended Stanford as a Communications major, where Communications major equals can you name one other guy on defense among the 1,696 total players in the NFL? No? Exactly. Communications.

The two teams will face off at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in front of 167 million viewers who will dip things in mayonnaise for the three hours it takes to expend sixty minutes. The prize for the winning team is the title of Super Bowl Champion, along with the Vince Lombardy Trophy.

If you enjoyed this post, click here to read Bossy’s Girl Guide to the Giants/Patriots Super Bowl.

Or click here to read Bossy’s totally detailed game review, which means the Super Bowl commercials.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. The proliferation of phallic symbols around this land disgusts me. They are everywhere as you point out-why ?~!

    The game is over, the Seahawks kicked the Bronco’s asses all the way down the river. Final score something like 43-8. It was Great. Weed Bowl One.

    Reply

  10. I rooted for the puppy Budweiser commercial….loved it!

    Did not love the game, oh well it’s just a game – yes I said it!!!

    Reply

  13. coach handbags on clearance christian louboutin shoes replica for cheap how much do coach purses cost air jordan 1 mens bangornisc.co.uk/ray-ban-aviators-c-2.html jordan dmp jordan real estate replica christian louboutin shoes collections for cheap none vintage louis vuitton monceau coach outlet hours nike shox tl femme pas cher louis vuitton pochette milla none fake oakley oil rig sunglasses none coach bag on sale denbighshire-stairlifts.co.uk/fake-ray-ban-tech-c-1.html fake louis vuitton mens shoes louis vuitton store edinburgh
    louis vuitton scarf for women http://www.coderzone.net/gallery/louis-vuitton-outlet/louis-vuitton-scarf-for-women.asp

    Reply

  21. STORY WRITTEN FOR & USED WITH PERMISSIONPosted: August 1, 2005NASA engineers are refining plans for an unprecedented but relatively straight forward spacewalk repair job Wednesday to remove two protruding “gap fillers” from the shuttle Discovery’s underside heat shield tiles. While no spacewalking astronaut has ever been asked to work under the shuttle, out of direct view, engineers say the gap filler fix is not technically difficult or especially risky.”It should be a simple task,” said Cindy Begley, lead spacewalk officerfor Discovery’s mission. “It could be just as easy as grabbing it with hisfingers and pulling it out. And we hope that’s all it’s going to be.”A formal decision on whether or not to add the repair task to an alreadyplanned spacewalk Wednesday is expected by the end of the day, after NASA’smission management team receives a briefing on the aerodynamic effects ofthe protruding gap fillers and an assessment of the threat they might pose.Gap fillers do exactly what their name implies: They fill gaps betweenadjacent heat-shield tiles to prevent heat intrusion and side-to-siderubbing as the shuttle’s aluminum skin flexes. Photographic inspection ofDiscovery’s under side showed that two of the thousands of gap fillers inplace had shaken or partially pulled loose during launch or after theshuttle reached orbit. As a result, portions of the two gap fillers inquestion stick up above the surface of the tiles. One extends about an inchabove the tiles while the other protrudes about six-tenths of an inch.The concern is that the gap fillers could disrupt the smooth flow ofsupersonic, super-heated air across the belly of the shuttle early inre-entry – the so-called boundary layer – creating turbulent flows that, inturn, could lead to extreme heating that might damage surrounding tiles oreven wing leading edge panels. The early creation of turbulent airflow isknown as “tripping the boundary layer.”Shuttles have re-entered with extended gap fillers before, suffering tiledamage as a result, but this is the first time NASA engineers have had achance to see one in advance and consider possible fixes. That’s because ofa post-Columbia safety program that now includes a shuttle pitch-aroundmaneuver during approach to the space station that provides an opportunityto photograph the belly of the orbiter in enormous detail.Over the weekend, a tiger team of veteran spacewalkers and engineersbegan “evaluating several methods for removing the gap filler or cutting thegap filler,” Begley said “They’re evaluating how to get access to the area,which arm to get on and go down there and we have plans in work for a newEVA timeline if we need to do that.”So we’re getting everything staged and ready to go. We’re even going tosend some information to the crew so they can be looking at that if we endup going in that direction. … As always, we try to get all our ducks in arow ahead of time.”Assuming the astronauts get the go ahead as expected, the station’s robotarm would be “walked off” the Destiny laboratory module in inchworm fashionto reach a mounting point on the station’s main solar array truss. AstronautStephen Robinson, equipped with forceps, scissors and a hacksaw-like tool,then would lock his boots in a foot restraint and the arm would bemaneuvered to carry him to the gap filler work sites.”The basic part of the task is to get to the worksite and that’ssomething we’ve never done before, put an EV crew member underneath thevehicle,” Begley said. “The task itself, pulling out the gap filler, they’regoing to have to be very careful of the area not to damage anything whilethey’re there. We’re making sure we’re taking as many tools off of him as wecan and holding the safety tethers back behind him.”The first attempt is going to be to pull it out,” she said. “We don’texpect that to take a lot of force. If it seems to be taking a lot of force,then we’re going to look at cutting it off. And we have a number of tools(available). We have a forceps you can lock on to the gap filler and giveshim a tether point to hang on to it as he’s cutting it off to get it out.Those are the things we’re looking at. Doing the actual cutting may give usa little bit of debris to look at but otherwise, I think it’s a fairlysimple task, making sure we’re not going to hit the vehicle when we’re doingthat.”Asked about what worst-case scenario NASA would be protecting against byordering the repair work, mission operations representative Phil Engelaufsaid “I’m going to hedge a little bit here because that’s going to be thetopic of discussion at the (mission management team).”The aerothermal team is going to come in and present the summation ofthe analysis they’ve been working on for a couple of days,” Engelauf said.”The preliminary indications are that we’re not going to be able to give avery definitive answer and that, in fact, is probably what will drive thediscussion one way or the other.”There are not a lot of vehicles that fly in the flight regime that theshuttle operates in and so our testing and real flight experience withboundary layer transition in the Mach 18 to 20 regions is a pretty thin database and it’s not well supported by analytical models because we’ve neverhad anything to validate those models against. The guys have been workingfuriously to try to understand that.”Their considerations are bulk local heating as well as control,”Engelauf said. “We think we’ve pretty well cleared the control issues. …We’re really down to local aero heating and there are two differentcategories of issues. These two pieces of gap filler are located one nearthe centerline of the vehicle, far forward by the nose landing gear door,and then a second one a little bit farther back but somewhat off to the sideof the vehicle.”For the most forward one, the biggest concern is the far forward earlyboundary layer transition, early in the flight regime. … They’re worriedabout transitions above Mach 20, which is earlier than the design point forthe vehicle. That would be primarily (a) localized heating situation. Butprimarily for the tile. With the one over closer to the side, again if youhad an asymmetrical transition you could potentially have localized highheating on the RCC (leading edge panels) because of anything wrapping aroundthe vehicle and up over the leading edge of the wing.”Shuttles have returned from space with protruding gap fillers before”without detriment but also somewhat in ignorance because we’ve never hadthe opportunity to observe the way we have now. This was not, frankly, oneof the things we spent a lot of time working on the past two years.””There’s a fair amount of conservatism prevailing in the community thatuntil we can satisfy ourselves, maybe the better course of action is to goout here and remove these if that’s the right thing to do.”Additional coverage for subscribers:VIDEO:MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE BROADBAND & VIDEO:SUNDAY’S MISSION STATUS AUDIO:LISTEN TO THE STATUS BRIEFING VIDEO:LEFT-HAND BOOSTER SEPARATION FROM TANK VIDEO:LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CHUTE DEPLOY AND SPLASHDOWN VIDEO:FULL CLIP FROM LEFT-HAND BOOSTER VIDEO:RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER SEPARATION FROM TANK VIDEO:RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER SPLASHDOWN VIDEO:FULL CLIP FROM RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER VIDEO:MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE VIDEO:FRIDAY’S MISSION STATUS BROADBAND AUDIO:LISTEN TO THE STATUS BRIEFING VIDEO:DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS BRIEFING BROADBAND & VIDEO:THURSDAY MISSION STATUS BRIEFING BROADBAND VERSION: & AUDIO:LISTEN TO THE MISSION STATUS BRIEFING VIDEO:BEHIND THE SCENES IN MISSION CONTROL FOR DOCKING VIDEO:SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED ABOARD THE STATION VIDEO:COMMANDER COLLINS GUIDES DISCOVERY TO DOCKING VIDEO:DISCOVERY’S BACKFLIP AS SEEN FROM STATION VIDEO:STATION CAMERAS SEE SHUTTLE’S APPROACH FROM BELOW VIDEO:SHUTTLE PULLS IN FRONT OF STATION FOR DOCKING VIDEO:CREW’S CAMCORDER VIDEO OF JETTISONED FUEL TANK VIDEO:NASA GROUNDS SHUTTLE PROGRAM BROADBAND VERSION: & AUDIO:LISTEN TO PROGRAM NEWS CONFERENCE VIDEO:WEDNESDAY MISSION STATUS BRIEFING VIDEO:SHUTTLE FUEL TANK HITS BIRD AT LIFTOFF VIDEO:AMAZING WB-57 AERIAL LAUNCH VIDEO VIDEO:BEHIND THE SCENES IN MISSION CONTROL AT LAUNCH VIDEO:OFFICIALS DESCRIBE DEBRIS EVENTS AUDIO:LISTEN TO THE DEBRIS DESCRIPTION VIDEO:LAUNCH OF DISCOVERY! VIDEO:FOOTAGE OF OBJECT BREAKING FREE FROM TANK VIDEO:TANK-MOUNTED CAMERA SHOWS ENTIRE LAUNCH VIDEO:ONBOARD CAMERA VIEW OF TANK SEPARATION Status SummaryDiscovery safely touched down at 8:11 a.m. EDT (1211 GMT) Tuesday morning at Edwards Air Force Base in California.Weather worries off the coast of Florida thwarted both landing opportunities this morning at Kennedy Space Center, forcing a detour to the backup landing site.See the for full play-by-play coverage.Recent updates Thursday, August 407:00 AMWednesday, August 306:15 AMAres 1-X PatchThe official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.Expedition 21The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.Hubble PatchThe official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle’s last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Quick-Look Mission Facts and Figures COMPILED BY WILLIAM HARWOODUpdated: Aug. 3, 2005The following chart is intended to serve as the front side of a convenient one-page “mission at a glance” data sheet. The back side can be found . The PDF versions of both pages are formatted to print on a single page.To make a one-page, front-and-back copy, download and print both pdf files. Run the front side through a copier and then reload the copy in the copier’s paper tray “upside down.” Put the second pdf copy on the copier and print. You should end up with a nifty one-page front-and-back mission “cheat sheet.”Download a version of the quick-look data sheet.Changes and additions:- Dec. 19: Posting initial version of flight plan- April 5: Posting updated version- April 20: Updating to reflect 5/22 launch target- April 24: Adding ISS-11 crew; current ages- May 10: Updated version to reflect July launch date- June 17: Updating launch and landing times- July 7: Minor tweaks- July 7: Updating launch time; mission duration- July 21: Updating to reflect 7/26 launch target- July 22: Updating launch time- July 25: Updating launch time- Aug. 3: Updating landing time | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Reporters from across the globe descend on the Cape BY STEPHEN CLARKSPACEFLIGHT NOWPosted: July 12, 2005KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – Members of the news media have descended upon central Florida this week as NASA prepares to launch the first space shuttle mission since Columbia’s ill-fated flight two-and-a-half years ago that left the fleet grounded. Journalists and photographers flocked to the launch pad Tuesday night to watch the service structure roll away from Discovery. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight NowThe eyes of the world will focus on Kennedy Space Center Wednesday when shuttle Discovery rumbles into space to embark on a 12-day mission to service the international space station. Spaceflight Now will provide extensive live play-by-play coverage of the flight in our .The NASA public affairs office at KSC is responsible for accommodating reporters and photographers covering space shuttle launches, and officials say they began preparing for the onslaught of media over a year ago as it became clear Discovery’s mission was nearing.”We’ve been planning a long time for this,” said Bruce Buckingham, the news chief at Kennedy Space Center.Officials took a number of issues into consideration for infrastructure to house reporters indoors away from the heat and platforms to be used by photographers to get a good view of Discovery and launch pad 39B sitting three-and-a-half miles away.NASA opened up the accreditation process for Discovery’s STS-114 mission in January in advance of a then-scheduled launch in May. Members of the press must be accredited by the public affairs office to receive credentials and a badge to cover the flight using NASA facilities.The first round of accreditation closed in April, but with the announcement of a delay in Discovery’s long-awaited mission to July, the press office chose to re-open the process for a week after Memorial Day before it was officially closed over a month ago.All told, Buckingham said approximately 2,800 persons were badged for a variety of networks, television stations, newspapers, magazines, and web sites around the world. Officials estimate 700 foreign reporters — a quarter of the total number — were accredited representing about 30 countries. Japan enjoys a large contingent of media at the space center due to Discovery’s mission specialist and lead spacewalker Soichi Noguchi. A few dozen satellite trucks were in place Tuesday at the Complex 39 press site. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight NowA wild card in the final tally is determining the number of reporters who were planning to attend the May launch will opt not to come to Cape Canaveral to cover the liftoff in July, Buckingham said. Officials predict around 2,000 people will actually arrive and pick up a badge this week. Some television stations arrived a bit later than planned due to the coverage of Hurricane Dennis that battered the Gulf Coast over the weekend.By Tuesday, a few dozen satellite trucks had taken their spots around the Kennedy Space Center press site, along with large numbers of high-volume mobile trailers. Scaffolding had been erected across the press site lawn overlooking the famous countdown clock.Throughout the history of U.S. manned spaceflight, press members have turned out to attend milestone missions for over 40 years. For John Glenn’s orbital Mercury flight in 1962, 379 reporters and photographers were at Cape Canaveral. Both the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 and the first space shuttle flight in 1981 garnered the attention of some 2,700 members of the press who showed up to receive badges.Numbers gradually waned through the 1980’s, with spikes of about 1,700 media officials for the launch of Sally Ride — the first American woman in space — in 1983, and of around 2,300 in 1988 for STS-26, the first shuttle mission after the Challenger accident two years earlier.In the 1990’s, the average press corps for a shuttle launch reached around 350 members strong. Some missions saw under 200 reporters at the KSC press site, while others such as the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope and the first Shuttle-Mir program flight were above normal. John Glenn’s return to space aboard Discovery in 1998 also rose to the world stage, prompting 3,750 requests but KSC officials could not say Tuesday how many reporters actually attended the launch.Additional coverage for subscribers:VIDEO:TODAY’S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING AUDIO:LISTEN TO COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING VIDEO:MONDAY COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING AUDIO:LISTEN TO COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING VIDEO:SHUTTLE PROCESSING OVERVIEW AUDIO:LISTEN TO SHUTTLE PROCESSING OVERVIEW VIDEO:REVIEW OF PRE-LAUNCH ACTIVITIES AUDIO:LISTEN TO REVIEW OF PRE-LAUNCH ACTIVITIES VIDEO:THE LAUNCH COUNTDOWN BEGINS! VIDEO:WEATHER OFFICER GIVES LAUNCH FORECAST VIDEO:SUNDAY COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING AUDIO:LISTEN TO COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING VIDEO:SHUTTLE PROPULSION SYSTEM MODIFICATIONS AUDIO:LISTEN TO PROPULSION SYSTEM BRIEFING VIDEO:DETAILS ON NEW LAUNCH TRACKING CAMERAS AUDIO:LISTEN TO CAMERA BRIEFING VIDEO:MEET DISCOVERY’S SEVEN ASTRONAUTS VIDEO:PREVIEW OF DISCOVERY’S MISSION VIDEO:SPACE STATION WITHOUT SHUTTLE MORE: Ares 1-X PatchThe official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.Expedition 21The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.Hubble PatchThe official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle’s last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Sensor boom to scan shuttle during inspections today BY WILLIAM HARWOOD

    Reply

  22. STORY WRITTEN FOR & USED WITH PERMISSIONPosted: May 20, 2005Engineers pumped a half-million gallons of supercold rocket fuel into the shuttle Discovery’s external tank today, repeating a test that uncovered two unexpected problems in April. This time around, suspect fuel depletion sensors in the tank worked normally while a hydrogen pressure relief valve continued to cycle more often than normal.Bill Parsons, shuttle program manager at the Johnson Space Center inHouston, said it will take engineers additional time to fully analyze thedata. But it would appear whatever caused the fuel depletion sensor problemin April was corrected during earlier troubleshooting.As for the hydrogen vent valve issue, today’s test showed no differencein operation regardless of whether a new heater, installed as part of NASA’spost-Columbia safety upgrade program, was turned on or off. That wouldappear to exonerate the heater.Parsons said he was optimistic a thorough review of data from today’stest will allow engineers to pin down the cause of the problem and clear theway for a launch attempt July 13 as currently planned.”We had just a perfect test as far as I’m concerned,” he said.The three-hour fueling process began at 5:36 a.m. and was complete byaround 8:30 a.m. At that point, just like in a real countdown, a small teamof engineers headed to the launch pad for a detailed external iceinspection.During the first tanking test April 14, humidity was relatively low andice formation was minimal. Engineers were hopeful today’s test would provideadditional insights into where ice might build up on the tank. Contrary toinitial predictions, however, the humidity was not much higher – 67 percent- and with a breeze to keep condensation down, ice and frost formation wereonly slightly higher.Today’s test was run in two stages. The first ended around 1:40 p.m. witha countdown cutoff at the T-minus 31-second mark. For that run, the bipodheaters at the bases of the two struts connecting the nose of the orbiter tothe external tank were turned on to prevent ice buildups.The shuttle Columbia’s destruction was triggered by the loss of foaminsulation around the left-side strut. In the wake of the accident, the foamin question was removed and the bipod heaters were installed to do the samething: Prevent ice formation.For the second part of today’s test run, the countdown was recycled tothe T-minus 20-minute mark and the heaters were turned off. The countdownresumed and continued to the T-minus 31-second mark a second time to findout if the bipod heaters played any role in how often the hydrogen pressurerelief valve operated.The pressure relief valve works during the final two minutes of thecountdown when gas is being pumped into the tank to maintain the properpressure levels for flight.During the April 14 tanking test, the pressure relief valve cycled 13times compared to a normal cycle rate of eight or nine. During today’s test,with the bipod heaters were powered on, the valve cycled 13 times just likeit did in April. During the second part of the test, when the bipod heaterwas off, it cycled 13 times once again.Special instrumentation installed for today’s test showed the valve wasnot leaking, focusing attention on a screen-like “diffuser” that engineersalready planned to replace. The diffuser disperses the gas used topressurize the tank just before launch. If that system was damaged orclogged, it could affect the operation of the vent valve.Another problem seen in April involved two of four hydrogen depletionsensors in the tank that failed to operate properly. The sensors are used tomake sure the shuttle’s main engines shut down properly after reaching spaceand all four must be operational for a countdown to proceed.During today’s test, all four sensors operated normally. Engineerssuspect cable harness replacements and other troubleshooting in theorbiter’s engine compartment corrected whatever the problem was in April.But that remains to be confirmed.And in any case, it’s likely a moot point for Discovery. NASA managersdecided earlier to move the shuttle to a different tank and boosters for itslaunch attempt in mid July. The new tank will feature an additional heaterto prevent ice buildups around a flexible propellant line bellows, whichprompted concern during Discovery’s initial launch pad processing flow.In addition, the new tank’s engine cutoff sensors presumably will workproperly and the tank features a diffuser with a known track record. ButParsons said engineers might ask for a third tanking test before Discovery’seventual launch just to make sure. As it now stands, he said, a thirdtanking test is not planned.The shuttle will be hauled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building nextTuesday. If all goes well, Discovery will be moved back to pad 39B aroundJune 14 for a launch attempt on July 13. If an additional tanking test isordered, the flight could slip another week or so.Shuttle collector mouse pad!This unique 8-inch diameter mouse pad features the insignia for Discovery’s STS-114 mission, the first shuttle flight since the Columbia accident.Choose your store: – – – Ares 1-X PatchThe official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.Expedition 21The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.Hubble PatchThe official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle’s last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Shuttle external fuel tank mated to boosters NASA-KSC NEWS RELEASEPosted: March 1, 2005NASA is marking a major step in assembling the space shuttle for its Return to Flight mission. Monday, workers successfully “mated,” or attached, the redesigned external tank and twin solid rocket boosters (SRBs). The fuel tank and booster rockets will help launch space shuttle Discovery on its mission to the International Space Station, currently targeted for May 15-June 3. An overhead crane moves the external tank inside the Vehicle Assembly Building for mating to the solid rocket boosters. Photo: NASAThe space shuttle’s external tank was lifted by a giant crane and joined to the already assembled, or “stacked,” boosters in the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Mating the tank with the boosters is another major step in readying the space shuttle system for flight. Following integration and final checkout of the external tank with the SRBs, orbiter Discovery will join its propulsion components in the VAB. Discovery will roll over from its hangar, the Orbiter Processing Facility, later this month to mark the completion of Return to Flight processing. The orbiter then will be attached to the stack in the VAB. The external tank will fly with several modifications, including two new forward bipod heaters at the forward attach fittings that connect the tank to the orbiter. NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. spent nearly two years modifying the tank to make it safer. The external tank is moved into position for mating with the solid rocket boosters. Photo: NASADuring ET-SRB mating, the left and right boosters are bolted to the tank at both the forward, or top, and the aft, or tail, ends. At the forward end, a vertical bolt mechanism attaches each booster to the tank. On launch day, approximately two minutes after liftoff, the SRBs will separate from the ET when pyrotechnic devices fire to break the 25-inch, 62-pound steel bolts. One half of the bolt is caught in canister-like “bolt catchers” located on the tank; the other half remains with the boosters. Discovery will also be the first flight with a modified bolt catcher, which was upgraded from a two-piece welded design to a one-piece, machine-made design. By eliminating the weld, the modified bolt catcher is structurally stronger than the original design. Prior to orbiter Discovery joining the stack, final closeouts on the external tank will include attaching the new bolt catcher and electrical cable connections, as well as installing an aerodynamic fairing and the bi-pod struts, which are the attach points for the nose of the orbiter to the tank. The external tank is the largest element of the space shuttle system, which also includes the orbiter, main engines and SRBs. It measures 27.6 feet wide and 154 feet tall. Despite the tank’s size, the aluminum skin covering it is only an eighth of an inch thick in most areas. Yet it still withstands more than 6.5 million pounds of thrust during liftoff and ascent. The tank is the only Shuttle component that cannot be reused. Video coverage for subscribers only:VIDEO:EXTERNAL TANK MATED TO THE SOLID ROCKET BOOSTERS Ares 1-X PatchThe official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.Expedition 21The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.Hubble PatchThe official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle’s last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Shuttle landing delayed 24 hours BY WILLIAM HARWOOD

    Reply

  23. The next lighted launch opportunity for Atlantis is a two-day window opening Oct. 26. But if Atlantis doesn’t’ get off before Sept. 7, and if NASA managers give up the lighting requirement, the shuttle could take off shortly after the Soyuz carrying the outgoing station crew departs from the lab complex.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *