Question for Jim O.

Bruce Palmer wrote:
That auditorium at the Cain press briefing didn't look very
crowded.
They never showed a wide shot of the room but it seemed like
there
were a lot of empty seats. How many people would you say were
in
attendance, and - a followup if I may - how many does the room
hold?
LeRoy said the flight team had the rest of the day off and I
wonder
if the working press in Houston did the same.

I noted from the Columbia transcripts that LeRoy was FDO for
Columbia's re-entry. Was he FDO today? Was his selection as a
member of the landing team also a part of 'bringing Columbia
home'...?

"Randa" wrote
I noted from the Columbia transcripts that LeRoy was FDO for
Columbia's re-entry. Was he FDO today? Was his selection as a
member of the landing team also a part of 'bringing Columbia
home'...?


FD is flight director, that was him,
and FDO is Flight Dynamics Officer,
not him.

It's a big room, but the other mmeting room can only hold 30 or so, and
there were
many more than that here for mission highlights. Plus it had large
display screens instead of just small TV monitors, and since it had to be
kept powered and air-conditioned anyway, it made sense to use it.




"Bruce Palmer" wrote in message
...
That auditorium at the Cain press briefing didn't look very crowded.
They never showed a wide shot of the room but it seemed like there were
a lot of empty seats. How many people would you say were in attendance,
and - a followup if I may - how many does the room hold? LeRoy said the
flight team had the rest of the day off and I wonder if the working
press in Houston did the same.

Thanks, Jim. Good job there today. We caught you on MSNBC earlier as
well. A good job by _everybody_ today. I'm counting down the hours now
'til Happy Hour. 8 in the morning was a wee bit too early to celebrate.

Jim Oberg wrote:
"Randa" wrote
I noted from the Columbia transcripts that LeRoy was FDO for
Columbia's re-entry. Was he FDO today? Was his selection as a
member of the landing team also a part of 'bringing Columbia
home'...?


FD is flight director, that was him,
and FDO is Flight Dynamics Officer,
not him.

Thanks for clearing that up for me Jim. I saw the same name and
made a bit of a leap.

BTW, I caught a special on the Discovery Channel in the last week
or so where they were doing a 'day at the Discovery Channel'.
They were doing a satellite interview with you and showed a
segment of behind the scenes at that interview - on both sides of
the link. You must do a lot of walking in a day - as you were
dressed in a suit with running shoes. Comfy shoes outweigh
dressy, I'll bet.

LeRoy is currently the only certified Ascent/Entry Flight Director.
That's why he got the call and not someone else. Although they recently
certified another one, you could see him in all the shots of the FD
console sitting next to LeRoy.