WORF is wet !

Heard on the air this morning.

There was talk of moisture and air inside the Worf (the 200 billion dollar
window in Destiny :-).

It seems that ground had sent in some complex procedures to try to measure
temperatures and study the problem.

Foale dared to suggest reconnecting the frayed tube which would allow venting
the space between panes to vacuum, save everyone a lot of time and only cause
a slight loss of air. He said something along the lines of "we lived with it
for 3 weeks, plugging it in for a few minutes shoudln't cause much of a problem".

The ground controller responded that this option had been the focus of very
animated discussions with the flight controllers but not chosen (no reason
given over the air).


Foale had been given complex instructions which included temperature
measurements of the window. He responded that he could just tell them in
advance that the result will show that the window will be near 270 kelvin
(room temperature). Foale certaiuntly isn't scared to tell it like it is. It
is a shame that the "tone" doesn't really get translated when he speaks to the
russians, I wonder he he has similar comments to them too.

There was also mention this morning about the EVA team arriving and wanting to
discuss with Foale. (this was transmitted in a "good news" tone). So I suspect
that an EVA will be performed.

WORF isn't installed yet, I believe, but are you referring to the window
itself?

This is significant news, thank you for posting this.




"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Heard on the air this morning.

There was talk of moisture and air inside the Worf (the 200 billion dollar
window in Destiny :-).

It seems that ground had sent in some complex procedures to try to measure
temperatures and study the problem.

Foale dared to suggest reconnecting the frayed tube which would allow
venting
the space between panes to vacuum, save everyone a lot of time and only
cause
a slight loss of air. He said something along the lines of "we lived with
it
for 3 weeks, plugging it in for a few minutes shoudln't cause much of a
problem".

The ground controller responded that this option had been the focus of
very
animated discussions with the flight controllers but not chosen (no reason
given over the air).


Foale had been given complex instructions which included temperature
measurements of the window. He responded that he could just tell them in
advance that the result will show that the window will be near 270 kelvin
(room temperature). Foale certaiuntly isn't scared to tell it like it is.
It
is a shame that the "tone" doesn't really get translated when he speaks to
the
russians, I wonder he he has similar comments to them too.

There was also mention this morning about the EVA team arriving and
wanting to
discuss with Foale. (this was transmitted in a "good news" tone). So I
suspect
that an EVA will be performed.

He responded that he could just tell them in advance that the result
will show that the window will be near 270 kelvin (room
temperature). Foale certainly isn't scared to tell it like it is.

Well, either that or the people who care about the optical quality of
the window are all on the ground. If memory serves, the plumes of an
arriving Soyuz may have fogged the window because the astronauts
wanted to watch it arrive through the window. (That was shortly after
the window was installed).

Jim Kingdon wrote:
Well, either that or the people who care about the optical quality of
the window are all on the ground.

This has to do with the punctured tube which resulted in the station losing
air. *Seems* that this tube was connected to vacuum at one end and space
between some panes at the other.

With the tube removed and the ends capped, there was no way to vent whatever
was between those panes. Plugging the tube back in temporarily would allow
them to vent to space any humid air between the panes.

The fact that ground controllers had an "animated" discussion on plugging the
tube back in temporarily is an indication that the idea wasn't so stupid.

The lesson in all of this is that they should have planned more windows for
the US segment so that the crew wouldn't have to use the fancy high quality
window for sighseeing. (OK, perhaps that is what the cuppola is for).

The lesson in all of this is that they should have planned more
windows for the US segment so that the crew wouldn't have to use the
fancy high quality window for sighseeing. (OK, perhaps that is what
the cuppola is for).

Yup, that's what the cupola is for (not just sightseeing, but also
being able to look out for parts which have fallen off or whatever,
for example in November when there was the suspicion of a collision).

But when it comes time to talk budgets and schedules, the cupola
seems always to play second fiddle. It's the very last mission at
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/future/index.html
which I suppose is higher than having been dropped off entirely.

John Doe wrote in
:

The lesson in all of this is that they should have planned more
windows for the US segment

I agree that the US side should have more windows...

so that the crew wouldn't have to use the
fancy high quality window for sighseeing. (OK, perhaps that is what
the cuppola is for).

....isn't that what the windows in Zvezda are for?

--
JRF

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