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Random Ramjet Ramblings

Various thoughts and musings that tumble from my brain onto Ye Olde Interwebbes.
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50 Years

50 Years

The Artemis I mission occurred 50 years after Apollo 17. What will it take to not have this happen again?

Becoming Santa

Becoming Santa

Santa Claus. Father Christmas. Kris Kringle. St. Nicholas. Papa Noel. Me.

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-THE TRENCH-
FLIGHT DYNAMICS OFFICER
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-THE TRENCH-

The space exploration advocacy website of Roger Balettie, former Flight Dynamics Officer in NASA’s Space Shuttle Mission Control Center.

Select a menu tab to the left for detailed links or one of the main sections below:

FLIGHT DYNAMICS OFFICER

The Flight Dynamics Officer (FDO, pronounced “fido”) is a Flight Controller in the Mission Control Center responsible for the overall trajectory, or flight path, of the Space Shuttle and all related payloads or other space-bound vehicles associated with the Shuttle.

Read about the:

MISSION CONTROL

"Houston… Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Since 1965, the Mission Control Center (MCC) has been the nerve center for America’s manned space program.

-THE TRENCH- blog

Space- and NASA-based blog entries.

Last 3 blog posts:
50 Years

50 Years

The Artemis I mission occurred 50 years after Apollo 17. What will it take to not have this happen again?

Countdown

Countdown

It’s been 40 years since the launch of STS-1, and the excitement of that day never faded.

Hawaii 2007

June 16, 2007 – Day 3b

Pearl Harbor and the “Mighty Mo”!

Today’s pictures can be found here and here.

After a great morning at Hanauma Bay and a quick stop back at the hotel to change, a group of us heads for Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, the next time slot where there are still a number of tickets left is only 1.5 hours away. We spend that next bit of time exploring the Pearl Harbor Museum.

Looking out over Pearl Harbor, you can see the Arizona Memorial and the U.S.S. Missouri across the short water’s distance.
Palm trees and Pearl HarborUSS Missouri and Arizona Memorial



Old Glory over the Arizona MemorialI won’t bother with the history lessons of that December morning, as you can find that anywhere… but physically being here, I could really get a sense of how chaotic it must have been as the enemy planes swooped and bombed the ships and men.

It was, overall, a very sobering moment.

When it was our turn, we saw a short movie on the history of 7 December 1941, then boarded the ferry over to the Memorial. I’m really glad that it’s done in small groups, as the respect is maintained by smaller groups than by a free-flow of tourists…



USS Arizona - number 3 gun turret foundation (1)Once onboard, getting our first view of the submerged Arizona and realizing there are still 1100 men buried below us brings an appropriate awe-filled silence to the group.

The most photographed site is the foundation of the #3 Gun Turret that sticks prominently out of the water.

More barely submerged structureWalking from side to side, you can see barely submerged pieces of Arizona just under the water’s surface:

To the memory of the gallant menThe inscription on the memorial wall says it all:



USS Arizona - leaking oil (1)Oil, trapped but slowly leaking from Arizona, still rises to the surface…


Arizona MemorialUS Flag over Arizona Memorial


I’ll never forget our visit here.


The Mighty MoEveryone else in our group was tired from the snorkeling and the Arizona Memorial, so they went back to the hotel.

Andrew and I, however, were not going to come this far and NOT spend a couple of hours crawling over the battleship U.S.S. Missouri when we had the chance… so off we went!

The Missouri is one of the last “great battleships” of the U.S. Navy.

Surrender deck plaque (1)She has a long and storied history, with the most historically important part being that it was on her decks that the Japanese surrender was signed to end WWII.

There is a plaque on the “Surrender Deck” that marks the exact spot:


Wood deck and Missouri main gunsNow… we all know that battleships are big… and their guns are big… but damn.

These are some BIG GUNS (TM).

Notice, also, the wood decks in that picture.

Andrew in front of Missouri main gunsTo give some perspective… here’s Andrew standing next to the #1 turret:


Main guns and clouds… and the requisite artsy-fartsy shot:


Andrew and anchor chainsOh yeah… the anchor chains are pretty big, too.


Let%27s go belowOkay! Let’s go below decks and poke around, shall we?

The officer’s cabins are much nicer than the enlisted crew bunks…
Officer%27s cabin onboard USS MissouriEnlisted bunks


Truman Line (cafeteria)We thought it was pretty appropriate that the chow line was known as the “Truman Line”:

Andrew climbing into aft turretBack up on deck, Andrew crawled up into the #3 turret:

Take us...  that way… while I sat in the Captain’s chair and gave the orders.

“Take us… that way”

Arizona Memorial and Missouri moorings
A good view of the Arizona Memorial from the Missouri

Honolulu rainbow
… and a nice Hawai’ian rainbow to end the day.

Tomorrow’s a travel day as we take the entire family from Oahu to Kaua’i for the rest of our vacation… see you on the next island!