Reserve Lt. Col. Mayo was one of the guests at the conference of the Orbit Association - the student association for aeronautics in space that held its second annual conference yesterday, in the building of the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering at the Technion. Mayo preferred to outline the history of manned flights into space, and a little about his training in the space shuttle
4.10.2002
By: Avi Blizovsky
Lt. Col. Yitzhak Mayo continues to participate in the Israeli astronaut project, even though he has retired from the IDF and from his position as a backup astronaut for Brigadier General Ilan Ramon.
Reserve Lt. Col. Mayo was one of the guests at the conference of the Orbit Association - the student association for aeronautics in space that held its second annual conference yesterday, in the building of the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering at the Technion. Mayo preferred to outline the history of manned flights into space, and a bit about his training in the space shuttle. Mayo conducted the initial training that potential astronauts undergo before being assigned to a specific mission.
"The manned flights occupy a very small part of all the flights into space today, but I believe that when the technology will be cheaper, it will probably be something more popular."
Mayo briefly outlines his position regarding the space age: "We are talking about the space age starting about sixty years ago, that is, during World War II. And what unfortunately develops this technology is war. After World War II, the Cold War began and part of it was the space race that began in the fifties of the last century.
Those who are exposed to the field today see that the Americans dominate this field, especially in the field of manned flights. But whoever started it was the Russians. Firstly because they were more aware of propaganda issues and secondly, they developed bigger missiles and had heavier bombs.
When the Americans started thinking about space, their emphasis was on a system of regular spacecraft like the shuttle. The Russians caught them with their pants down and started launching objects and people into space. They left this field for 15 years.
As soon as the Americans realized that they were behind it was clear to them that there were two main issues. The first is the propaganda that cannot be underestimated, and the second is the technology. As soon as they realized that they were behind technologically, they decided to invest money. Kennedy's famous speech that said it was the goal of the American nation to take until the end of the decade to send a man to the moon and return him safely.
They did it quite nicely. The Russians once realized that their economy could not support it they were left behind but they are active to this day and are doing some good things.
In fact, in terms of the development of manned flights - the sixties were the most fruitful. In the seventies, the Americans reached the moon, looked back and saw that there was no one, so they stopped.
In the eighties they started the ferry project. The only serious thing that can be talked about today is the flight to Mars.
Milestones in the space race
4.10.57 - The Russians put up the Sputnik satellite.
12.4.61 The Russians put up a spaceship with an astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, excellent for space, makes a full cup of coffee and returns.
20.2.62 John Glenn - the first success of the USA in placing a man in orbit after two astronauts who flew in sub-orbit. Glenn did three full laps and managed to do it.
The Russians meanwhile overtook him with a much larger number of laps.
18.3.65 - first hovering in space (Alexei Leonov)
18.7.66 First connection in space between two spacecraft that were not launched together (Gemini 10) preparation for Apollo.
23.4.67/1/XNUMX First death (Vladimir Komorov, Soyuz XNUMX) - a flight riddled with malfunctions ending in a hard landing because the parachute did not open and the reserve chute got stuck in the stabilization chute
16.7.69 First landing on another celestial body (Apollo 11).
19.4.71 The first operational space station Sliot.
12.4.81 The launch of the first Columbia ferry
Late 20th century International Space Station
There are two flights related to Apollo that were interesting, of course, besides Apollo 11 - when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon: Apollo 8, the first time a spacecraft leaves the Earth, orbits the moon and returns, and of course Apollo 13 - an operation that is not suitable for the Americans - had to be improvised, and when a spacecraft is on its way to the moon, it suffers an initial malfunction - manage to circle the moon and return safely.
The spaceships - Vostok - a spaceship of one person, and Voskhod, Sliot and Soyuz - more than one person. Still simple spaceships, people sat in a confined space.
For the Americans - Mercury - six flights that gave us a taste of space, Gemini - two people who tested and charted the way to Apollo and finally the space shuttle which has reasonable space.
Multi-use tool
All the spaceships, with the exception of the shuttle, were disposable - going on one mission only. The space shuttle - a completely different concept. It is the first vehicle designed to take off as a missile and return to land as an airplane. More correctly - descent. It has small motors that can slightly change its angles, but once it goes in and sets the landing point there is nothing that will change it.
When it was planned, they thought it would serve space stations, but they waited decades until they built the International Space Station - the Russians participate in the knowledge and the Europeans - in the knowledge and money.
The first flight was made in April 1981 with Columbia - John Young and Bob Griffin.
General data about the ferry
Length 40 meters (with the accelerators 60 meters), trunk size 20 x 5 meters.
The weight of the shuttle - about 100 tons (over 2000 tons at launch)
Maximum cargo per route 30 tons
Route altitudes 180-560 km - depending on the weight of the cargo. The shuttle can't raise the orbit beyond that, and obviously not go to the moon or do other things.
Typical task duration - 6-14 days.
Driving and steering the shuttle - the winged vessel sits on the orange tank - this tank contains the fuel that feeds the shuttle itself, and 2 more engines with solid fuel. The engines of the shuttle itself are driven by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and inside the tubes - the accelerators have solid fuel, with the big difference being that the liquid fuel engines are controlled at takeoff while the other engines - it is impossible to stop their operation.
The shuttle's engines are turned on six seconds before takeoff and stop after about 8 minutes (depending on the route) so that on the route there will be a change in altitude or route and return to landing - there are 2 large engines and there are 44 small engines in the tail and nose that enable steering.
The take-off process:
The takeoff is less than six seconds - the engines are started for testing
Time 0 - ignition and takeoff
The takeoff plus 2:30 - SRB ejection - they are ejected further into the atmosphere and detonate.
Takeoff + 8:30 Main engines shutdown. The large container ends its function, falls into the atmosphere and burns up. The plan is that it will fall in a place where there are no people.
When the shuttle arrives at the track - open the doors. This is because on the inside of the doors are the projectors of the heat dispersion systems. There is a lot of heat in the ferry. If these doors do not open on the runway - immediately enter an emergency procedure and land back
In cases of failure - mainly a problem with the engine (if there is a problem with the spark plugs - there is nothing to be done -) but in the case of the engine of the spaceship itself - a list that the astronauts
1. - ATO the energy of the shuttle allows entry into the ABORT TO ORBIT orbit. They enter some orbit and then begin to worry quietly and without pressure about how to rescue the crew members.
2. AOA - the shuttle's energy allows one round trip and landing, usually this will not be done in Florida but in Edwards. It is an area of dry salt lakes where you can land without any planning.
3. TAL - low transmitted energy - landing in Africa or Europe - acronym for Trans Atlantic Landing. There are a number of emergency bases that are put on standby for every ferry flight and according to the route the ferry enters there is a main emergency route. Among others, these are bases in Spain, Nigeria and Morocco.
4. The last process - which is always taught and the astronauts quite laugh - back to the launch site is a crazy process where the shuttle takes off, reverses the direction and uses its engines to stop the speed, to blow the fuel tanks. They say it won't work, it will fall apart a lot according to that
5. Abandonment process. quite a problematic process. Its sunset rate is high. Open the door, there is a tube that allows you to glide along it to escape from the wing and parachute.
NASA has three categories of astronauts
Pilots - crew members defined as pilots and shuttle operators from the aspect of flight control. Veteran test pilots. They mainly deal with takeoff and landing = both segments are almost automatic except for touching the ground and connecting segments - to the space station, to pick up a satellite. In terms of citizenship it is only American because the commander of the shuttle is always one of the pilots
Mission experts - crew members who do not participate in flying the shuttle, are responsible for conducting experiments and scientific activity. The entire space station is carried out by following parts with the shuttle arm - the mission specialists put on the suits, go outside, and close the screws.
Cargo handlers - astronauts responsible for carrying out a specific experiment. Usually participate in only one flight.
Background - only American pilots come from the Air Force and the Navy. The bulk of the mission experts have doctorate degrees in engineering, natural sciences and medicine. There is a very high demand and it is very easy for NASA to choose people with the highest level of education. The admission procedure is strict (a large number of astronauts have been rejected several times). There are many women.
The hardest thing - it's training and training, those who are accepted usually don't fall. Initially, everyone goes through general training between one and a half to two years. The training includes studies of the shuttle systems, studies of the space station systems, general survival training, social formation, enrichment studies, astronomy, geology - things that may be relevant in the future. Also, the astronauts learn courses in communication - they send to talk to children, to sign in shopping malls for people. This is NASA's way of getting publicity and getting budgets through it.
Towards the end of the training they are assigned to a position in NASA itself and after 4-5 years they are assigned to flight, at this moment they are training for the flight itself, emergency procedures in the shuttle and finally flying.
the situation todayI talked about the spaceships, the shuttle and the Astronaut and we miss this thing - behind every flight that even has seven astronauts there are thousands of people involved in it. There is control from the ground, engineers who plan the mission.
Mayo's words were addressed to students, among them many who plan to work in the Israeli space industry. There were, of course, other guests - among them Marfael and from the aviation industry, but that's later in the series.
