A hard week.....

Pierre Chassang

Pierre Chassang

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Today 4:34 PM
Hi all !

As you know, I'm Junior Captain piloting B747-400 for Air-Child.
In that crisis time, It is better to have two jobs than one. That's why I'm ESA(European Space Agency) astronaut.

In this tread, I will tell a hard week (a little bit more) I must spend.

The first step is a ACH1490 flight from EDDK (Cologne) to KMIA (Miami International) piloting B747-400.
After one night in a very good hotel on seashore, I've gone to Kennedy Space Center to join a Discovery Space Shuttle crew.

The second step will be the space flight of which I will Commander and having to dock at ISS for supply and (I hope) go back Earth.

The third will be an ACH1491 flight going back EDDK (Cologne) with B747-400.

What's a hard, hard week.....

Here is the first step in images:

IN EDDK Gate preparing the aircraft.
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Taxi to runway
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Aligning RWY 24 EDDK
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Taking off.
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On westbound NAT's FL380.
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Exiting Nat's.
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At FL420 before TOD
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Final ILS09 KMIA
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Touchdown KMIA RWY09.
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Taxi to the Gate.
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Parking Brake set.
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Nice pics. Btw. FL420 is normally not used... Only on special request because it's blocking two Levels. FL410 (Odd) and FL430 (Even) which are normally used.

cheers,
tobi
 
Thanks for tips Tobias

Cheers

Pierre
 
Step one, second part,

After a good night, I've gone to Kennedy Space Center.
There, I've been submitted with many health tests and visited the launch site.
Discovery was in launch position on Pad 41A.

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Following.......
 
Pierre,

are you using the Space Shuttle Mission 2007 http://www.space-shuttle-mission.com/
or the free Orbiter Sim http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html to get in space?
 
Hi Norbert !

I use Space Shuttle Mission 2007.

Cheers

Pierre
 
The Space Shuttle Panel is very impressive.
Comparativelly with 747-400, the last seems to be a toy.
11 Display screens. a few hundreds functional switches.
Fortunately Many procedures are computer assisted.

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After a long briefing, we penetrate into Discovery as the sun goes down.
Sitting in a aircraft which is in vertical position is an amazing experience.
The launch is scheduled by night and the count down is -01:50:00.
During this time many actions will be required before ignition.

When busy, time goes fast.

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Everything looks good and the last seconds before launch are the longest of my life.
At 00:00:00, Discovery rise in an incredible flame, smoke, and noise mixture.

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Soon, the boosters rocket are separate and go back to the Earth.

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Discovery continue it's climb through the night and as the altitude increases, the engines rumble goes down and just the fans noise remains in the cockpit.

To follow........
 
Thanks to all, but the story is not finished....

After a little more than 8 minutes, the main tanks is jetissoned and wil be destroyed during its atmospheric reentry.
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We must circularize our orbit to dont follow it...
We're now in orbit around our dear planet. It a fantastic view.
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After one day and half tracking the ISS, we arrive, and dock to it with success. One difficult step was done. ooof!!
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To follow....
 
Continuation....

Once docked to the ISS many tasks wait us.
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A few Extra Vehicular Activities are performed.
During the first one, I've seen the Eath as never before. From there, I thought to all Air-Child Pilots whose flight far down below. I thought before all to all the wide World Children for which I'm eager to flight again and again. I send them from here an Hope and Love message.
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During the mission, a Japanese module we've brought as payload is released, installed an tested.
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Nitrogen Tank Assembly exchange is performed.
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After some rest hours, it's time to go back Home. Discovery is undocked.
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Discovery moves away from the ISS.
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Deorbit manoeuver is performed and the Shuttle begins to descent.
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After to have closed the payload doors, in the Sunrise, Discovery approach the high atmospher layers. The computers maintain an accurate pitch angle (about 40°) to penetrate correctly these layers and avoid to rebound on them or be destroyed.
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The Reaction Control System computer managed maintain the best angle.
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We now penetrate the dense layers of atmospher. The carbon tiles Shield protect us from huge heat emited as speed and altitude decease.
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After crossing the entire north American continent, we're approching our destination.
The heaviest glider of the world must perform some manoeuvers before aligning the runway.
We have only one try !
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The final approach is manually performed. My hands are wet... My eyes read the HUD informations to orient the flight path on a 22° glide.
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We touchdown !!!! The chute drag is open as I try to maintain the runway axis and apply wheels brake.
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At last, Discovery stops near the runway end.
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It was a incredible adventure. Now, I will sleep a lot and rejoin the Air-Child Fleet to KMIA.
Tomorrow, I will back EDDK with a ACH1491.
Thanks to you all, and proud to flight under Air-Child Colours.

Cheers

Pierre
 
Thanks Pierre! Your promotion campaign will probably soon attract the first Air-Child pilots from outer space :mrgreen: Great screenshots again.
 
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