“Plus allowed for variability by making sure all the propellant came from the same manufacturing batch,” said Ron Sega, professor of systems engineering at Colorado State, retired Major General in the U.S. Air Force, former Under Secretary of the Air Force, and NASA astronaut on the first joint U.S./Russia shuttle mission. Tapping into expertise of this quality, Cliff should have reached the moon by now. Or, considering the direction he was pointing the rocket engines, China. Yet another lesson... “Ready, fire, aim!” said Kathy. Cliff had already received the Eighth-Grade Science Project award for “Participation.” But it’s what Cliff didn’t hear at the Space Symposium... That’s what I want him to learn the most from. What he didn’t hear was any political rancor. None. Not a whisper. Everyone was greeted with courtesy, and every courtesy was greeted with warmth. Maybe elsewhere the body politic is a seething, chaotic, stinking mess of conniving vermin biting and clawing and ripping each other’s tails off. But that’s in the gutter. Here the body politic was men and women with a sense of duty and a sensibility for mission. The Vice President, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of the Air Force and many other civil and military leaders – from various viewpoints not always in agreement, indeed, from various nations not always in concord – spoke with knowledge and reason and were listened to with respect and consideration. We were looking at the stars.
per second.” In other words, I have no idea .) I swelled with pride at the genius of my son. Or, did swell, until the data from his experiment turned out to be random junk numbers with no discernable relationship to the temperature of the rocket fuel or the size of the rocket engines or, for that matter, the quality of the cigar (excellent). So, “What Happens When You Set a Rocket Engine Off Upside Down?” You get a mess in your driveway. You also get advice at the Space Symposium. And another experience of learning to stand in awe. Because, if you ask members of the Space Foundation board (other than me) questions about your eighth-grade science project, you get answers . Space Foundation Vice Chair Dr. Kathryn Thornton, a PhD in physics, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia, and former astronaut who flew four missions on Space Shuttles and logged 975 hours in orbit, said, “You should have weighed the stuff.” Kathy uses model rocket engines for design exercises in her engineering class and has found very little consistency in the amount of propellant per engine. “And checked the manufacture date. Solid fuel propellant degrades over time,” said Jeff Grant, senior vice president and general manager of Aerospace Systems at Northrop Grumman, veteran of 21 years as a science officer at the CIA and the National Reconnaissance Office, and Lauren Smith’s boss.
"What Happens When You Set a Rocket Engine Off Upside Down?" You get a mess in your driveway.
American Consequences 95
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker