On a lighter note (FD13 Execute Package)
FDO’s “Land White Sands”[*]:
Oh, the weather at KSC is frightful,
But at White Sands its so delightful,
And since we have to land,
Land White Sands, land White Sands, land White Sands.
Winds at Edwards aren’t stopping,
And the fuel cells need a topping;
The time to deorbit has come,
Land White Sands, land White Sands, land White Sands.
When Shuttle finally comes to rest,
How we'll hate landing out West;
But if FDO targets right
We’ll be home before Friday night.
The mission objectives completed,
And we’ve said goodbye to Sunita,
As long as we’ve got land.
Land White Sands, land White Sands, land White Sands.
[*] White Sands is a significant possibility for landing, because the next best sites may have poor weather - the downside is that the shuttle will be subject to adverse temperatures while parked there without its full support equipment. And it'll get coated in gypsum dust which will complicate the processing...
There's a long tradition of humour in the Execute Packages (the procedural and timeline updates and general information that mission control send to the Shuttle crew) - for this mission the timelines listed an alternative version of the pilot's name on each day. His name is Bill Oefelein but he's been called Offal-lean, O Tannenbaum, Bille Jean... it isn't drawn attention to though, but it's there!
The full set of Execute Packages for STS-116, the current mission.
Oh, the weather at KSC is frightful,
But at White Sands its so delightful,
And since we have to land,
Land White Sands, land White Sands, land White Sands.
Winds at Edwards aren’t stopping,
And the fuel cells need a topping;
The time to deorbit has come,
Land White Sands, land White Sands, land White Sands.
When Shuttle finally comes to rest,
How we'll hate landing out West;
But if FDO targets right
We’ll be home before Friday night.
The mission objectives completed,
And we’ve said goodbye to Sunita,
As long as we’ve got land.
Land White Sands, land White Sands, land White Sands.
[*] White Sands is a significant possibility for landing, because the next best sites may have poor weather - the downside is that the shuttle will be subject to adverse temperatures while parked there without its full support equipment. And it'll get coated in gypsum dust which will complicate the processing...
There's a long tradition of humour in the Execute Packages (the procedural and timeline updates and general information that mission control send to the Shuttle crew) - for this mission the timelines listed an alternative version of the pilot's name on each day. His name is Bill Oefelein but he's been called Offal-lean, O Tannenbaum, Bille Jean... it isn't drawn attention to though, but it's there!
The full set of Execute Packages for STS-116, the current mission.