-
7. "We Fix Anything"
- University of Nebraska Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
7. “We Fix Anything” “Launch day arrived, ready or not, as days do,” Joe Kerwin said. “It was a beautiful, quiet morning at the Cape. We went through our checks and soon were standing on the platform at Pad u , waiting for ingress and looking out over the peaceful ocean, with sea birds flying below us. The Cape was practically deserted; all the guests had long since gone home. The families would see this launch on television. “I was the last crewmember to be inserted into the Command Module because I had the center couch and would be in the way of the others. There was plenty of help strapping in and making the oxygen and communications connections. And a friendly handshake and pat on the shoulder, and the hatch was closed. Communications check. Countdown continues; here’s the right place in the checklist. Pete’s on the left, in charge; he has the abort handle. Paul’s on the right, the Command Service Module systems expert. I’m in the middle, computer backup and navigation. We’ve done all this a million times (two million for Pete), and it’s all going well. “About ten minutes before launch, Pete said on the intercom, ‘Guys, Mission Control needs something to cheer them up. What can we say at liftoff that’ll do the trick?’ We discussed it a little bit and Pete made up his mind. Liftoff came, and amidst the noise and shaking, as the tail of the Saturn # rose above the level of the launch gantry, Pete made his first voice call: ‘Liftoff . And the clock is running.’ And his second: ‘Clear the tower. And Houston , Skylab Two, We Fix Anything, got a pitch and a roll program.’ “One of the longest, busiest days of our lives was underway.” Mission Control had reason for needing cheering up on the first crew’s launch day, g May }u. The team felt the clear need to get the astronauts to Skylab before it was too late to save it. There were launch constraints: one was that calling a hold too late in the count required detanking then refueling the booster, making a launch the next day impossible. And a new problem had cropped up. The mission operations computer began experiencing overload problems. When that happened it needed to be taken offline and reinitialized. It must not be offline during launch. And the cause of the overloads was unknown. The launch flight director, Phil Shaffer, had several intense conversations with his computer supervisor, who assured him that he could bring the computer online for liftoff and that it would stay online throughout launch. Phil had a decision to make. He recalled: “At = minus six minutes the launch. The “milkstool” used to raise the Saturn # boosters for launch on the Saturn C–fitted launch pad is visible in this photo of the :'- launch. [54.145.183.34] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 10:32 GMT) “D#E*H=#*” | }u director at the Cape came to me for a ‘Go for Launch.’ At that time the mission operations computer was down and being brought up. The last status check was at = minus three, and if we went down, then it would preclude a next-day launch. I gave a ‘Go’ to the Cape. And then the computer did come online, and it performed nominally ’til the end of the first stage burn. At staging the computer overload problem just disappeared.” A similar problem would occur at the end of the last mission when because of memory problems the mission operations computer was dropping out every ten to twenty minutes. Mission Control found that they could reinitialize between station passes and keep coverage seamless that way, and it worked. It provided a pair of bookends for Skylab: two problems assessed and overcome by the flight control team. Despite having been through the launch procedure countless times in simulation, the two astronauts making their first spaceflight found the real thing rather exciting. “The liftoff and ascent were of course quite an experience for us newbies,” Paul Weitz said. “There is a programmed activity with the booster’s first stage called ‘Propellant Utilization Shift.’ When we got the 5B Shift, the thrust dropped off dramatically as far as I was concerned —my first thought was that we had lost an engine. Pete, of course, said something to the effect ‘Cool it, rookie.’” They reached orbit without incident, and gloves and helmets came off...