Riding Rockets

GLOSSARY

AB—Afterburner. The throttle position that increases the thrust of a jet engine by burning additional fuel at the back of the engine.

AD—Arrested Development. The state of many military aviators, the author included.

ADI—Attitude Director Indicator. An instrument that shows aircraft or spacecraft attitude relative to the Earth’s horizon.

AFB—Air Force Base.

AOA—Abort Once Around. A launch abort in which the shuttle makes one orbit of the Earth and lands in the United States.

AOS—Acquisition of Signal. A call to the crew that indicates the shuttle data stream is being received at Mission Control.

APU—Auxiliary Power Unit. A hydraulic pump on the space shuttle. There are three APUs powering three hydraulic systems on the orbiter. There is nothing “auxiliary” about the shuttle’s APUs. They are the primary power source for the hydraulic systems. The “auxiliary” is a holdover aviation term. It refers to similar units that back up the primary engine-driven hydraulic pumps on jet aircraft.

ASP—Astronaut Support Personnel. Astronauts who help the mission crew strap into the space shuttle and who assume control of the shuttle cockpit from a just landed astronaut crew.

ATC—Air Traffic Control. Facilities on the ground that monitor aircraft in the air.

ATO—Abort to Orbit. A launch abort in which the shuttle flies into a safe orbit after an engine failure.

BFS—Backup Flight System. A backup computer that will take over control of a space shuttle. The BFS is engaged by the depression of a button on the top of the commander’s or pilot’s control sticks.

CAIB—ColumbiaAccident Investigation Board. The board appointed to investigate the loss of the space shuttle Columbia.

CAP—Crew Activity Plan. The checklist that specifies which crew activities are to be performed at what point in the mission.

CAPCOM—Capsule Communicator. The astronaut in Mission Control who talks to astronauts in space.

CDR—Commander. The astronaut who occupies the front left seat of a launching/landing space shuttle and who has overall responsibility for the mission.

CNO—Chief of Naval Operations. A four-star admiral who has overall responsibility for the United States Navy.

DEFCON—Defense Condition. The status of American military forces, from peacetime (DEFCON 5) to fully prepared for war (DEFCON 1).

DOD—Department of Defense.

DPS—Data Processing System. The computer heart of a space shuttle.

EMU—Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit, i.e., a spacesuit.

EOM—End of Mission. Used in reference to the end of a space shuttle mission.

ESA—European Space Agency. The European equivalent of NASA.

ET—External Tank. The orange fuel tank attached to the belly of a launching space shuttle. It carries 1.3 million pounds of liquid oxygen and 227,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen for the three liquid-fueled engines at the back of the orbiter.

EVA—Extra-Vehicular Activity. A spacewalk.

FCOD—Flight Crew Operations Directorate. The organization at Johnson Space Center having overall responsibility for crews involved in flight operations, including T-38, Vomit Comet, and shuttle flight operations. The astronaut office falls under the domain of FCOD.

FDO—Flight Dynamics Officer. The Mission Control position that oversees all aspects of the shuttle’s trajectory and vehicle maneuvers from liftoff to landing.

GIB—Guy-in-Back. Military slang for the backseat occupant of a two-place fighter aircraft.

GLS—Ground Launch Sequencer. A computer in the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center that controls a shuttle countdown until thirty-one seconds prior to liftoff, at which time the shuttle’s own computers assume control of the countdown.

GPC—General Purpose Computer. One of five IBM computers that form the shuttle’s electronic “heart.” One of these is the BFS computer. See BFS.

GS—Government Servant. The title of civilians working for the government. A number system, e.g., GS-9, indicates the rank of the worker.

GWSA—George Washington Sherman Abbey.

HQ—Headquarters.

HST—Hubble Space Telescope.

ICOM—Intercom. The system used by astronauts to talk to one another when they are in the LES or separated between the upper and lower cockpits or between the shuttle cockpits and a Spacelab module.

IFR—Instrument Flight Rules. A term used in aviation to indicate a pilot is following the directions of an air traffic controller on the ground.

INCO—Instrumentation and Communication Officer. The MCC controller responsible for the command and data links between the MCC and the space shuttle.

ISS—International Space Station.

IUS—Inertial Upper Stage. A large Boeing-built booster rocket used to lift satellites into their final orbits and to accelerate space probes out of Earth orbit.

IVA—Intra-Vehicular Activity. Usually used as a crewmember title, i.e., IVA crewmember. A crewmember who helps spacewalkers prepare for a spacewalk and monitors them while they are outside the spacecraft.

JSC—Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

KSC—Kennedy Space Center in Florida

LCC—Launch Control Center. The Kennedy Space Center team that directs the countdown and launch of a space shuttle.

LCG—Liquid Cooling Garment. A netlike long underwear worn under a spacesuit and that holds a maze of small tubes that circulate chilled water to prevent spacewalkers from overheating.

LDEF—Long Duration Exposure Facility. A bus-size satellite launched on shuttle mission STS-41C in 1984 and retrieved and returned to Earth by STS-32 in January 1990. LDEF carried several hundred passive experiments to understand the effects of space exposure on various materials.

LES—Launch/Entry Suit. The orange-colored spacesuits that astronauts wear for launch and reentry. These suits would automatically pressurize if there was a cabin pressure leak.

LOS—Loss of Signal. A call to the crew that the shuttle will soon be out of contact with Mission Control. Usually the call is given in a countdown format, as in, “Atlantis, you’ll be LOS in two minutes.”

LOX—Liquid Oxygen.

Mach—The engineering term for the speed of sound. Astronauts wear a Mach-25 patch indicating they have traveled twenty-five times the speed of sound.

max-q—An engineering term for the point in flight when an aircraft or spacecraft experiences the maximum aerodynamic pressure. Max-q (where the M is capitalized) is also the name of the astronaut band. Though there have been several generations of astronaut band members, the band name remains the same.

MCC—Mission Control Center. The Johnson Space Center team that directs a shuttle mission from “tower clear” (the moment the shuttle rises above the launchpad) until the “wheel stop” call at landing, at which time control is returned to Kennedy Space Center.

MDF—Manipulator Development Facility. A full-scale simulation of the Canadian robot arm and shuttle cargo bay in a building at Johnson Space Center.

MEC—Master Events Controller. A black box on the space shuttle that controls critical events like the commands to jettison the booster rockets and the empty gas tank.

MECO—Main Engine Cutoff. The moment in a shuttle launch when the three liquid-fueled engines shut down.

MLP—Mobile Launch Platform. The “launchpad” on which the space shuttle is stacked and that is carried to either Pad 39A or B by a massive tracked crawler.

MMU—Manned Maneuvering Unit. A space jet pack. An MMU has high-pressure gas thruster jets that allow an untethered astronaut to fly short distances from the space shuttle.

MS—Mission Specialist. Astronauts trained for mission payload activities, e.g., using the robot arm, doing a spacewalk, conducting experiments, etc.

MSE—Military Space Engineer. Department of Defense personnel flown on some DOD missions.

MSFC—Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

NASA—National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

O₂—Gaseous oxygen breathed by astronauts.

OFT—Orbital Flight Test. The first four space shuttle flights. After these were successfully concluded, the STS was proclaimedoperational .

OMS—Orbital Maneuvering System. Two six-thousand-pound-thrust liquid-fueled engines at the tail of the orbiter. These are used for the final boost into orbit, the brake from orbit, and for large orbit changes.

PAM—Propulsion Assist Module. A solid-fueled rocket motor attached to the bottom of a communication satellite to lift it to a 22,300-mile-high equatorial orbit.

PAO—Public Affairs Officer. An MCC position filled by NASA’s representative to the public.

PEAP—Personal Emergency Air Pack. A portable container of breathing air, which astronauts would use in a ground escape through toxic fumes.

PLBD—Payload Bay Doors. The clamshell doors that cover the space shuttle payload bay.

PLT—Pilot. The pilot astronaut who sits in the right front seat during a shuttle launch and landing. Like the mission commander, the PLT is trained to fly the shuttle.

PPK—Personal Preference Kit. The twenty items of personal significance that NASA permits astronauts to fly in space.

PR—Public Relations. Refers to all things associated with NASA’s interface with the public.

PROP—Propulsion. An MCC controller who monitors the shuttle RCS and OMS propulsion systems.

PS—Payload Specialist. A “part-time” astronaut trained for a specific experiment. PSes are not career NASA astronauts and receive only safety and habitability training on the shuttle.

RCS—Reaction Control System. A system of forty-four small rocket motors on the tail and nose of the orbiter that control the vehicle’s attitude and are also used in small orbit changes, e.g., during the final stages of a rendezvous or separation from a deployed satellite.

RHC—Rotational Hand Controller. The “stick” used to rotate the tip of the robot arm about a point. The CDR’s and PLT’s control sticks, used to maneuver the orbiter, are also referred to as RHCs.

RMS—Remote Manipulator System. The Canadian-built robot arm operated from the rear cockpit of the orbiter. It is used to capture and release satellites, maneuver spacewalking astronauts and cargo, and for vehicle inspections (through its end-mounted TV camera).

RSLS—Redundant Set Launch Sequencer. The software module in the shuttle’s computers that controls the final thirty-one seconds of a shuttle countdown.

RSO—Range Safety Officer. A USAF officer who monitors a shuttle launch and is prepared to blow up the vehicle if it goes out of control and threatens a civilian population center.

RSS—Range Safety System. The explosives aboard the solid rocket boosters and the external gas tank and the supporting electronic equipment that would be used to blow up an out-of-control space shuttle.

RTLS—Return to Launch Site Abort. A launch abort in which the space shuttle returns to land at the Kennedy Space Center.

SAIL—Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. An electronic lab in which shuttle software can be evaluated. SAIL has a replica of the shuttle cockpit.

SAS—Space Adaptation Syndrome. Space sickness.

SEAL—Sea, Air, Land. An acronym for an elite navy force that is trained for special covert operations against the enemy.

Sim Sup—Simulator Supervisor. The team leader who prepares scripts of malfunctions to train astronauts and MCC controllers. The Sim Sup’s team inputs malfunctions and evaluates the response of astronauts and the MCC to simulated emergencies.

SLF—Shuttle Landing Facility. The 15,000-foot-long runway at Kennedy Space Center used by landing shuttles.

SMS—Shuttle Mission Simulator. The primary simulators at Johnson Space Center for training astronauts to operate the shuttle systems and respond to emergencies.

SRB—Solid Rocket Booster. Twin boosters attached to the sides of the external gas tank. The term “solid” in the title refers to the propellant, which has the consistency of hard rubber.

SSME—Space Shuttle Main Engine. A liquid-fueled engine at the back of the orbiter that burns the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen carried in the external gas tank. There are three SSMEs at the tail of the orbiter.

STA—Shuttle Training Aircraft. A Gulfstream business jet modified to have the landing characteristics of a shuttle. Pilot astronauts (CDRs and PLTs) train for shuttle landings in the STA.

STS—Space Transportation System. A fancy name for what the public would call the space shuttle. The STS is made up of the winged vehicle (the orbiter), the solid-fueled rocket boosters, and the external gas tank.

TAL—Trans-Atlantic Landing abort. A launch abort in which the shuttle makes an emergency landing at an airport in Europe or Africa.

TDRS—Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. A satellite used by NASA to relay commands, data, and astronaut voice communication between the orbiter and MCC.

TFNG—Thirty-Five New Guys. The nickname adopted by the astronaut class of 1978. The name is a play on an obscene military acronym FNG (F***ing New Guy), used to describe someone new to a military unit.

THC—Translational Hand Controller. A square-shaped controller that can be moved in or out, up or down, and left or right. These control inputs will produce the corresponding movement at the tip of the robot arm. The CDR and PLT also have THCs that will fire the orbiter’s thrusters to move it in the direction commanded.

UCD—Urine Collection Device. A condom/nylon bladder arrangement or an adult diaper worn by astronauts on the three occasions when they cannot use the shuttle toilet: launch, spacewalks, and reentry/landing.

UHF—Ultra-High Frequency. A radio frequency.

USAF—United States Air Force.

USMC—United States Marine Corps.

USN—United States Navy.

VAB—Vertical Assembly Building. The 500-foot-high building originally used to prepare the Saturn V moon rockets. The shuttle stack is completed in the VAB before being transported to the launchpad.

VFR—Visual Flight Rules. An aviation term referring to flights where the pilot is responsible for his/her own clearance from other aircraft and objects.

VITT—Vehicle Integration Test Team. The team at Kennedy Space Center that supports the checkout of the orbiters as they are prepared for a mission.

WETF—Weightless Environment Training Facility. A large swimming pool used by astronauts to train for spacewalks.

WSO—Weapons Systems Operator. The air force crewmember (usually in two-place fighters like the F-4 or F-111) who is responsible for navigation, electronic warfare, and weapons status. WSO is used interchangeably with GIB (guy-in-back).