Complete E-mail Chronicle for SM3B mission. --------------------------------------------------------- Date: 1/23/02 To: general group, Re: Back at the Kennedy Space Center Hi there! We are on the doorstep of our next Shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch is scheduled to be on February 28, and I am really excited about the coming month. It has been two years since I was here at Kennedy, and I really miss being here. For this mission, we are installing many new items and instruments, and it will be our most challenging mission ever. One of these items is a small but important circuit box that is called the ARUBA. This week the astronaut crew will be seeing the flight unit for the first and last time before it flies in space. They have previously seen simulations in the water tank where they train. As in past missions, I have started to put together a web site to show an inside look at the development of the hardware and a look behind the scenes here at our mission preparation center. The site is: http://www.edcheung.com/job/SM3B/SM3B.htm More will be added as we get closer to launch. As preparation for this mission, I purchased a new small digital camera that shoots short movies, and has software to create QuickTime VR files. This latter file allows you to (with QuickTime installed) do a panoramic 360 degree 'walk around' our clean room where all the hardware is installed. Go to the site above if you wish to look around our clean room. I also have some short movies showing the astronaut crew near the ARUBA. In addition to the astronaut training going on yesterday and today, we also have our final hardware 'walk down', where we look at all the hardware we are putting on the shuttle to make sure everything is correct. I will then return to Maryland for a few days, and then bring Agnes and the kids down to Florida for three to four weeks until launch. Just like the previous mission, after launch they will return home to Maryland, and I will go the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas to assist the team with the installation into the Space Telescope. I hope to hear from you, take care. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 1/30/02 To: sm3b site: Re: Visit to the VAB - Edward Cheung I was present at the Kennedy Space Center when STS-109 was scheduled to roll out to the pad. A group of us decided to go over to the VAB to see the orbiter being prepared for the event. This is a short account of the visit. There are two launchpads at KSC from where the shuttle launches. They are known as Launch Complex 39A and 39B. South of these two pads is one of the world's largest buildings, and is known as the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). It was built in the Apollo days to accommodate the enormous Saturn V rocket, but has been retrofitted for the Shuttle program. The Shuttle is assembled in the VAB from its constituent parts (External Tank, Solid Rocket Booster, and the Orbiter). It is difficult to tell how large the VAB when you drive up to it, as there is nothing nearby for comparison. A portion of the side of the building is painted with a huge American Flag. It boggles the mind to know that the flag is so big that the road you arrive on is about as wide as one of the red stripes on the flag. The height of the building is about 525 feet! Once you arrive at the VAB, the guard checks your access privileges, to see if you are allowed to enter. Despite carrying a KSC badge, employees are not allowed free reign of the buildings and facilities of the center. Each person carries an additional badge that grants him/her access to individual buildings. Once you are allowed to pass the perimeter of the VAB, you deposit your picture badge at the guard shack, and pick up a replacement badge. This is done at many sites at KSC because this allows the authorities to know who is inside a building, what their appearance is, and their names. In the case of an emergency, this information can be used to better evacuate the area. Part of obtaining access to a building is a short course on the safety related aspects of that building (evacuation routes, location of breathing apparatus, etc). The VAB is divided into four large bays, two on the north side (that face the pads), and two on the south side (that hold External Tanks and other parts). They are separated by a central hallway that opens all the way to the roof. As you enter the VAB in this central hallway and look up, you realize how large an expanse this building is. A building of this size sometimes has some odd aspects. For example, I have been inside the VAB on a bright summer day, and see it 'rain' inside the VAB. Water vapor condenses on the inside of the roof, and rains back down on humid days. One year, I was in the VAB with Atlantis parked in one of the bays, and they had to suspend a huge tarp over the Orbiter to protect it from the moisture raining down. Leaving out certain details of the security arrangement, one is required to check in at another station to get close to the Shuttle. This time there is a check of your clothing and the items you are carrying. To prevent any objects from accidentally falling on the Shuttle while you are walking overhead, anything that can come loose such as eye-glasses are required to be tethered. If you are wearing a watch, you are required to cover that with tape in case a part should fall off. If you are wearing a ring with a stone, that needs to be taped too. Badges are required to be worn 'below the belt', and no cell phones or pagers are allowed. After going thru this gauntlet, you are finally able to take the elevator and see the Shuttle up close. It is difficult to describe how impressive this sight is. It is a thrill that always excites me, no matter how many times I come here. Many details become visible that are blurred when viewed on a TV screen. One can see the individual markings on the thermal tiles, and see their individual differences. You notice the leak detectors hanging off each of the Reaction Control System rockets. These orient the Orbiter while it is in space. You also realize that the entire Tank, Booster, Orbiter stack is essentially held to the launch pad by eight bolts, four on each Booster. After the main engines are lit, and the Boosters are fired, these bolts are blown apart, and the Shuttle accelerates upwards. All rocket motors, including the huge Boosters are steared by pivoting nozzles, correctly inserting the Orbiter into its trajectory around the earth. Columbia did not roll out to the pad that day, as there were problems with the steering mechanism. She would roll out the week after I visited. Going back two years, I was present for the rollout of the previous HST mission in 1999, a very impressive sight in itself. That, however, is a story for another day..... http://www.edcheung.com/job/SM3B/SM3B.htm ------------------------------------------------------ Date: Feb 16 To: sm3b site Re: Roll-Out After our hardware undergoes final processing at the Vertical Processing Facility, it is packaged for the trip to the Orbiter. This occurs with a container called the 'Canister'. This vehicle is the same size as the Orbiter, and even has two arched doors, that are similar to the pair of arched Orbiter doors. The Canister is driven into the VPF clean room, and parked along side our carriers, which hold the hardware that will fly into space. The carriers are transferred into the Canister one at a time, in the precise spacing that they will have in the Orbiter. After that, the doors are closed, and the Canister is driven out of the VPF to the Caniter Rotation Facility. In this facility, the Canister is rotated from a horizontal position to a vertical position using cranes. This matches the orientation of the Orbiter on the pad. A little known aspect of the Shuttle Launch Pad is the Rotating Service Structure (RSS). It is essentially a huge rotating scaffolding that covers the orbiter for servicing and protection against the weather. Once the RSS is rotated over the Shuttle, a large clean room covers the Orbiter Payload Bay, called the Payload Changeout Room (PCR). The PCR allows free access to the Orbiter Bay to prepare it for the mission. After rotation, the Canister is driven to the launch pad. With the RSS rotated back away from the Shuttle, the Canister is lifted and fastened in place in front of the PCR. The doors of the PCR and the Canister are opened, revealing our hardware to the interior of the PCR. When standing in the PCR, the view is just like you were looking at our hardware sitting in the Shuttle. A massive structure called the Payload Ground Handling Mechanism (nick-named the "pig-em") moves forward, grabs the carriers, and pulls them out of the Canister into the PCR. The Canister is then lowered and removed, and the RSS is rotated to cover the Shuttle. The PCR doors and the Orbiter doors are then opened, and the pig-em rolls forward to insert our carriers into the Orbiter. We then do our final electrical and mechanical hook-ups and final end-to-end tests before launch. For photos illustrating the launch pad, visit: http://www.edcheung.com/job/SM3B/SM3B2.htm ------------------------------------------------------ Date: Feb 16 2002 To: general list Re: L minus 12 update Twelve days to go until launch, and the schedule is still holding. Agnes and the kids have joined me here in Florida, and we are enjoying the warm weather. Right after we got here Christopher got sick. He had a bad cold with fever and runny nose. After a few days we took him to the doctor and he recovered with the help of some anti- biotics. Then I caught his cold for a few days, and I am still recovering from it. Wish I could breathe through my nose again...... Stephanie has learned to swim at last. When we were in Aruba in January, she started to paddle around for short distances in the Marriott pool, but yesterday she swam the entire width of the pool here, about 25 feet. We are really proud of her for that. The pool here is heated, and it feels really nice getting into it, but after a while I miss the cold water, and just need to get out. Agnes is enjoying her days teaching the kids school lessons and music. Since we are going to be here for at least 3 weeks, we obtained special lessons so that the kids can continue their schooling. Both teachers did not mind our absence as they felt it would be a benefit to be here. Christopher is starting to read whole words, and Stephanie is learning multi-digit multiplication. She still does not like to practice the Clarinet, oh well. Today, Agnes and the kids left for Disney World. We bought annual passes, allowing us unlimited visits for one year. If Lydia decides to come to Disney this year, we will probably join her, and not have to pay admission again. I decided to stay home and recover from my cold, but will be going tomorrow. This week I will be working nights (second shift). My work here will take me to the Space Shuttle every night to staff the turbo pumps that keep our hardware super clean. Right now, our hardware is being transferred into a clean room inside the Shuttle Launch pad. This coming week's activity will take me to that clean room every night. One of the hardware elements I have been working on needs continuous staffing around the clock. The nights promise to be long and boring, and I will probably spend some time writing to you from there. I have added some more pictures of our recent visit to the launch pad -> http://www.edcheung.com/job/SM3B/SM3B2.htm ------------------------------------------------------ Date: Feb 24 To: sm3b site Re: Launch Week It is finally launch week. With only a few more days to go, our hardware along with their carriers has been installed into the Orbiter. Most of the components in the Bay need little attention except for some minor work. The one exception is the NCC, which is the cryogenic refrigerator that will be used to revive NICMOS. Since it has tiny moving parts that will cool to cryogenic temperatures, it is extremely sensitive to moisture, and needs to be kept dry with vacuum pumps and dry nitrogen purges. The rules at the pad require us to staff the vacuum pumps around the clock, and I have been part of the team working the day shift. It is sometimes very boring, but we realize it is an important part of the work. We have come a long way with this cooler, flying it first on STS-95 in 1997 (Senator Glenn's space mission), and then refurbishing it for permanent use on HST. We all want nothing more than safe installation and long useful life from the NCC. Access to our hardware while it is installed in the Orbiter occurs via the Payload Changeout Room (PCR). One whole side of this room is taken up by the Cargo Bay and the two large open doors that cover it. Using multi-level platforms, we can gain close access for final preparations. It is quite an awesome sight to see all the hardware that the team has been working on all these years. Looking at all the widgets and enclosures on the carriers shows the great attention to detail our team has paid to all the hardware that will be needed during the mission. It has come as a result of close work among ourselves, and with the astronaut crew. There is a great deal of excitement among our team members, as we know that the big payoff is around the corner. It will be great to know you had a small part in making HST better and more powerful. At the top of the PCR is the front of the orbiter. Going there one can see the egress hatch the crew will use to exit the orbiter and perform their space walks. If you then go down one level, you can see the front most carrier, called the Rigid Array Carrier (RAC), which holds the new Solar Arrays. I have designed most of the circuitry inside the Diode Box Controller that is part of that system. It is also at this level that you can see the attachment point of the Shuttle robot arm (RMS). It will be used during the mission to gently pluck HST out of its orbit. The next level down is the SAC, which is the carrier for the ACS instrument, and the NCC. I have worked on that cooler since 1997, and am proud to finally see it ready for flight. The next carrier down is the FSS, which has hardware to hold and park HST during the mission. Three clamps (called down-locks), grab and lock down the Telescope after the robot arm pulls it down into the bay. The FSS is the only carrier with motors, some of which rotate and pivot HST so the crew has easy access to all parts. The FSS is also the only carrier on which I have no flight hardware. Finally, at the bottom of the room, and the back of the orbiter is the MULE carrier (yep that is its name), which holds the NCC radiator, the NCC computer (ESM), and the Reaction Wheel Assembly. The radiator prominently shows a recent addition, called the ARUBA (ASCS/NCS Relay Unit Breaker Assembly). I named it after my country of origin to stimulate interest in this mission among people from my country of birth. This has had its desired effect, and interest from Aruba has been extremely high. A small group of three reporters from the island will be viewing the launch with us. Since our arrival in Florida, the weather has been excellent. This all turned sour yesterday when we had very strong winds and rain. The wind was so heavy that some reported the top of the External Tank swaying by an inch. The platforms in the PCR were also moving, and we could see motion with respect to the Orbiter. The Orbiter and PCR are not rigidly attached to each other, and the gaps is closed by inflating seals to keep the elements out. Some water did seep in, and dripped down the Orbiter doors. As I write this, a high crew is climbing along the scaffolding to wipe off the residue. Walking in the high winds was very difficult, especially outside the PCR, where one is exposed to the elements. I have a dreadful fear of heights, and my co-workers often kid me about walking outside. The levels are built from steel grating, allowing clear vision down to the ground. I feel like I am walking in mid-air, and can plummet to the ground 135 feet below at any time when I need to make that 'death walk' back to the elevator. Today (Sunday) will be the last day that we staff the vacuum pumps. We disconnect tonight, and the multi-level platform, called the PGHM (or "pig'm") will be slowly rolled back and away from the Orbiter. At that point, we will have the first opportunity to see the whole Orbiter bay in its full glory. I intend to take plenty of pictures for that, including the ARUBA in the bay of the Shuttle. Then the Orbiter and PCR doors are closed, and the entire structure holding the PCR will be rolled away, revealing the Shuttle for full view again for the first time in weeks. I expect that to occur on Tuesday. We then tank on Wednesday, and launch on Thursday. A last minute problem can still cause a hold-up, and a 'go' from the tanking meeting on Wednesday will be the clearest indication all is proceeding well. I can't wait. More information at: http://www.edcheung.com/job/sm3b/sm3b.htm ------------------------------------------------------ Date: Feb 2002 To: General list Re: Launch Week! Well after all this waiting time, launch is only a few days away. It is always possible for a last minute problem to hold everything up, but we are optimistic that all will go on schedule. Mom is expected to arrive on Tuesday, which is the same day as our formal launch party. Just like in the past years, she arrives in town just in time to watch Stephanie and Christopher while we attend the gala event. There are also four more people coming from Aruba. Gideon Chong, Rosaria Lacle, Nilton Lacle, and Jan Poets are expected to arrive on Tuesday also. The latter two are reporters covering the launch for the Aruban press. As I had hoped, there is great interest in Aruba for this launch. I am really excited myself, as the payoff for the years of work is just around the corner. It will be great to see HST operating better and clearer than ever before. After the launch, we move the family to Orlando, so we can have two more days of Disney fun. Then Agnes and the kids will fly back to Maryland on Saturday, March 2. Mom returns home to Aruba, and I will then continue to the Johnson Space Center in Texas for my work during the mission. On that day, the astronaut crew is expected to grab HST, and that is when I am required to be on console at the Mission Control Center. I will be working 12 hour shifts until HST is released by the robot arm, which should be around March 9. If you want to read more about our mission preparations, I have made some small contributions to the official SM3B mission web site about my personal angle on the mission, if you are interested, visit: http://sm3b.hst.nasa.gov/chronicle.htm.... ----------------------------------------- Date: March 1 2002 To: General and SM3b Re: Time to get to work As you may have heard on the news, the launch was scrubbed on February 28 due to weather. The day before we spent touring the KSC Visitor Center, and the wind and cold was vicious. The temperature was in the fourties, and the wind cut right through us. As a result, I was relieved when the scrub was announced at 3pm, rather than 3am. I have been to launches that required us to get up very early in the morning (2 am), only to be scrubbed after we were bussed to the launch site...... By shear luck, we were assigned to the best visitor launch viewing site, and is known as the 'Banana Creek Viewing Site'. I have never seen a launch from this location, and it was spectacular. The distance was about 3 miles to the pad, while visitors are usually kept 6 miles away. Only the press site and the VAB has a slightly better view than us. The angle of the sun at 6am caused us to be able to see the Hubble Space Telescope as a bright Eastwardly moving star. She passed overhead at Tee equal zero, and it made her look so close, I could reach out and grab her myself. Without a break in the count down, the Launch time hit zero, and the early morning turned into day as the bright rooster tail rose over the chilly Florida morning. I could feel the vibrations on my chest as the sound wave finally hit us. We could also see the SRBs separating, and they had their own trail coming down. It was very exciting and tangible to see HST going by like a star, and the Shuttle shooting off to catch her. It is a great feeling to know that 'tonight' my hardware is in space once again. HSTs pass overhead dramatizes why we have a launch window, and why we have to get up at 2am. In order to stay within the operational envelope of the Orbiter, we need to launch with precise timing. Just like a quarterback throws the football at where he thinks the receiver will be, so do we have to prepare a launch trajectory to take HSTs speed into account. We will spend on last day at Disney today. Then Agnes and the kids will head home. Mom and our other guests from Aruba also return tomorrow. I will head to Johnson Space Center for my appointed console position. I will write you from there. Previous chronicles at the official SM3B site: http://sm3b.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission-updates/chronicles-latest.html Mission page: http://www.edcheung.com/job/sm3b/sm3b.htm ---------------------------------------------- Date: March 3 To: General and SM3B site Re: Flight Day 2 Update I am writing this from the Johnson Space Center, where I will be working for the duration of our servicing mission. We just finished our first day with Hubble, and everything is going very smoothly. We work each console position in two shifts, 12 hours each. Because of the time of launch, the astronauts do their space walks during our night. This latter 12 hour period is called the 'Orbit Shift'. The other is called the 'Planning Shift'. I staff my position during the Planning Shift. It is the role of our shift to plan the next day's space walks in response to any problems that occurred on the previous day(s). In the previous missions, I worked the Planning Shift also, but at night. Working a mission during the day is much less physical stress, and is a relief. The guys on the Orbit Shift can stay awake at night by following the astronauts, and solving problems as they arise, but it is still a long night. On the previous day, we caught up to the Hubble Space Telescope, and grabbed her with the Shuttle Robot Arm. I am still amazed we can do this delicate game of catch-up with another craft going Mach 25. After we matched orbits, she was then fastened to the Shuttle using one of the carriers called the FSS. Seeing HST is like seeing an old friend again that you have not seen in years. She is very dear to our hearts. Our initial assessment is that the outer surface looks good, and not damaged too much from the sun. We then successfully rolled up the two solar arrays. This roll-up did not occur without problems on the first mission in 1993, so our team worked on tons of plans in case of any problems. We covered all kinds of possibilities, even flying additional hardware to protect against any problems. Happily, all that work went to waste, as they both rolled up just fine. Tomorrow morning, the astronauts will replace one of the solar arrays during their first space walk. As part of the job, they will be installing a unit called the Diode Box Controller (DBC), a system I designed. I will document as much as I can on my mission web site. Then the day after, another pair of astronauts will install the second solar array, again with another DBC. Electrical power is a spacecraft most precious resource. Power means life. Lack of it means destruction and loss of the spacecraft. The DBC has control over the HSTs power, and as a result has a very important job. I took this responsibility very seriously during the design of the DBC. Power handling is a very large part of this mission, and I will describe more about it as the mission progresses. Mission page (updated with launch): http://www.edcheung.com/job/sm3b/sm3b.htm Disney vacation (final version): http://www.edcheung.com/album/disney02/disney02.htm To view the mission live over the Internet, go to NASA TV at: http://www.unitedspacealliance.com/live/nasatv.htm The astronauts are woken up at about 9pm Eastern Time, the space walks start at around 1am in the morning, and end about 8am. If you have any questions, just write me. -------------------------------------------------------- Date: March 5, 2002 To: general list and sm3b Re: Flight Day 5 Update The mission has been progressing amazingly well, better than the previous one in 1999. We just finished our second space walk (EVA) day, and we now have two new powerful Solar Arrays on the Telescope. The Arrays' power is controlled by a pair of Diode Box Controllers, which I have spent the past two years building and testing. Their passing their functional test is a great feeling! HST now has plenty of power for the future. We also have a new Reaction Wheel, which is used to orient HST in space. I did not work on this latter piece of hardware. Here at Johnson I work the console position named 'Systems Manager'. Three other colleagues and I staff this position. Upper management, the contamination control engineers, the EVA team, and the carrier engineers are also here. There is also a large team back at Goddard at work. It is their responsibility to watch over the HST during the mission, each individual subsystem monitored by individual personnel. Our job here at the Systems Manager console is to monitor the Shuttle to HST combination. If there is a problem that involves the Shuttle to HST interface, one of us will be assigned to work it. Of course, since we are still HST engineers, if there is a problem we can assist with on the HST side, we will jump in. Such it was yesterday when we saw a spike in current from one of the HST screens. I just came on shift then, and everyone was very high state of activity due to this unexpected current. The astronaut was just handling the Solar Array connectors, and we thought the current had something to do with what he did. Since there was nothing else happening, both Goddard and us started to work on this problem. It took a few hours, with telecons back to Goddard, but I finally figured out what the problem was, and the whole project was patting me on the back for that. Fortunately, this has been the only significant electrical anomaly. We had to solve this because the same circumstance would occur today when we install the second solar array. We communicate mainly by voice among our team members, which includes the team at Johnson, Goddard, and the Shuttle program. These conversations occur over circuits we call 'loops'. One can select any number of loops on which to participate by hitting spots on a touch screen. Experienced operators can follow several loops at once, but a novice like myself can perhaps follow only two at a time. I have to 'punch-off' the other ones when too many people are talking. When we are calling another person, we say three things to start a conversation. First, we say who we are addressing, second, we say who we are, and third we say which loop this conversation is on. For example, if I want to talk to the carrier engineers, I say : SSE, Systems Manager on SSE Coord. Thus SSE is the call sign of the carrier managers, Systems Manager is my call sign, and so that SSE knows which voice loop to speak on, I say the loop name (SSE Coord). The person being called can then punch-off the other loops, and speak one on one to me. Even though you are able to listen to almost any conversation, you are generally not permitted to speak to everyone. We follow a hierarchical protocol, and if I need to speak with someone two levels away in the hierarchy, we first request permission of a person that is an intermediate. If you jump through enough hoops, you can generally get to any person you wish to speak with. The exception are the astronauts. Only one person is allowed to speak with them, and he is known as the CAPCOM (Captain of Communications). This person is usually an astronaut himself. This single point of communications prevents confusion and excess chatter on the Air-to-Ground loop. Thus to get a message to the astronauts, I need to pass it to the Payload Officer, he then talks to the Flight Director, who then passes the message to the CapCom, who then in turn (finally) talks to the crew. These four jumps can cost us time, but if we don't do this prioritizing, the whole system would degrade to a noisy cocktail party. I do not think that I am exaggerating when I say that tomorrow will be the most difficult space walk in history. We will be changing out the heart of HST's power system, which will require powering down all of the telescope. This will involve removing a box that was not meant for in space servicing, and that has many connectors. This has not been done before, but we are confident all will go well. It will be a great thrill when it is completed. Since the telescope will be powered down for so many hours, we are currently performing what is called the 'preheat'. This is where we basically light up the Telescope like a Christmas tree, turning on every load we can to get everything good and warm. This allows us to remain unpowered for the longest amount of time so that the equipment does not cool below their allowable temperatures. Since we monitor the Shuttle to HST interface, we monitor the power usage, which is off the chart right now. To give you some real numbers, HST is drawing 2.5 kWatts from Shuttle at the moment. I will write again in a day or so. Web page on the Diode Boxes (final version): http://www.edcheung.com/job/DBC/DBC1.HTM Mission Web Site (still changing): http://www.edcheung.com/job/SM3B/SM3B3.htm ------------------------------------------------------ Date: 3/8/02 To: General List and SM3B Subject: Time to come home The astronauts just finished their last space walk, and the mission has been a huge success. HST now has a new power system, and two additional Science Instruments. All our hardware is working just fine. It was incredibly thrilling to see the astronauts install the NICMOS Cooling System, which will cool off NICMOS, an instrument that stopped working two years ago. We flew this cooler on STS-95 (known as the John Glenn mission). That is when we tested the operation of the system in space. Today we install it permanently into HST. An important part of the NCS is called the ARUBA, which is essentially a relay box. This box allows us to cut power from NCS should there be a particular failure. It was really thrilling to see the astronauts install that, saying the name ARUBA at least twice (730 am ET). I think this is the first time our island's name is mentioned in space. I will digitize this and put it on my web site with the help of Pete (my brother). If HST is ever brought home, some hardware will be jettisoned into space. This will cause it to burn up on reentry. Much of the hardware that we installed this mission will encounter this fate, including the radiator and ARUBA. As a result, the ARUBA box will remain in space forever. This disposal process needs to happen because the landing is very traumatic, and we can not risk hardware shaking loose inside Cargo Bay and damaging the Orbiter. Other hardware such as the Solar Arrays just will simply not fit back into the Cargo Bay. I will come in early tomorrow morning to witness the release of HST at around 430 am. Then I will head to the airport and go home. It has been one month since I left there, and one week since I saw Agnes and the kids so I am looking forward to that. This has been my fourth HST mission. It has been an incredible journey these past few weeks. Testing the hardware for the last time, packing it up for shipment to the Cape, testing it in Florida, seeing Mickey, seeing the launch, and the thrill of seeing the astronauts do their space walks. I look forward to coming back in two years from now and doing it all again. I have already started working on several of the flight boxes that will be installed the next mission, including HST's next premier instrument, Wide Field Camera III. Thank you for your encouragement and e-mails. I hope to see you soon. ARUBA hardware page (still in development) http//www.edcheung.com/job/SM3B/ARUBA/aruba4.htm NICMOS Cryocooler page (final) http//www.edcheung.com/job/NCS/NCS2.HTM Mission page (final) http//www.edcheung.com/job/SM3B/SM3B.htm