Sendoff Party

An absolutely enormous thank you goes out to all my dear friends who helped me throw a sendoff party for Terry at our church two weeks ago. It was so fun for Terry to visit with everyone before his final training push and we treasured the prayers that were lifted up for him. Bethany Berreth arrived with a small army and made the most delicious and beautiful food, Rhonda had two incredible cakes and Paige, Kimberly and Carolyn ran the whole show from behind the scenes. We also need to thank Sue for creating a very special photo book for all our guests to sign. Speaking of the book, it is still on my dining room table, so if you haven't had a chance to sign, come by and write your good wishes inside.

Another Launch Date Change

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! Hope you had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Saviour with family and friends. Well I have spent the past two weeks frantically working on our launch date change (which moved back and forth 6 times on me) and trying to reschedule my reception down in Florida. That being said, launch is now set for Sunday, February 7th at 5:20am. Of course, that date can change at any time but everything looks "go" for now. I had to laugh that all our guests could watch the shuttle launch in the morning and then drive on down to Miami for the Superbowl. Go Endeavour!

Launch Date Change

It's true, our launch date has slipped to Feb 6 at 5:05am. You can keep checking nasa.gov for details but for now, that's where we stand. The true launch date won't be official until after the orbiter has been rolled out to the pad and evaluated. Currently roll out is scheduled for Jan 6 so keep checking. Go Endeavour!!

Prime Crew

All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Landing Atlantis

Once again we were very happy to celebrate another successful mission as STS-129 landed on Friday at Cape Canaveral, Florida. What a beautiful sight and I'm sure Randy will be even more thrilled to meet his new little girl on Saturday. For those who don't know, there will be a Crew Return ceremony at Ellington Field on Monday at 4:00 which is open to the public. We'll be there to join the celebration.

More Sim Time

Terry spent his last couple of days before Thanksgiving break in the simulator with his commander, George Zamka. Mostly they were practicing landings. Now all his simulators are "suited" which means that he is wearing the big orange suit and helmet. It takes about an hour to get them suited up before a run. They then spend several more hours doing deorbit runs which take them from space all the way to the landing site in Florida. Underneath the orange suits, the astronauts wear a thick pair of blue long underwear which has tubing running through it to keep them cool. So when you see them carrying a box while in the orange flight suit, that's the air conditioning unit which sends cool water through the tubing.

Space food

If you know Terry, you know that he will find a way to have lots of chocolate in space. M&M's are a big favorite of his and you can just let them float and then vacuum them up with your mouth. Actually he will be eating 3 meals a day and has one week's worth of meals which he will repeat during his second week in space. Let's see, for breakfast he has things like oatmeal, sausage, cornflakes, scrambled eggs, and yogurt. Lunch includes meatloaf, chicken noodle soup, applesauce, gumbo, enchiladas, and fajitas, and it looks like, he will round out his dinner menu with some turkey tetrazinni, chicken teriyaki, sweet and sour chicken, tuna casserole, fajitas, and beef enchiladas. As I'm reading his menu, I also noticed that he has alloted himself a brownie every day at lunch and a slice of chocolate pudding cake every night at dinner. His total intake is about 3000 calories per day and yes, most of that food is dehydrated. To cook it, he simply adds warm water to the pouch of food and then eats cuts a small hole in it to eat it. He is required to pack his own spoon for use in space, interesting. And the age-old question, will he be drinking Tang? No, it's not Tang per say but they do have powdered drinks that they rehydrate as well. Don't forget, he has to ride the treadmill for 1 to 2 hours per day to prevent muscle loss and burn off all those brownies.

STS-130

What does it stand for? Space Transportation System and the 130 stands for the 130th space shuttle flight. This is an acronym devised back under President Ronald Reagan, I believe. So tomorrow, let's find out, "What will Terry be eating in space?"

Question of the Day

Okay, here's my new segment...email your questions and I will try to answer them on my blog. Tomorrow's question is "what does STS-130 stand for?"

Sim Time

Terry spent most of the day yesterday in the simulator working on rendezvous, which translates to docking of the shuttle to the space station. Zambo controls the docking while Terry assists and then Terry controls the undocking later in the mission. Years ago, Terry put me in a rendezvous sim so that I could try it out and I was so disoriented, I couldn't even tell which way was up much less, dock without crashing. Once again, I stand amazed at all that he is capable of.

Go Atlantis!

16 November was a crystal clear and beautiful day for the launch of STS-129. We were so thrilled to see it go off without a hitch and my heart is truly happy for our dear friend Butch, the pilot, and his family. I have to confess to a few goosebumps as I watched it go. Shortly after liftoff, Terry got an email from the deputy chief of the office which read simply, "You're next!"

Shuttle Training Aircraft

For those who wonder how pilots learn to land the shuttle, the answer is the STA or shuttle training aircraft. NASA has a small business jet that has been equipped to transition to shuttle-like flying qualities at the flip of a switch. This jet is kept mostly in El Paso, TX so Terry jumps in his T-38 here, flies to El Paso, jumps on over to the STA and heads to one of the landing sites, flips the switch and then simulates shuttle landings. Then he does it all in reverse to get home. He spent Friday simulating landings in Florida since there is a launch scheduled for Monday and the STA is up and running down there. If I am correct, there are only a few landing strips in the world which are long enough for a shuttle landing. Of course, Cape Canaveral in Florida is one, and Edwards AFB, CA is the best alternate site. I'll have to get Terry on here to give more specifics next time.

Doctor Virts

Yes, you read it correctly, Terry is actually the crew medical officer for this mission so he has done quite a bit of medical training. He also learned how to fill cavities and do a root canal in 30 mins or less. Look out Matthew, he said he'll do all your allergy shots from now on.

More photos of Endeavour

I just had to include some more pictures of the orbiter...and you can laugh at the funny clothes the crew has to wear whenever they are around it.

Prepping Endeavour

For the last 3 days, the 130 crew has been at the Cape training aboard their orbiter, Endeavour. After looking at the photos, I stand fully amazed at how they can remember where everything is located aboard their ship. Most people don't realize the vast amount of maintenance that has to be performed in space, such as cleaning vents, air hoses and water valves. And I confess, I am totally blown away by the number of switches in the cockpit. Tomorrow Terry will be in an entry simulator (that's a landing simulator for all of us non-NASA types) and then finish up some more medical training. I do love these pictures!

The Blog is Open

We are officially 3 months from launch, so the Virts blog is now open! It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone since our assignment and how much faster these next months will fly by. For those of you who followed the old blog (which closed about 6 months ago), this is the new, up-to-date source for info on Terry's trip to space. We are going to try our best to give daily updates on his progress and activities.....so here goes. Today, Nov 6th, I'm sitting at home doing laundry and dishes, while he spent the day climbing around his orbiter down in Florida. This was actually the first time he has ever been in Endeavour, so I'm anxiously waiting by the computer for some photos. Wish I could have been there to see it.