Signing the SBI Gondola
Today the SBI team signed the electronics cover plate on the gondola, signifying that we are launch ready. Unfortunately only those down here in Antarctica could sign, so Bliss our designated calligrapher wrote thier names in, as well as adding the fitting sun logo to the center. We all took turns climbing the ladder, trying to keep our signature legible using a huge sharpie while maintaining balance. Its a good feeling to have everything checked out, for Pietro and many of the others this has been nearly 10 years of work on this project (including multiple previous launches), so it will be hard to see it go. Actually, scrub that, after months of putting this thing together we are ready to shove it out the door and into space!
The signing of the gondola:
How do you get to space using a balloon? Well, lots and lots of Helium. 30,000,000 to 60,000,000 cubic feet of it actually, enough to fill a large stadium. Here is one of 3 of the LBD programs Helium containers shipped here:
Its possible after being here for over a month that some of us are going a bit nutty.
The signing of the gondola:
How do you get to space using a balloon? Well, lots and lots of Helium. 30,000,000 to 60,000,000 cubic feet of it actually, enough to fill a large stadium. Here is one of 3 of the LBD programs Helium containers shipped here:
Its possible after being here for over a month that some of us are going a bit nutty.
posted by Nathan at
3:15 PM
2 Comments:
Sorry to hear that you are going a bit nutty, but I thought the Helium was for the balloon, not for internal consumption? Has Penkie made a high altitude launch yet? I'll see what type of X-mas present I can fit into my 3.5 floppy drive to send you or maybe I will use my 5.25 drive. You can get something bigger that way!
By
Anonymous, at 7:42 AM
Sorry about the delays Nate. I was thinking optimistically and didn't end up putting anything in the mail for fear of it ending up missing you in Antarctica.
By the way, every piece of equipment you have down there looks like whacked-out creation of a 9-year-old using a bunch of Legos. In short, I want to go.
By
Matt, at 11:55 AM
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