Pictures from JP Aerospace's DSS3/Oklahoma flight

Day 6: Saturday, March 23, 2002

by Ian Kluft

This is the day we've been planning for months. But when it finally came, the winds were much too high to launch DSS. With wind sustaining 20 knots and gusts up to 35 knots, we had to explain to people that even a space shuttle launch would be scrubbed under these conditions.

It was windy and freezing again for the third morning in a row. But this time people were standing outside. As expected, the crowd was like at an air show. I was told that 2000 people were outside, though I was inside and only saw about 300 there. Though the Spaceport Authority started out enforcing the original plan to keep spectators out, JP decided it would be inhumane to make everyone stand out there while we had shelter and a little heat inside. We quickly reconfigured the crowd lines to allow our work areas to be protected inside them but left room for hundreds of people around the perimeter.

Following the opening of the hangar to spectators, some of the event's PA system speakers were moved inside too. And so that's where the politicians' speeches took place. Once they started, the event was out of control. We couldn't get anyone to announce that we were still going to launch the weather balloon in order to hold the ribbon cutting ceremony. All they said was that the DSS launch was scrubbed until the next day, and then proceeded with their speeches. People started leaving in droves.

Well, politicians in Oklahoma seem to be just like the ones in California. They make sure to give each other credit for everything. Though in this case, I actually agree that there is credit to be given to the state and federal politicians who had the vision to support the spaceport. Some of them wrote the legislation that established the spaceport and tax incentives for aerospace companies to locate there. As far as regulations go, a commercial spaceport is thinking ahead. But the technology already exists if some government will just let it fly. (Several aerospace companies with sound technology have already failed after being strangled by antiquated regulations.) If they stick to their vision, I think the plan will succeed. The people and politicians of Oklahoma need to have years' worth of patience before they'll see the spaceport turn into something resembling its new name. They're off to a good start. I hope that our participation in their opening ceremony gives their initiative a big boost.

However, after hearing credit given widely to the politicians, it bitterly stung all the JP Aerospace participants that we weren't even mentioned. I doubt the politicians were aware of this. But someone organizing the event made a major goof. We all made a lot of out-of-pocket expenses to get there. So who's taking credit for the event's success and not including those of us who came anyway even though we knew we were personally making up for the state's funding shortfall for the event?

One person in particular (whom I won't name here but she's not from Oklahoma) was supposed to introduce our leader, John "JP" Powell, president and founder of JP Aerospace. But the person who was to make that introduction made no more reference to us than as a "California company" and entirely neglected to introduce JP. I can tell you that in my experience of the entire trip to Oklahoma, that moment was the lowest low point of them all. The only thing that saved my opinion of the trip as a worthwhile effort was the overwhelmingly positive reaction from the residents of Burns Flat - they wanted us to feel welcome and they succeeded.

I've been in varying roles in volunteer groups before, both as a participant (such as in JP Aerospace) and as a leader (such as in sbay.org.) I think it's important to treat your volunteers well - if you haven't paid them then you owe them recognition for they work they do for you. JP gives us recognition at every opportunity, earning our respect in the process. And since I'm writing this web page, I'll credit our volunteers too with the volunteers page.

But there wasn't time to dwell on that. As soon as the speeches were over, the balloon filling began. The people who hadn't already left were now paying attention to what we were doing. The gigantic hangar doors were opened. The instrument package and balloon were walked out into the wind. A photo of the struggle to hold the balloon made the front page of the Sunday Oklahoman the next morning. It was scary to watch, since it seemed at any moment the balloon could get slammed against the concrete and pop. It brought back memories of the May 1999 space launch attempt when CNN got video of lots of our balloons popping in the wind at the Black Rock Desert before we scrubbed for that day. (Fortunately, we set a new and still-standing amateur rocketry altitude record the next day so they aired our story.)

But this was just one balloon. We had the "ribbon cutting" ceremony quickly. Actually, since no sharp objects are allowed near the balloons, it was more of a ribbon tossing. But that was good enough. That was performed by Michelle Garcia, an 8th grade student in Burns Flat whom I was told is a descendant of the local Native American tribal leadership and represented her tribe there. Her participation was considered a blessing of the flight, which might enter tribal airspace or lands, and of the spaceport, whose future industry is hoped to employ many of their people.

And with that the balloon was away. It climbed to the north and, for a moment, I regretted not having bought a map of Kansas. But the winds go different directions at different altitudes. As predicted, the higher-level winds were eastward and southeastward.

We had two vehicles on this hunt. The crew in my truck included Phoenix and Matt. Natalie drove her rental car. Her crew included Aubrey as planned and a last-minute addition of Marvin Gorden KC9VF, a Ham from Elk City who volunteered at the launch when he found out we were going after it.

The map below shows the path of the balloon in green. It turned east and then southeast as it climbed. We couldn't keep up with it as the winds carried it away faster than any ground speed limits. But we were tracking it. At the base station and in my truck we had the capability to immediately decode the APRS (Automated Position Reporting System, a Ham Radio data protocol) packets that it was transmitting. Phoenix wrote down all the data while Matt plotted it on a map. Matt navigated and advised me where to drive, but our teamwork did allow me to focus on the driving.

Natalie didn't want to follow me down some of the muddy dirt roads. I put the 4-wheel drive on and proceeded while she turned around and headed for the freeway. So of the two red lines on the map, the southern one through Cordell and Binger is my route. The one along I-40 to Hinton is Natalie's.

My team was in the vicinity of the landing zone within 20 minutes of touchdown. But the transmitter had stopped on impact. There were no further reports of its location once we were there. We had all the in-flight data and made some searches on foot while Natalie caught up with us. Then we all gathered the info we had and observed the surface winds. Aubrey narrowed down the projection of the landing area. Phoenix, Matt and I proceeded on foot across a field and some hills while Natalie, Aubrey and Marvin drove around to another road to approach it from the other side.

Marvin was the one on Natalie's crew who found it. Recovery of the package was recorded as 90 minutes after touchdown. (We consider recovery within 4 hours of touchdown to be good.) We thought it appropriate that the Oklahoman in the group would take those honors though it wasn't arranged that way. We get rather competitive in the end-game of the hunt to be the first ones there.

We photographed the landing site and then took the package back to the spaceport. The Oklahoma University folks were very happy to hear we had recovered it. They had lost their own payload's radio signal just after launch. If not for the recovery of the package, they would have no data. But now they had it all. And they appeared as happy as a child on Christmas.

When we got back, work was already under way to re-engineer the Spaceplanes container into its own flight vehicle with just one balloon. We had to improvise on the spot if this was going to fly the next day, since the weather forecasts were showing no change for Sunday except maybe for the worse. We were carrying the hopes and dreams of most of the school kids in Oklahoma. If anything could be done, it had to fly...

Work continued through the evening. The crew was to be back at the hangar at 4AM.

(499x500 79K) (500x501 78K)	Away 14 flew a sort of a sine-wave pattern from the Oklahoma Spaceport to Spring Creek OK, half way to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma University meteorology instruments were carried to 100,000' and recovered within 90 minutes of touchdown. (Green indicates the flight path. Red indicates paths taken by the tracking and recovery teams.)
(1488x992 421K) (500x333 14K)	Saturday morning, DSS's flight has been scrubbed for the day due to high winds, 20 knots sustained and gusts up to 35. These winds would easily have scrubbed a shuttle launch as well. Though it was not required by our contract under high-wind conditions, we improvised in order to hold a launch and ribbon-cutting for the opening ceremony of the spaceport anyway. In this photo, John "JP" Powell, president and founder of JP Aerospace, explains to the TV camera crews that we will launch a single balloon with the University of Oklahoma meteorology instruments which would have flown aboard DSS. In the background outside the hangar, team members hold the instrument package in place while the blue streamer shows how strong the winds are.
(1488x992 675K) (500x333 28K)	Some of the attendees watch as the balloon is filled.
(1488x992 435K) (500x333 14K)	The weather balloon launches from Oklahoma Spaceport on Saturday morning.
(1488x992 450K) (500x333 28K)	The weather balloon launches from Oklahoma Spaceport on Saturday morning.
(1488x992 512K) (500x333 28K)	The weather balloon launches from Oklahoma Spaceport on Saturday morning.
(1488x992 487K) (500x333 16K)	The weather balloon launches from Oklahoma Spaceport on Saturday morning.
(1488x992 984K) (500x333 56K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma.
(1488x992 905K) (500x333 56K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. Marvin Gorden KC9VF of Elk City, OK volunteered to assist with the tracking and recovery effort. In this photo, Marvin is helping to document the landing site before we take away the package.
(1488x992 683K) (500x333 41K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. A view of the PongSat container shows that 3 PongSats were flown to 100,000' on this mission. These PongSats were from the Burns Flat fire dept, one containing a pin for their participation in the rescue effort at the 1995 Murrah Federal Building disaster in Oklahoma City. They thought it appropriate (and we agreed) to have these flown to the edge of space for the Spaceport inauguration. The PongSats were returned to the firefighters after the package was recovered.
(1488x992 594K) (500x333 38K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. This view of the top of the package shows the blue streamer that slowed its descent. Also on the top panel is the GPS antenna, which was crucial to tracking the package in flight. The on-board computer used this to transmit its position and altitude throughout the flight. The package was recovered 90 minutes after touchdown. (We consider recovery within 4 hours to be good.)
(1488x992 642K) (500x333 37K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. Matt and Phoenix watch the landing site documentation effort. Natalie (JPA Recovery Teams coordinator) prepares to take another photo.
(1488x992 740K) (500x333 41K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. This photo shows where the package landed in a narrow strip between a wheat field and a tree-covered hill. Left to right: Natalie, Marvin, Aubrey, Phoenix, Matt.
(1488x992 896K) (500x333 52K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. The package is leaning to the right because that's the angle that it impacted the ground, falling in stiff surface winds. The package hit harder than intended because the balloon got tangled in the streamer after it burst.
(1488x992 854K) (500x333 56K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. On the bottom of the package is the JPA flight computer. The thicker box on top of it is the University of Oklahoma instruments.
(1488x992 787K) (500x333 42K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. We're almost done documenting the site... Matt and Aubrey pick up the package so we can photograph the condition of the bottom panel.
(1488x992 534K) (500x333 33K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. The bottom panel was the impact point, as intended. The extra layer of foam absorbed the impact.
(1488x992 739K) (500x333 45K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. Marvin, Aubrey and Matt talk about the condition of the package.
(1488x992 650K) (500x333 37K)	JPA Tracking and Recovery teams recover the instrument package 70 miles away near Spring Creek, Oklahoma. Phoenix carries the package back to my truck for transport back to the spaceport.
(1488x992 674K) (500x333 27K)	Back at the hangar Saturday afternoon, everyone takes a break after the successful recovery of the package.
(1488x992 435K) (500x333 25K)	As the weather forecasts indicate that Sunday morning's weather will be worse than Saturday's, the team re-engineers the Spaceplanes container to attach its own set of flight electronics so it can be its own flight vehicle instead of just a payload on DSS, if needed. JP looks on while Dave, Phoenix and Matt attach electronics boxes and antennas. Though our agreement with the Oklahoma Spaceport Authority would have released us of responsibility to launch under the high winds, we knew all the schoolkids of Oklahoma were looking forward to this. DSS can't fly in such high winds but a single balloon can. (Unfortunately, a single balloon can't carry all the video and still cameras and other instruments that everyone hoped to get high-altitude pictures from.) This would be the only way to do it...

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Copyright (c) 2002 Ian Kluft. All opinions on this page are my own. For official info from JP Aerospace please see jpaerospace.com.