223

223 - that's the number of days since the last post.  Sorry readers, we've been busy.  In fact, if it were not for Lola this morning, I probably wouldn't have remembered to blog at all...

This trips starts on Friday with a mid-day flight to Wichita.  Flights were routine and through Denver.  Weather in Denver was cool and on the verge of snowing.  In Wichita, overcast and on the verge of raining - expecting a full day of rain on Saturday.

Rain over Kansas

Upon arrival at the hotel, I immediately made my way across the street to the restaurant/bar which likely had the two things I wanted:

1. The Jets vs Wild game on TV
2. Beer

The pub did not disappoint - the beer was good and they put the Jets game on the TV so I could watch.  And what a finish it was!

Saturday was supposed to be a test day for us but when I arrived in Wichita on Friday, the aircraft was on stand-by as they were trouble shooting some issues that arose during the day's flights.  Saturday morning was relatively relaxed - I got up at 7 to read the emails outlining the issues from the previous day; breakfast and then made my way to the hangar to see what was going on.  There were two other guys from Montreal here, one at the same hotel as I and the other near the airport. 

Shortly before noon, we had a briefing on the activities for the day - no flight testing but at least we could get the ground tests done.  And, like all test days, it was long - we stepped on the airplane at around 3pm and stepped off at around 7:30.  Tests went well.

Afterwards, we went for dinner and then to the hotel for some sleep.  Naturally I couldn't fall asleep - too wound up from the busy day.  Eventually, though, sleep was had.

Sunday was a rest day for us.  There was some work for the airplane (measuring gaps) but that's not for me (thankfully...).  Instead, I had the day off and decided to take the advice of one of the guys from Montreal who said to go to the space museum about an hour away.  It did not disappoint!

No, I was not at the Speakeasy - this is the hotel parking lot

All ready to go

Just outside Wichita - the Winnipeg of the South

Hutchinson, KS

The Destination

I still do not understand why such an impressive space museum is in Hutchinson, KS - it baffles me.  With two rockets outside and several space modules inside (two early Russian capsules, the Liberty 7 (Mercury), a Gemini and Apollo 13 capsules), it was very impressive.  Plus, there was a German V2 rocket and much space memorabilia to be seen.  It was quite the museum, well worth the drive and admission.

The entrance to the Museum - did not expect to be going down:

This is a tire from the SR-71 Blackbird (fastest airplane ever built).  The tire rubber has powered aluminum to raise the auto-ignition temperature of the rubber to be able to accommodate the high speeds which the airplane landed at.

Replica Bell X-1 rocket plane used in early rocket development in the late 1940's:

 

This is one of 5 metallic spheres the Russians built to launch on rockets towards the moon (called the "Luna Sphere"). The first one missed, the second and third hit the moon (being the first objects sent from Earth to the moon).  Numbers 4 and 5 were never launched and were held a Senior Russian official until they were both "found" in the US - one here and the other at the Eisenhower Presidential Library, both in Kansas.

Glass windows used at the rocket launch (blast) bunker at Cape Canaveral which consisted of 14 pieces of glass 1/4" thick resulting in a 4.5" thick window.

The view through the window.

The replica Liberty Bell 7 (originally lost in the Atlantic Ocean when the main hatch opened prematurely when the aircraft landed on the water; later found and restored; currently on loan to another museum).  In the background in a replica Voskhod capsule with Volga airlock (Russian).

Inside the Gemini X capsule.  Hope they weren't claustrophobic...

THE Apollo 13 capsule:

Me with my buddies:

One of the first moon rocks collected by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11.  Much larger than the moon rocks I've seen in Tucson, Florida and Texas:

A replica lunar lander:

Ah, those Russians!  Vodka in space - used when there was a fire on-board the MIR space stating in the 90's to help "calm nerves" (oh really, that's what Vodka is used for?):

This one's for Lola:

I didn't get many pictures of the V2 / WWII exhibit but it was quite amazing how much influence WWII had on the space race.  Most notably was that the Germans spent $3 billion in 1945 currency to develop the V2 rocket, more than double what the US spent to develop the atomic bomb.  Also interesting - it cost $550 for VW to build the V1 rockets.  My memory fails me but the build time for each rocket was equally astounding (assembly time maybe 6 hrs?).

After spending 2+ hours at the museum, I made my way back to Wichita with a short stop at the Learjet 35 on static display outside the Learjet / Bombardier hangars:

Then it was back to the hotel, a short workout at the gym and then dinner down the street.  Now, time for bed - tomorrow sounds like it will be a full day with meetings and testing.  Hopefully we get everything done that we want to tomorrow so I can get out of here on Tuesday to go to Montreal for the rest of the week.