After the gates allowed us to legally be in the hangar, we crazy taped and cleaned the secondary containment (it was diiiiiirty.) Unfortunately, the hose idea to jostle fluids inside the was proving to be a bit more difficult because the valve didn't fit in the hole of the secondary containment (safety hazard) So we went to the hardware store to look for a smaller valve to replace the current one, with no luck. However, we found another solution for the problem...move the hose! This idea turned out to be a nice one because it worked splendidly!
Even the Ground Crew got to tour the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (a building that contains a 200x100x40 ft pool where astronauts train for their missions) We were lucky to see the pool and talk to a few of the people who work there.
I don't think you understand how deep this pool is. 40 feet. A FOUR STORY BUILDING, if you will.
When we got back to the hangar, we had a lesson in "compliment sandwiches" it's where you say something good, followed by the problem, and end with something good. Here's an example:
Tank is good. Good.
Must seal secondary containment. Not so good.
Structural will pass. Good.
Unfortunately, the field is closed for weekends and we had to have some way to bring the whole rig home to fix it. So we thought we would test what we had just to see if it worked.
We took it outside and filled it with a bucketful of water. No luck. Not a good enough seal.
There's our weekend.
The rig DOES NOT fit in our car. We asked the other schools to see if someone could help us out. Thank goodness for Purdue. They took our rig back to our hotel so we could work on it this weekend and offered to pick us up Monday too.
Right when we got in, we sealed and caulked the secondary containment so we had plenty of dry time.
We spend the rest of the night bonding as a team while eating spaghetti at the dinner table like a family (how sweet)
As for tomorrow....we're getting ready for speed walking in style at the Yuri Run/Walk and winning (or losing) five for the tank seal bet...
Had to chuckle at the sight of duct tape; you have something in common with Red Green! Good thinking to recruit the Purdue assist in getting your tasks accomplished. . .keep thinking of every possible solution.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking pictures and taking time to post. You're definitely soothing my serious curiosity. Wishing you all the best.
I love the sweet headbands...I really hope you had them on at the airport! Now all I want to see is Crosby with that and a 'Come Git Sum' shirt on.
ReplyDelete...also, I'm glad everyone got to see NBL...its so amazing! you don't really realize how big it is until your right there with it. I was so tempted to jump in when we were there.
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