My life in Sounding Rockets

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OFSO
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My life in Sounding Rockets

#1 Post by OFSO » Sun Apr 17, 2016 3:05 pm

Hey, don't complain, you light the touchpaper and they go upwards (mostly) so it must be an experience in aviation, right ?

Sounding rockets, for them what don't known, are whacking great solid-fuel missiles that when fired straight up for oh, one hundred miles or so, use an instrument package on the nose to look around at the edge-of-space environment, record readings, and then parachute the instrument package back to earth. Unbent, mostly.

A load of such missiles delivered to my former employer and transported to the sounding range in Sardinia were found to have corroded multi-pin connectors on the external power/instrument package link. This plug - think a huge SCART plug - is held into the side of the sounding rocket against two springs, which try and eject it - this is prevented by a pyrotechnic device which fires shortly before motor ignition, the springs eject the connector, the cable falls away, and up she goes. Needless to say if the cable/connector isn't ejected and the motor fires, all sorts of Interesting things happen. Not the least of which is that the sounding rocket tries to drag the launch pad into space behind it (and fails).

It would have cost a fortune to change all the multi pin-connectors, so an alternative solution was found. This consisted of approaching an elderly and unemployed man in the village and asking him to stand next to the sounding rocket with his ear pressed against the side: when he heard relays click and various pumps starting to spin up - and this was explained to him in great detail - followed by shouts over the PA of "get the f*ck out of there you silly old c*nt" - he was to give the connector a massive kick and when it ejected, to throw himself down the gantry steps, following which he should run as quickly as possible (for him) and then when he saw his shadow in front of him outlined by a brilliant light, throw himself face down and hug the ground. For this he was paid a packet of fags and a half- bottle of whiskey per launch.

All worked very well, until he broke his leg, which halved his running speed on subsequent launches.

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Re: My life in Sounding Rockets

#2 Post by Alisoncc » Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:21 pm

Is there any reason why you didn't supply your volunteer with all the necessary kit to allow him to go up with the rocket? You could have done it on the cheap with a scuba mask and oxygen bottle, and a caped winged suit to enable him to fly back down.

Alison
Rev Mother Bene Gesserit.

Sent from my PDP11/05 running RSX-11D via an ASR33 (TTY)

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Re: My life in Sounding Rockets

#3 Post by OFSO » Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:44 pm

Is there any reason ....

Yes. Staff Rules and Regulations 17 (1) Age Limits - Staff Members shall not remain in post past the age of 65 (which he appeared to have passed, although he may have just led a hard life). Also Staff Rules and Regulations 22.3 Removals and Mission Expenses. Which, having been 'removed' to the upper atmosphere, he would have been subject to, but would have been denied a first-class flight.

Alternatively he could have been recruited by SERCO as a contract staff member, however this would have cost MUCH more than a packet of fags and bottle of cheapo whiskey !

I'm not going to enter into here the R & R's governing working away from home, travelling expenses, and overtime applicable to staff members on the ISS. But they are 'specially formulated'.

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