![]() ![]() A second shift tech would have to trouble shoot the OPF roof. I was past the OPF security guard and to my NASA truck in minutes. ![]() To my shame a wave of panic washed over me and I dropped the jacket and ran to the ladder, exiting the roof as judiciously as possible. (I guess that dagger eye dress down had affected me more than I wanted to admit) Someone had removed their jacket after the climb to the roof and then removed the extra layer of clothing and folded it very neatly on their briefcase.Īs silly as it sounds now, I had a premonition that was I holding the center director's fouled jacket. To my relief I spotted a rag on the roof and eagerly wiped the brown grease off my hands.Īnd I spread the rag apart ignoring my grease stains I was rather horrified to realize I was holding in my hands someone's suit jacket!Īh.The realization of what I had just done slapped at me and causing sweeping panic A dead roof buzzard would have been useful. In desperation I searched the roof for a rag or anything I could have wiped my hands with. However I as I stood upon the roof I was disgusted at the heavy grease that layered both of my hands. So I suppose I just admitted that was not wearing the safety climb (heights never bothered me) Ignore the five minutes hanging on the edge to unhook the 'safety climb' Someone had recently greased the safety climb on the ladder to the OPF roof-a safety feature that everyone who was not scared of heights 'despised', To use the climb required a special harness that made a climber hug the ladder while climbing, in a utterly un natural fashion however if your were hooked into the safety feature you could never fall more than one ladder step. When I stepped off the ladder to my dismay my hands were covered in grease. I stepped carefully off the ladder searching for terns recalling the vast tern rookery with little spotted eggs on the roof of the Imax theater at the Kennedy Visitor Center. To get to the OPF roof we climbed an exterior ladder. (Former Space Shuttle hangers, now home to a Top Secret space plane, that I will not mention, despite the name being painted on the south door) The OPFs were a living sci fi story where the shuttles were inspected, tested, and refurbished (re-entry heat shield tiles replaced) These space ship garages were also shelter from the summer storms and brutal Florida heat that would damage sensitive equipment. I had seen both Prince Charles and Peter Frampton at OPF 1&2 (So I am impressed easily)įor non space junkies "OPF" is an acronym for "Orbiter Processing Facility" and the buildings were (and still are) sophisticated spacecraft maintenance hangars. The buildings were heavily guarded and 'the place for VIP visitors to the space center. OPF 3 was a stand alone building north of the VAB. (Shuttles Atlantis and Endeavor were processed for their next missions in OPF 1& 2) One summer day we were sent to trouble shoot equipment on the OPF roof.Īctually the 95 foot tall OPF 1&2 shared the same roof. From the Launch Control Center to the KSC visitor center Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, the buildings were (and still are) sophisticated spacecraft maintenance hangars (Perhaps the page should be named "Sometimes I do stupid things")Īs a com techs we were dispatched to all areas of Kennedy Space Center, launch gantries to crawlerway tunnels. Weldon Spring Ordnance Works & Radioactive Waste.Eminent Domain of Busch Conservation Area.Oday Park OFallon wasting your tax dollars.Flooding and Erosion Caused by Oday Park. ![]()
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