Happy Fourth of July
To all my friends in the US, Happy Fourth of July!
We're getting really close to launch here, and the final preparations are being made. One of the last things that has to be done before I go into space is topping off my dewar full of helium. It's getting chilly — that helium is 1.3 Kelvin (just over a degree warmer than absolute zero). Since the helium is the outermost layer of the three stages keeping me cold (helium, then neon, then a special refrigerator), it's really important that the helium lasts a long time. Once the helium is gone, I won't be cold enough to see x-rays anymore.
So today, the cryogenics team spent six hours adding more helium to the dewar. It's about 90% full, which should give me three cold years to look at x-rays. Now they're pumping on the tank to get it ready for launch. Once the pumping is done, they can seal up the openings in the nose fairing and on we go with the launch countdown!
This is a photo of the team that's topping off the helium. They're up on the 8th floor of the launch tower, where I am. They go in through that small hole in the nose fairing. I also go this picture of the cover for the hole — it sure does take a lot of bolts to hold that onto the rocket!
