Hey boys and girls. I'm new to your posting site.
My name is Michael Thee and I work for ILS. I am presently in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and my job is launch operations manager for the DTV 10 launch campaign. I have been reading thru your postings and I would like to say how nice it is to see such interest in what we are doing out here.
I would just like to answer a few questions that have been popping up. There are a few reasons why the ILS Blog is not updated in as timely a fashion as you would all like to see.
1. We refer to it as the interNYET on most days. But, they do the best they can with 1 mbps access, 56kbps dial up from the hotel out here. So needless to say, it is slow. And to try to download a picture? Well, you all should know how slow that is.
2. Somedays there is just nothing to report. SC battery charging may be ongoing; launch vehicle standalone testing may be in progress; electrical checkouts may be occuring; it may just be a day off (not that we have many of those on campaign).
3. The updates are written out here and we will subsequently send them to our home office in Virginia, where they are added to the site. Add to this point the fact that there is a 10 hour time difference, and well, you may see part of the problem.
4. And this is the biggest reason: I do the updating from out here!!!
Some days it doesn't get updated because I will start my day at 8:00 am and will get back to the hotel at 11:00 at night. WAYYYYY too tired to update the blog.
Some days we just get too busy to have a chance to get to it.
Some days, I just don't FEEL like it!!!
But just so you all know (and you will know before the blog even gets updated), we have begun Breeze-M loading. That means we are in the final stretch. DTV10 and the launch vehicle will be heading out to the pad soon. All looks great for an on-time launch on 7/7/07 @ 7:16 am local time here (play the 7's baybeeeeee!!!).
That will equate to 9:16 pm on 7/6/07 EST.
Thanks again for all the interest. It makes me feel like there are more than just my family and friends pulling for us out there.
Best regards,
Michael G. Thee
ILS
Launch Operations Manager