The Holy Grail HST Mission Control

[jjjnettie]

Yesterday I was honoured to have been taken on an 8hr guided tour of Goddard Space Flight Center.
While I found all of the facilities I visited very very interesting, (I'll share photos from other sections at a later time ) the high light for me was when we entered the building that housed Hubble's Mission Control.
But my heart missed a beat when I found out that I was going to be allowed inside. :) :eyepop:
HST Flight Ops team member David Schiable fired up the computers and got them talking to the telescope.
We talked space, astronomy and astro imaging and when he learned I was into astro imaging his eyes lighted up and asked most politely for advice on wide field astro imaging. !!!!
The man is in charge of Hubble, and he's asking ME for advice!! LOLOL So surreal and ironic. And yes, I have witnesses to this, they were as gobsmacked as I was. :D
So we shared photos and I gave what advice I could on imaging and processing wide fields and star trails and what programs would be best to use (startrails.de) .:thumbsup:

[Kunama]

Now you're just showing off jjj !!!!

[RobF]

Holy photons Batman!
The girl from Kilcoy is really in the imaging Big Smoke now.
Unbe - F'ing - lievable JJJ :eyepop:

Can I get your autograph when you get back? :lol:

[h0ughy]

well that's a name dropper - congrats on the inner sanctum JJJ

[rogerg]

Wow, awesome!!

[Davros]

Wow, just wow, squeeeeeeeee

[Davros]

Are you going to do show and tell at this years astrofest!

[jjjnettie]

ha ha. Would you believe me if I said that Fred Haise (Apollo 13) asked me to autograph the image of the Moon I gave him???
Fair dinkum!! I shyte you not.
The next day I got a Face Book friend request from him.

Last night John Kazeva, engineer on ALL the Shuttle missions, gave us (Kate Doolan and myself) a chauffeured tour around Washington DC in his convertible.

Tomorrow night I'll be visiting the Naval Observatory at the Vice Presidents residence. (squeeeee!!!THE Vice President of the United States!!!!) I'll bring along my T ring and adapter for this one. Who knows, they may let me slot the 550D into one of their scopes.
It sure would top the Lowell Obs imaging experience.

My mind is officially blown away. It's all so so SO surreal. :eyepop:

[jjjnettie]

It's 2.30am, I can't sleep I'm so excited about tomorrow night. Time for sedation methinks.

[Dennis]

Hello, Jeanette

Thanks for the fabulous and riveting “JJJ’s travel astro-bulletins” they make enthralling reading and your energy and excitement jump out of the screen.:):thumbsup:

It sounds like you are having a really enjoyable time, a trip of a life time eh!:)

Cheers

Dennis

[chrisp9au]

Wow, that's just the best!

Anyone notice they're running all that stuff on a system running Windows! :eyepop:

Chris

[rogerg]

yes but at least it's Windows 7 :) Besides, who know what is simply UI software vs actual control software.

[Kevnool]

Trip of a lifetime JJJ.
You must be walkin around fellin chuffed.

Cheers

[jjjnettie]

My oath I am Kev.
Mind you, when I got lost this afternoon and ended up walking in back alleys I wasn't feeling so good.
Had to keep repeating the mantra " walk with confidence and you won't get mugged". Ended up resorting to the ploy of pretending to wave at someone I knew. Was shaking inside and had to change knickers when I finally got back to the motel.
Am staying in George Town, which is pretty safe if you stay on the main drag. But we have be constantly being warned about safety here.

[mozzie]

woohoo!!!!!!!!your going to have to give a talk at astrofest this year..:D:D
hope your holiday is going well and having a blast....rain and clouds here :(

[Liz]

Go to sleep girl, you have a BIG day ahead!! :zzz2::zzz2::zzz2::zzz2:

[Liz]

What a great idea Peter ..... she could do sponsored talks all around Oz. :D

[shelltree]

You are one lucky astro chickie, J! I am so happy for you! :D

[alistairsam]

That is pretty incredible, a once in a lifetime experience for sure.
Would you mind sharing how you got this opportunity, is it part of a tour or did you get a special invite?
any idea what they were imaging with the hubble at that time?
cheers

[RobF]

Is there an emoticon for clutching chest and falling to ground? :question: :D

[multiweb]

Wow. So cool. :thumbsup: Hey! Windows desktop. Mate you should have gone back in there in the evening saying you left your wallet in there, slew to M8 and plonk a 5min subs. Nobody would have known... :scared3:

[peter_4059]

Wow - what a trip. Can't wait to see the photos.

[RobF]

Now is that predictable or what - all the universe to image and Marc points HST at M8 ;)

[multiweb]

Seriously, is there anything else? .... :lol:

[gary]

Hi JJJ,

Fabulous stuff and great to see these "behind the scenes" views of such an iconic
telescope.

[asimov]

Oh dear, miles too famous now to converse with over the internet;)

What a fab experience JJJ! :eyepop:

All the best & DO start charging for those autographs :lol::P

[Larryp]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Ric]

Definitely the trip of a lifetime.

How on Earth are you going to settle back into life at Kilcoy after all this. :lol:

[jjjnettie]

:( The visit to the Naval Observatory this evening has been cancelled. :(
It's cloudy anyway.

I'm in the US primarily to attend SpacefestV in Tucson Arizona and then to take up NASA Goddard on their offer of a guided tour. The tour is a thank you for allowing them to use a couple of my photos in an exhibit.
It's been fantastic to finally meet all the friends I've made on FB over the years. All of them as space mad as myself. :)

[iceman]

Amazing stories!

[alan meehan]

Wow jjj,what a trip

[rmuhlack]

Wow. I'm guessing im not the only one that's super jealous right now!!

Good for you - what an unforgettable experience. :)