Farewell, old friend.

Finished match-drilling the center section, and drilled the F-623 baggage compartment side ribs. Here it is, flipped and positioned so I could finish the -623s.

The -623s have to be fluted before being match-drilled to the center section belly skin, so that means finding a way to mark rivet hole locations on the rib flanges. I was able to get close enough by holding the rib up to the F-770 side skins and marking the approximate location of each hole. Easy enough. Then the ribs were clamped into place per instructions and drilled.

The last step in fitting the F-623s was fabricating small shear ties, or clips, that provide a load path to the F-705 bulkhead in the front, and to the F-706 bulkhead in the rear. The front clip is pretty straightforward…

…but the aft one has to fit in a pretty narrow space between the F-623’s rear flanges. If you follow the plans, the clip really doesn’t have sufficient edge distance so I followed Brad Oliver’s lead and altered the design a bit to provide some extra “meat” around the hole.

Here are the clips after fitting…

Back home from the launch and rested up. Ellen and I finished riveting the tailcone bulkheads, and I moved on to the center section. Had to figure out how to space the crotch strap brackets to accommodate the Hooker harnesses I already bought.

I checked off an item on my bucket list…I traveled to Kennedy Space Center to see a Space Shuttle launch. And it wasn’t just any launch – it was STS-135, the very last mission of the shuttle program. Ellen drove me to the airport at 0430 on the 7th for a flight to Orlando. I was very lucky to get a ticket for the launch…they were in great demand.

The weather forecast was marginal, and our tickets were only good for one launch attempt. If the launch scrubbed, I’d be likely be watching the next attempt from the hotel. I arrived at the bus boarding location at 2330 the evening before the launch, and we left for KSC at 0100. The bus dropped us at the KSC Visitor Center to wait until the buses could take us out to the NASA Causeway viewing area. While at the Visitor Center, I took a short tour ride out to the Apollo V center where we had a phenomenal view of LC 39A illuminated for the event…

At about 0430 we re-boarded the buses and drove to the Causeway. We were told that the launch probability was only about 50 percent due to low ceilings, but the weather held and we were extremely fortunate to see the launch.

The lowest cloud layer was at around 12,000 feet so we didn’t see the shuttle for long before it disappeared into the clouds.

The launch was both awesome and sad at the same time. I fear that it marks the end of this nation as a leader in space exploration for a long time to come, and I’m disgusted with the Administration’s lack of leadership with regard to the space program.

Been pretty busy with family stuff, home improvement and work over the last three weeks. But Ellen and I have managed to get some riveting done on the tailcone. Ellen does an awesome job running the rivet gun!

During this time I also fabricated and fitted a spacer for the tailwheel aft flange (see the May 7 entry below).

When the vertical stab is fitted, two bolts will be drilled through the bulkhead, spacer and VS spar.

Uncle Sugar was kind enough to send me TDY to Orlando, and Ellen joined me on the trip. We made a side trip to Kennedy Space Center and took the bus tour. Space shuttle Atlantis was on the pad being readied for the final launch of the program.

This is the closest tour stop to Launch Complex 34A…

NASA has a wonderful museum, the Saturn V Center, near the Banana River launch viewing site. The Apollo 14 Command Module, nicknamed Kitty Hawk, is on display there. It still amazes me to see something that’s been to the Moon and back.

Ellen and I finished riveting the tailcone side skins this weekend, they came out great! We then moved on to the aft bulkheads…I was able to squeeze most of them. After all the heartache getting these parts to fit, riveting them was especially satisfying.

Did some adjustment on the center section and re-clecoed it. I’m starting to run out of clecos…