[All] ORACLES São Tomé update #3

[Luna, Bernadette (ARC-SGG)]

Dear ESPO,

A busy week for us here in São Tomé.

The P3 flew to Barbados Saturday, August 5, but late; so did not transit to Ascension (~10 hours, requiring early takeoff) until Monday, August 7. At Ascension they had a compressor problem and worked on it throughout the day Tuesday. In the end they had to transit the following day, August 9, and arrived here around 5:30 pm. I sent pictures of the landing. Flyers were happy to see our welcome party – immigration and customs and all of us and the shuttle met them at the plane. They had a pleasant, short transit to the hotel and a reunion of sorts with us in the restaurant/bar area.

The P3 crew agreed to de-synchronize their down days, so that the science team has aircraft access on all non-flight days. So we had two days of aircraft access, and back-to-back flights Saturday and Sunday (today now). I have posted pictures on the web site of morning prep and takeoff from the flight yesterday.

Jhony was here for all of this (arrived August 3) and has been focused (with Dan) on fueling, parking, GSE and hangar/lab readiness. Lots of running around to buy items. Adam moved and re-moved equipment around the hangar – as we had light bulbs installed over our area and had to reposition equipment to allow access. He even supported other parties’ needs. Dan departed August 6 and Adam departed August 10. Adam did not get to see the sea shipment arrive. We are told it is here (off shore) and our containers should be cleared early this week (3 weeks late or so). I spent the afternoon Friday chasing exemption paperwork and Susan began sampling the visa extension process, with little to show for it.

Good news: telescoping aircraft stairs can be used to provide access for SSFR team members to their zenith equipment above the cockpit. This will serve them well in future missions. There was not an acceptable manlift or cherry picker that we could procure.

The Science Team has settled into a routine schedule of meetings and discussions. Susan is chasing people for safety training and signatures and plans of the day and hotel changes. Jhony spends long days at the hangar. I bounce back and forth; up to P3 arrival, more at the hangar; now, more at the ops center (hotel).

Attaching pictures in a larger bundle this time (first attempt, too big, failed). We celebrated Lenny’s birthday. One of these is the ship holding our containers. Hope these get through.

Till next week,

Bernie

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