Tiny Fucking Tim

(Post title to be read in the voice of Lorenzo, with extra emphasis.)

Canada Day turned out to be a very big day for us. In an attempt to dodge weather, and to allow CSBF to leave early while still putting in a full day or work, we left for the highbay at 6:00. We wanted to take BLAST outside so that Natalie could test pointing sensorsâ€”especially Seppy, the GPS, who is very particular about having buildings or anything metal too nearby. The data can be used to calibrate Maggy the magnetometer, and if there was any sun we could have tested the sun sensors.

To take BLAST outside requires the assistance of the gondola carrying behemoth known as Tiny Tim. I hope my pictures can convey even a part of Tim’s awesomeness.

The major complication, that I alluded to last time, is that with both CSBF quad GPS and the TDRSS HGA mounted, there is no way to get BLAST out the door. But, we had anticipated this and were prepared. There’s also the problem of the weather; with Alex hitting the coast we’ve had a ton of rain lately, and the CSBF meteorologists were constantly checking how long our rain-free window would last.

: For Canada Day, I printed a bunch of flags

: I tape one to my shirt

: Laura opts for the subtler hockey tape armband

: Tiny Tim Arrives

: Enzo gave me the heads-up, to see Tim round the corner

: Tim approaches slowly…

: …but surely. Very surely

: In the highbay, everybody scrambles out of their early-morning stupour

: The gondola needs to rotate to face away from Tim

: The stupid crane gets in the way while rotating

: With the gondola oriented, the doors begin to open

: Larry, one of the CSBF riggers helping us out

: No matter how you shake it…

: …it just doesn’t look like it will fit

: The forward command deck of Tim

: The rearward command deck (aka driver’s seat)

: Jeff has tire envy

: Lorenzo things they’re an appropriate size

: Tristan is in awe, or something that outwardly resembles awe

: Tim’s mega-orange-cattle-prod-of-lifting extends and raises. Until this started, I didn’t realize it extended or raised

: The big gears responsible for raising and extending

: A staircase runs all the way up the side of Tim

: Everyone gawks. Enzo, I discovered, likes facing the camera in pictures

: Portrait of Tim’s backside and driver

: And then BLAST hangs from Tim!!!

: Closeup of the lifting prod

: BLAST hangs out for a bit

: And then proceeds to hang out, as seen from the side

: Enzo adjusts the mirror covering to protect from dripping moisture

: Tim lifts, everybody else guides

: The leg pokes out the door

: Victor watches carefully the whole time, and sends instructions back to the driver

: He jumps back and forth, inspecting the space on each side

: GPS, Meet Door

: Victor uses a lot of hand signals. I can’t tell if they’re some standard, or if that’s just what he does when he’s excited

: Whoa, whoa, whoa…

: …that’s a tight fit…

: …and at the top side, it’s too tight a fit for the GPS and HGA

: So, they try to shimmy everything through

: The big gear, as BLAST is lifted higher

: I really wanted to sit in this chair, but figured somebody might not like it

: This is about as far as shimmying gets us

: So we go back inside for Plan B

: A bucket truck (already waiting for such an occasion) drives up for antenna rearrangement

: Safety first. Joseph puts on a harness (though he wasn’t very happy about it)

: The bucket comes down for him

: Bucket ready, he goes over the plan

: The plan, like most good plans, involves white tape

: He provides direction to the operator

: On the ground they watch carefully

: Joseph moves the antenna over a bit

: And tapes it to a temporary new spot

: The bucket operator. Operating the bucket

: With that done, the ominous orange cattle prod returns

: Tiny Tim has a label on the right side!

: With this newfound knowledge comes a sudden urge to take lots of pictures with the name in then

: …so I do…

: …and do. Meanwhile Victor prepares to reattach things

: I take the opportunity to observe how dangerous (and NASA Certified) the bucket truck is

: …especially for stick men…

: …who are constantly in danger of getting womped…

: …or of some calamitous stretchy-bendy-twisty incident

: The bucket control levers

: Meanwhile, BLAST starts coming out again

: And continues to come out again some more

: But this time, the GPS fits out the door!

: But the HGA still needs to make it through the door

: At this very convenient time, the battery in the camera dies. I run inside and switch to my crappier (but more portable) camera

: The antennas are through, and everyone pushes and pulls to get the legs out

: Then everyone gets another leg out…

: But Nick doesn’t let his guard down, and watches the other side nervously

: And at last, almost everything but the tip of the shields is out

: BLAST, outdoors!

: And then outdoors, in portrait

: The Surprisingly maneuverable Tim (thanks to another large gear) takes BLAST over to the basketball area

: Jeff (and others) steady the legs as it goes

: I don’t know if this has sunk in yet: This is Tiny Tim. Carrying BLAST. Outside. Around the parking lot.

: Then I remember there’s a named side, so I run over there

: Barth waits at the intended destination

: Then it’s there, ready to be set down

: We have touchdown

: Smiles

: BLAST goes through Tim withdrawal

: The bucket truck comes out again for Joseph to cap off the HGA’s strange white sphere

: The cryostat goes back on its pump

: Joseph was the bucket man all day

: Meanwhile, inside, Natalie and Laura eagerly watch data

: Jeff removes the ladder Natalie and I used for some quick GPS fixes. At this point, we’ve been told the rain is coming, so we should go back inside now…

: …but first we need to rotate the gondola to see if things are working

: Natalie pushes and pulls frantically

: She gets data (and I get a poor photograph of the data)

: If you can read this also poor picture, you’d see that we managed to rotate by six degrees. Six degrees! (And more importantly, that everything appears to work)