I Love My Job!

Please click on the pictures to see the bigger versions.

Also, click on the links, they are added by me in case you want more info...


I shoot video for NASA...I love my job because everyday is different and I never know where I may end up.

I also love NASA history and being surrounded by all things NASA...old and new.

Here are a few pictures I have taken the last few days of either things I was shooting or interesting historical items just "sitting" around.

In this picture, we see a nitrogen truck filling up some tank with, yep you guessed it, nitrogen. I was there to shoot a test related to the Ares program. The "smoke" was really just a harmless byproduct of the liquid nitrogen and the humid air. At least I assumed it was harmless because the guys there didn't yell RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!



Here we see a demonstration of a process called Friction Stir Welding. It will be used to join metal pieces on the new Ares I and Ares V rockets. This set-up at Marshall is just for testing purposes. The real tanks will be welded using this process at the Michoud Assembly Facility (where they currently make the Shuttle External Tank).



These next 5 pictures are various historical engines I have run across lately...

This is what is left of an Aerospike engine that was going to used on the cancelled X-33 program. It was supposed to be a single-stage to orbit craft but the program was cancelled in 2001.



Below, we see 8 or 9 different versions of what I believe is the Fastrac engine that was going to be used to power the X-34. This program was also canceled in 2001.



Here we see an Apollo-era J-2 engine...there were actually 4 of them here. I was told they were brought out of storage to be put on display at various different places.



This is a Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME)...not sure why it was outside, although it was behind a fence topped with barbed wire...



And last, but certainly not least, an Apollo-era F-1 engine...also pulled out of storage to be put on display somewhere...This is the most powerful single-nozzle liquid fueled rocket engine ever used by NASA (so far...) It produced over 1.5 millions pounds of thrust and 5 of them powered the mighty first stage of the Saturn V! This one appears to have been in storage in two pieces...