Hi Don,

I should have added this in my previous reply to you.  My last Air Force assignment, before joining Sprint, was at the Sunnyvale Satellite Control Facility in the SF Bay Area.  The mysterious "Blue Cube" is no more.  I was the day-shift supervisor, for a few years, inside the telecommunications control facility.  We had to isolate and correct data losses for satellite command and telemetry, and literally every second of data loss was tracked, because a "bird" could be lost, if they were in the process of adjusting its orbit.

We also supported the space shuttle communications throughout each orbit.  There were no automatic relays.  Instead they had to link up with ground stations at Vandenberg, Boston, England, Guam, and Hawaii.  We had continuous links with each station, and had to physically patch the shuttles through to Mission Control as they passed over each ground site.  After each patch, people nearby performed a comm check with an astronaut.

Michael, NO6O

On 2026-01-28 2:28 PM, Don Banta wrote:

I cannot believe the time has flown so fast, but today is the 40th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster.  Perhaps this might be interesting to some of you:

 

Do you remember where you were and/or what you were doing that day on January 28, 1986?

 

It isn’t hard at all for me to remember. – I was there…… at the Kennedy Space Center visitor launch viewing area, 6 miles from Launch Complex 39-B.

 

I was treated to one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever experienced.  Viewing a shuttle launch live is like viewing a total solar eclipse live…watching on television doesn’t even come close.  Unfortunately, that thrill lasted only 72 seconds.  Within 10 minutes of the explosion, we were herded back on the bus that had brought us to the viewing area from the Kennedy Space Center visitor center.  We were then instructed to leave immediately as the base was being closed.  I had just enough time to sprint into the gift shop and gather a few items for mementos.

 

Although the racks were already almost bare, I was able to secure a Challenger button, flight patch, and packet of official NASA Challenger photos.  The next day before leaving our Orlando hotel, I found and purchased a copy of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper and after arriving back home had the front page laminated to preserve it.  A couple of weeks later I purchased the issue of People magazine that honored Christa McAuliffe:

 






 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


73 – Don K5DB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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