Hello folks!
There’s been some exciting activity lately I’d like to share with you
Space Shuttle flight manifest update from NASA:
STS-133 – NET Nov 1st 2010
STS-134 – NET Feb 28th 2010
STS-335 LON – NET April 2010 (pending discussion by NASA management August)
Greetings from Mars500
My colleague Diego Urbina has sent me a message as he’s “300,000 km from Earth” en route to Mars. I had the opportunity to ask him how his training has so far supported his operational tasks on Mars500:
“While the training was very quick (we have way more experiments than on the ISS) it looks like often it is enough having seen the procedures a couple of times and then just resort to the documentation every time you do the exp. Regarding operations, everything is going smooth, though knowing some more Russian would [an asset].”
Supported Expedition 28/29 training
Past 2 weeks I have supported the training of NASA Astronauts Mike Fossum & Dan Burbank for their Columbus User Level and Operator Level training flows. Each astronaut/cosmonaut/spaceflight participant has to successfully qualify for levels of training on various ISS modules & systems depending on their respective responsibilities (Commander (CDR) vs Flight Engineer (FE) vs non-crew spaceflight participants).
This gave me a chance to train with astronauts, understanding first-hand the content, but also insight into the mindset of a veteran astronaut as well as how well the content is effectively conveyed and addressed. Fantastic time, thanks for the opportunity to join you fellas!
Flight Controller Simulation
One of the other responsibilities of the training group is, as subject-matter experts on the various systems of Columbus, to support Flight Controller simulations between EAC Cologne, Columbus Control Center (Munich) and at times other facilities. These simulations provide the FCTeam with the experience, knowledge and most importantly – practice – to react, evaluate and seek solutions to various operational conditions possibly encountered during real-time on-orbit operations on ISS.
During my observation, the team @ COL-CC was simulating malfunctions including for example the Video Camera Assembly to determine why it was not working, how to solve it and if it can be done in concert with the actual daily schedule of a crew. Pretty neat stuff – so much to learn and soak-up for sure!
Interns & Trainees of EAC 2010
Got the interns and trainees together for a group photo – here we are!
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