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Counting down the days
Oct. 20th, 2000 04:56 pmNow that STS-92 has undocked from the ISS, all eyes at JSC are focusing now on the next big flight, and this is going to be a Big One. At roughly 1:52 am Central Standard Time on October 30, a Russian launch vehicle will loft a Soyuz spacecraft into orbit. That Soyuz will be carrying the first ISS crew, which - taking account of the various bumps along the road traveled thus far - has been training for about 4 years for this mission. And with the arrival of that crew, NASA and its International Partners hope to start an era of permanent human presence in space.
Starting a few hours prior to that launch, the folks working the Mission Control Center at JSC on the U.S. side, who have become expert at flying short-duration missions in Shuttles, will get a taste of flying a long-duration mission aboard the ISS. And that's going to be an interesting prospect for everyone all around, because despite all of the best planning in the world, there are going to be things happening that nobody, in their wildest dreams, ever considered.
For example, I recall an observation made almost a year ago by a gentleman responsible for supplying power to the MCC, to the effect that the emergency power supplies would have to be redesigned, since at that point in time, those supplies were designed to operate for a relatively short time - that is, long enough to supply emergency power for the duration of a Shuttle mission. Presumably, between missions, equipment could be shut down, inspected, repaired or upgraded with relatively little pressure, because the next Shuttle flight was a while down the road. When operations are 24/7, your emergency power hardware has to assure power over the long haul, which is a different kettle of fish entirely. Fortunately, emergency power is one item that has been considered, and wiser heads than mine are dealing with such problems in general, so there is not much purpose in dwelling on them.
Talking about day-to-day stuff, I can confidently state (and with thanks) that circumstances at work today were nowhere near as weird as they were yesterday, although the mad rush part of it seems always with me. Among the things I remember doing today, I recall auditing the performance of a new interpreter, reviewing several translation tests, editing several documents translated by the new guy (and then annotating my edits for his edification), and going across the street to meet with some folks about upcoming support requirements.
Never a dull moment around here, that's for sure.
Cheers...
Starting a few hours prior to that launch, the folks working the Mission Control Center at JSC on the U.S. side, who have become expert at flying short-duration missions in Shuttles, will get a taste of flying a long-duration mission aboard the ISS. And that's going to be an interesting prospect for everyone all around, because despite all of the best planning in the world, there are going to be things happening that nobody, in their wildest dreams, ever considered.
For example, I recall an observation made almost a year ago by a gentleman responsible for supplying power to the MCC, to the effect that the emergency power supplies would have to be redesigned, since at that point in time, those supplies were designed to operate for a relatively short time - that is, long enough to supply emergency power for the duration of a Shuttle mission. Presumably, between missions, equipment could be shut down, inspected, repaired or upgraded with relatively little pressure, because the next Shuttle flight was a while down the road. When operations are 24/7, your emergency power hardware has to assure power over the long haul, which is a different kettle of fish entirely. Fortunately, emergency power is one item that has been considered, and wiser heads than mine are dealing with such problems in general, so there is not much purpose in dwelling on them.
Talking about day-to-day stuff, I can confidently state (and with thanks) that circumstances at work today were nowhere near as weird as they were yesterday, although the mad rush part of it seems always with me. Among the things I remember doing today, I recall auditing the performance of a new interpreter, reviewing several translation tests, editing several documents translated by the new guy (and then annotating my edits for his edification), and going across the street to meet with some folks about upcoming support requirements.
Never a dull moment around here, that's for sure.
Cheers...
