A pleasant interlude...

Upon studying the Trinty docs a little more, it became clear that I could mount a directory on the ops manager's machine that physically was located on another machine using smbmount. This allowed me to copy all manner of files from the damaged hard drive and make the ops manager a happy camper. I learned a lot in the process.

In true Client style, the integration manager dropped a couple of translations into the physical inbox a little in front of when everyone was scheduled to quit the полтинник for the day. I managed to translate them before leaving anyway, though by that hour the copy machines had been shut down, so I'll have to remember to make copies first thing tomorrow morning.

The Usual Gang of ILS Suspects™ enticed me into a poker game earlier this evening. In distinction from the Pinkerton game, this session consists of "traditional" games such as five-card draw, Texas Hold'em, and seven card stud. I managed made up some of my losses to the Pinkertons, though genuflections toward Lady Luck are probably in order.

I'm the early guy in tomorrow, which is good considering that there is a Soyuz launch tomorrow afternoon (though at a site about 70 km away). If memory serves, there's also a trip planned into town.

The world will be my oyster tomorrow. Now, I must spend some time examining the inner lining of my eyelids.

Cheers...

Photo op...

The campaign team was invited to come visit the assembled space rocket in hall 111 yesterday. I went over with the advance group of managers, who were photographed and videotaped in front of the Proton, a process that continued even after arrival of the rest of the team. Always on the lookout for something unusual to photograph, I pointed my camera at the folks photographing the VIPs.


As it turned out, the blurred figures in the background add a certain je ne sais quoi to the image. Also, I finally figured out - completely by accident - how to correct the yellowish cast that have been in all the photos taken inside the processing area (the result of artificial lighting).

There aren't many ways to photograph the launch vehicle while standing on the floor, so after taking the customary shot or two, I continued to look for unusual aspects of this photo opportunity. It came when I saw a technician climb on top of the rocket and walk down the side. I think this image better shows the scale of the Proton (and the vastness of hall 111) than a similar photo with people standing on the floor.


There is a well-worn saying to the effect that the job's not done until the paperwork is finished. In the somewhat fuzzy shot below, engineers and technicians converge on various work journals where each operation has an entry for date and time of performance, the results, and the signature of the person performing the operation.

Moments after taking this shot, on my way out of hall 111, I was asked to interpret what turned out to be a fairly complex discussion of spacecraft battery cooling at the pad that carried over into a followup meeting on the master script/checklist for the launch.

All sorts of activities are planned this weekend, when the launch vehicle will be out of our hands and in the custody of the Russian Space Forces, who will be loading propellant on the upper stage. There are a couple of Luna trips planned, which I intend to miss, as well as a concert by Kazakh folk artists, which I actually am looking forward to. A town trip on Sunday and this afternoon's Soyuz launch are in the mix as well, with plenty of work to do for us interpreters.

Cheers...

Pre-fueling frenzy...

I was the early guy in today and handled the daily status meeting. I couldn't help but notice that the tables in the conference room where the meeting is held had been rearranged in preparation for the government commission that is to meet Sunday night to give the go/no-go for rollout of the space rocket to the launch pad (pretty much a rubber stamp affair, in my book, but a fairly important rubber stamp), and that now, my seat was facing the wall, away from most ears.

(Le sigh.) I made the necessary adjustments and the meeting went on.

Afterward, there was a frenzy of activity as some last-minute changes were incorporated into the launch script (at least the part in which the customer participates), which was immediately followed by folks dispersing to their launch positions to rehearse the countdown. All of this was particularly stressful for the lead interpreter, Sergei Z., and I got involved at the control room end helping to make sense of the four phones, two headsets, and other assorted equipment that had been set up for use during the countdown.

Eventually, I got back to the Fili in time to see the last of the prop team leave, shortly after which the bus for Area 31 showed up, ready to take people to the Soyuz launch.

I guess we must have gotten under way fairly late, because when we got to the site, the access road had been cordoned off and we ended up parked along the road next to a bus of what looked like high school students. (In distinction from the Soyuz launch at the Gagarin area during the Intelsat 10-02 campaign a little over a year ago, there was no socializing between our group and the students.)

I had to search the horizon to find the rocket and then settled down for about 30 minutes, until shortly before launch. Despite having no audible clues as to when the launch is to occur (hearing the Russian equivalent of "One minute to launch!" kinda gives it away), you can still tell when someone is about to light a fire under a Soyuz: the service gantries are pulled back. When this happened, someone yelled "Tally-ho!" and we all looked at the Soyuz.


As the rocket gained altitude over our heads, it occurred to me that - since the start of this campaign - I have seen more things take off vertically (three rockets) than I have seen take off horizontally (two airplanes). In what seemed to be a mere few seconds, the air filled with the roar of the rocket's engines and then the Soyuz was a flaming dot in the sky, which disappeared behind some high cirrus clouds overhead.

Tomorrow, I am the on-call interpreter for propellant loading ops, after first going to the полтинник with the safety engineer early in the morning to support some last-minute stuff. Sunday, my sole assignment will be about 30 minutes of whisper simultaneous work during the government commission meeting in the evening, so I might be able to make it into town one more time before the end of the campaign.

Cheers...