All trained up...
Sep. 19th, 2006 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpThe last time I was at the VR Lab at JSC was over five years ago, when I supported Gennadi Padalka for a SAFER training session. Today, as part of a general effort to certify (and recertify) interpreters, I attended a session tailored for those of us - myself included - undergoing the process.
Basically, the SAFER is a device designed to get a free-floating astronaut back to the station after getting separated from the station for some reason. Such separation is never supposed to happen, since the current practice while doing an extravehicular activity, or EVA, is to use two tethers during such activities to make sure astronauts are never actually disconnected from the station (or the Shuttle, for that matter, when doing an EVA from that spacecraft).
I and another interpreter were given the 50-cent tour, stepped through the checkout procedure a couple of times, and then mounted and removed the device from a simulated space suit. Afterward, it was time to "jack in" to the VR setup they have erected in the back of the facility. Here's a shot of yours truly, looking at the station from a vantage point directly above a docked Shuttle orbiter, with a controller in my gloved hands.
The graphics are better now than they were five years ago, and include some detail on the surface of the Earth, which from my vantage point appeared to float above me. I could not identify where over the Earth I was, but I did recognize the constellation Orion as I looked around the station after successfully gaining the handrail around the airlock hatch.
All in all, it was a memorable training session. I'll not likely forget the curriculum.
Cheers...
Basically, the SAFER is a device designed to get a free-floating astronaut back to the station after getting separated from the station for some reason. Such separation is never supposed to happen, since the current practice while doing an extravehicular activity, or EVA, is to use two tethers during such activities to make sure astronauts are never actually disconnected from the station (or the Shuttle, for that matter, when doing an EVA from that spacecraft).
I and another interpreter were given the 50-cent tour, stepped through the checkout procedure a couple of times, and then mounted and removed the device from a simulated space suit. Afterward, it was time to "jack in" to the VR setup they have erected in the back of the facility. Here's a shot of yours truly, looking at the station from a vantage point directly above a docked Shuttle orbiter, with a controller in my gloved hands.
The graphics are better now than they were five years ago, and include some detail on the surface of the Earth, which from my vantage point appeared to float above me. I could not identify where over the Earth I was, but I did recognize the constellation Orion as I looked around the station after successfully gaining the handrail around the airlock hatch.
All in all, it was a memorable training session. I'll not likely forget the curriculum.
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 07:03 pm (UTC)Cheers...
Neat!
Date: 2006-09-20 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 07:22 pm (UTC)