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Mission Control - Blog Posts
NASA Co-Op Week 3: Sitting Console
A scene from the New York stock exchange center was what I expected from Mission Control. Imagining the flight director with a thick cigar and eyebrows raised, flight controllers sitting console arguing about an experiment or device gone haywire and astronauts happily floating and Tweeting hearing only commands from Cap-Com that got through. My expectation was fortunately far from the truth.
Mission Control is calm, controlled and direct. The flight director welcomes the console leads, PLUTO, Ops Plan, RIO, ROBO, ISO and so on. Each flight controller checks in with a status and their goals to accomplish. Astronauts join in every morning for a daily operations meeting asking questions about upcoming experiments and big ticket events. Cap-Com is the only position in Mission Control that speaks with the astronauts so other flight controllers let Cap-Com know what needs to be relayed to astronauts. While sitting console with PLUTO I could listen to all the audio loops, Russian translation loop, JAXA, ESA, each console, and other NASA centers.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED:
*Tour the Mission Control Center through Space Center Houston
*Apply for a Pathways Internship (Co-Op) NOW ONLY OPEN SEP 14-18 for Johnson Space Center
*Apply for an internship at one of the many NASA centers.
*Follow NASA on Tumblr
NASA Co-Op Week 2: Beyond Low Earth Orbit
Industrial drive advancing space exploration is juxtaposed by the nature around NASA’s campus. I can stroll past trees, ponds, deer, cranes, turtles on meandering sidewalks which connect Johnson Space Center’s buildings. A couple blocks down I can visit a caged beast that never flew, Saturn V.
Termination of Apollo halted production of many projects and future Moon missions. The Saturn V Rocket was in full functional condition eager to launch and fulfill its duty to send the capsule beyond low earth orbit. Now it’s Houston’s most expensive tourist attraction. During my Co-Op I work towards sending us back beyond low earth orbit again.
My technical work continues with PLUTO (Plug-in Port Utilization Officer) on of the teams in current mission control. Currently I am orchestrating training for crew members. This training will teach astronauts how to use a device that will assist them in conducting labs and procedures in space. I am scheduled to OJT (On the Job Training) at a number of console positions with mission control in the next few weeks. In addition to technical work I have been appointed leader of the PAXC (Pathways Agency Cross-center Connections) committee where Co-Ops and interns communicate with peers at other centers and the Lectures and Tours Committee tasked with exploring the coolest places onsite and arranging lectures with some of NASA’s legends.
NASA Co-Op Week 1: Mission Control
What Am I Doing?!
For my first post as a NASA Co-Op I’m going to skip the typical “Houston we have a problem” and “All systems go” intro and get right to the good stuff. I just completed my first week as a NASA Pathways Intern at Johnson Space Center, what NASA calls their Co-Op program. I will be flip-flopping between working at NASA and my university studying Electrical Engineering until I graduate. 98% of students get hired on full-time with NASA after a successful Co-Op experience. This fall 16 out of over 1000 applicants are Co-Oping this fall. I am thankful to be working alongside such talented and passionate people.
Flying The Space Station
I am “touring”, what we call our Co-Op work tours, in a team in Mission Control called PLUTO. No, I am not working with New Horizons, PLUTO is in charge of the Plug and Play-Ability of hardware and software on the International Space Station (ISS). I will be helping develop technology that assist astronauts in experimenting in space, writing procedures for astronauts and sitting console in Mission Control. I can’t rent a car without an extra fee but I can help fly the multi-billion dollar ISS, makes sense.
How To Get Involved
Follow my weekly posts for the Co-Op perspective, Follow NASA on Tumblr, watch what NASA is up to, and apply for an internship or Co-Op with NASA.
Duluth Budgeteer News shares my NASA experience. Photo and article by Ellie French: http://www.duluthbudgeteer.com/news/3827414-it-rocket-science
Intern Week 9: Flying With An Astronaut
T-38 Simulator To get ready for intensive piloting into space astronauts train on the Northrop T-38 Talon, the first supersonic two seated trainer. I hear astronauts flying through the air in the T-38s every morning around Johnson Space Center. Before you can even think of piloting, it's essential to fly in a simulator to get use to the controls and indicators. I had the gracious opportunity to fly in the T-38 simulator with Astronaut Gregory C Johnson. With myself in the front of the tandem simulator and Johnson in the back (often entering God commands) I preformed rolls, buzzed the landing strip, and attempted a loop d' loop. I did enjoy flying in the simulation and would consider finding a flight simulator on Steam and hooking up my Logitech controller for practice.
Truth About The Russian Agreement Following the $490 million dollar deal NASA made with Russia to continue to use Soyuz, many are expressing concern about sending money overseas. This week Johnson Space Center Director Ellen Ochoa and Deputy Director Kirk Shireman spoke with us interns sharing career advice, illustrating their vision for the future of NASA and addressing this concern. Ochoa shared, while we are currently dependent on Russia for human transport to the International Space Station (ISS) NASA has assigned SpaceX and Boeing the task to transport astronauts from NASA to space from American soil. We are still purchasing seats on Soyuz because there must be overlap. While troubleshooting launching our own transport vehicles we must ensure there is still a way to get astronauts to the ISS. Reflecting on all the science that has been done on the ISS - the collaboration between the United States and Russia has propelled space flight into the future and expanded exploration. Shireman noted that although the United States will create a transport vehicle the partnership with Russia and other nations will continue. Shireman shared that the European Space Agency (ESA) is creating Orion's Service Vehicle after their experience with solar panels on the ISS. In the future Shireman sees many nations apart of the journey to Mars. What I took from this lecture is that it takes a planet to get to another planet.
Flight Director Wisdom Astronaut Michael Fossum and Flight Director Royce Renfrew shared career and life wisdom to interns and Co-Ops. A question I find helpful during my transitional time as a college student is - What would you tell your twenty year old self? Fossum shared that you should chase after what you desire to do, if you want to pursue a particular career find someone who got there and ask for advice. In respect to becoming an astronaut do not just check items off a list of skills and experiences you think astronauts should have, people have ruined their lives doing that. I asked Renfrew what key characteristic that an aspiring flight director should have. Renfrew mentioned this concept of having, Command Presence, meaning when you step into a room everyone knows the meeting is about to start. This presence doesn't necessarily have to do with your personality, how tall you are or how old you are. It is a very ambiguously defined characteristic but apparent when someone has it.
Intern Update This week I was primarily finishing documentation on my displays, writing my abstract, practicing my intern accomplishment summary presentation and creating a simple low fidelity interface the audio system can be tested with.
Current Mission Control
Directs football field sized International Space Station which orbits every 90min
Historic Mission Control
Flew humans to the Moon with less computing power than your smart phone.
Intern Week 8: Pool, Control & Opportunity
Neutral Buoyancy Lab Tour A familiar faint smell of chlorine wafted in the air as we entered the Sonny Carter Training Facility. We stared at a vat containing 6.2 million gallons of water, enough to fill nine Olympic swimming pools. Looking into the lagoon, 1:1 scale International Space Station (ISS) mock-ups were resting 40 feet below. Divers went about their daily routine escorting astronauts to various modules. Astronauts practiced EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activities) learning how to repair parts of the modules. Divers would retrieve tools astronauts drop and hold a camera up to their work for instructors to see. We saw where practice EVA suits are assembled and where modules are constructed before being submerged.
Mission Control Once again we return to Current and Historic Mission Control. Apollo 11 and 13 were among the great missions flown with less computing power than your smart phones. Controls were analog and sending messages via pneumatic tubes was common.
NASA Co-Op This week I was accepted into NASA Johnson Space Center's Pathways Internship Program, what NASA calls their Co-Op program. What does this mean? I will be sworn in as a U.S. Government civil servant and switch between semesters studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Minnesota Duluth and working at NASA. My NASA updates will continue throughout my experience.