texte H-10    montage peps  Tout n'a pas été archivé   Launch - 10 Update  
5 juillet 1997 FLYING "SAFER" & THE VMS

L minus 10 Weeks to Launch---7/5/97: It's been another exciting week for the crew, and an amazing week for NASA! Not only did STS-94 launch into space for the reflight of the STS-83 science mission, but the Mars Pathfinder flawlessly landed on the red planet in synchronization with America's Independence Day celebrations. One of the Mars Pathfinder flight controllers proudly beamed that all 41 pyrotechnic devices performed perfectly on the complex entry, descent and landing phase of the mission --- a perfect way to celebrate the Fourth of July!

Last week sort of blended into this week for some of the crew. Jim and Mike were out at KSC last Saturday, flying the STA. After a pit stop in Houston on Saturday night, they headed out to NASA-Ames Research Center on Sunday with Scott for a Monday morning session in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS). This high-fidelity, 6-degree-of-freedom simulator is the most accurate model of the visual and acceleration cues the crew will have during Shuttle landing and rollout. Flat tires, horrendous winds, different vehicle center-of-gravity conditions, and other challenging scenarios can be faithfully created for the crew --- the only thing that's missing is the high level of adrenaline that will be pumping on the real landing day.

The crew had a suited ascent sim in the Motion Base SMS, and a regular entry sim there later in the week. During the suited run, the crew wasn't entirely at their peak performance. While it might have been partially attributable to their uncomfortable space suits, the crew concluded it was more a function of being a bit rusty, since it had been awhile since their last tough ascent sim. The entry sim went considerably better, despite the desperate conditions the training team gave the crew.

The rendezvous crew (Jim, Mike and Scott) spent some more time over in the SES, practicing the new ORBT approach to Mir, as well as a quick look at the manual flying task for EVA rescue. The scheduled EVA for this flight is while we are docked to the station --- the EVA crew must therefore rely on themselves and their SAFER backpacks should they inadvertently float free of the Shuttle-Mir complex. To this end, Vladimir, Scott and Mike spent a session at the SAFER Virtual Reality Laboratory flying around the virtual space complex. Each of them were impressed with the precise handling characteristics of SAFER, with only a small amount of cross-coupling noted. They noticed that with a moderate separation rate and only a small "gas" tank, self-rescue requires an almost immediate fly-back in order to make it back with margins. The EVA team (Scott, Vladimir and Mike) also visited the Ku-band antenna laboratory to go over the contingency stow EVA scenario, and they had refresher sessions in the EMU Caution and Warning Simulator.

The "Flight Docs" or Crew Medical Officers (CMOs) during the mission will be Scott and Jim. The two of them had a two hour briefing last week, on everything from basic physiology to physical exam-taking to therapeutics. While the briefing was a bit slow for Scott, who is a physician and physiologist, it was "medical school in two hours" for Jim. Should any medical emergency strike Scott during the flight, Jim will have to take care of him --- Scott is planning on staying healthy.

During another training session last week, the entire crew became acquainted with their personal carbon dioxide symptoms on a rebreather apparatus. It's necessary for crew members to recognize their CO2 symptoms that might occur within the confines of their EVA suits, or during large crew gatherings aboard the Mir station, where CO2 build-ups have been known to occur in stagnant air. Common symptoms include "air hunger," flushing, and lightheadedness.

Other events last week included: training sessions on the digital still camera (electronic images will be downlinked from space on a daily basis); a water transfer procedures class in the FFT; a water survival and bailout skills class at the NBL for Jim and Mike; a communications system SST for Jean-Loup and Vladimir; and a global ecology/earth observations briefing for the entire crew.

Next week the EVA crew will again jump into the NBL, this time to perform "orbiter contingency" tasks. These contingency procedures include emergency manual closure of the payload bay doors, manual stowage of the radiators, and manual stowage of the Ku-band antenna. The EVA guys will also have another session working with the In-Suit Doppler experiment --- positioning of the small Doppler transceiver is critical to getting a good signal, and it takes a bit of practice. The flight deck crew will have another pair of ascent and entry simulations in the Motion Base SMS, and a rendezvous malfunction sim in the Fixed Base SMS. The rendezvous guys (Jim, Mike and Scott) will also have another set of "qual" lessons (i.e. test), although the crew sees these as just another training session. The "Flight Docs" (Scott and Jim) have another medical skills class, and the entire crew will attend a briefing on toxicologic hazards during spaceflight. Additionally, the crew will participate in a number of science payload refresher lessons, emphasizing hands-on time with the flight hardware. Finally, Mike will have another chance to fly the KC-135 Heavy Aircraft Trainer, and STA training will be conducted over the weekend at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Atlantis and Mir updates will be posted to the site over the weekend, as usual. Several of our prime training facilities are now detailed on the training page. Also noteworthy, June was another great month for the site, being recognized by 12 new awards. New to the site this week is our new format for the weekly "What's New" page. Several visitors had commented on long download times due to the large quantity of text and graphics present, and they recommended splitting the page into smaller sections. Thanks for the great suggestion --- good suggestions, corrections and questions are always welcome!