Pass the Baton or Short Track Speed Skater Push

By Steven González, Deputy, JSC Advanced Planning Office

As I watched the Winter Olympics this week I was struck with how it was a great metaphor for NASA and commercial space. I know it sounds like a stretch but let me explain. This week at the 13th Annual Federal Aviation Administration AST Space Transportation Conference, NASA’s Deputy Administrator Lori Garver reiterated NASA’s commitment to transition access to Low Earth Orbit to the commercial community. Before and after her speech there has been a lot written on both sides of the debate on the viability of commercial space and the impact to NASA’s Human Exploration capability.

Of course there is a lot of emotion tied to the arguments on either side, but for me what is missing is an informed dialogue of what it would take to make this transition successful. Many assume that the transition to the commercial community would be equivalent to NASA throwing 50 years of Human Spaceflight over the fence and saying “Good Luck.” This is irresponsible and would severely jeopardize the success of the commercial community. NASA has learned through the blood, sweat, tears and lives of some of our friends the difficulties that must be overcome to gain access to space. It is a lesson filled with what works and what must not be overlooked if you want to ensure the safe return of future space travelers. For me it is inconceivable to throw away that experience without ensuring that it is captured by the commercial space community.

So originally I thought that NASA must pass the baton to commercial space and ensure that it has the baton before we let go of it. This metaphor originally made a lot of sense to me. There is a handoff and not a toss over the wall and there is a confirmation that the baton is received before the runner takes off after the competition. Plus it is a team. The two are working together to ensure the success of American access to space. They are not competing against each other and the success of the recipient of the baton depends greatly on the racer that is handing off the baton.

Yet, as I watched Apolo Ono and the US Olympic short track relay team I realized that there is a flaw in just having a clean handoff. What impressed me about the speed skaters is how the team skates side by side to ensure that they are ready for the push. They have to match their speeds to ensure that the momentum is maintained. Then the momentum of the skater that is currently on the track is used to help accelerate the next person on the relay team. In addition there is a relay rule that was shared by the commentator that really hit home for me. In the event of a fall, a covering skater may tag the fallen skater and continue the race.

Therefore for me it is not a question of how do we handoff the responsibility of access to Low Earth Orbit to commercial space but how do we ensure that the commercial space community reaches a speed close to what NASA has obtained over the past 50 years so that NASA can push them off to continue the race? How do we set up the transition so that in the event that commercial space should fall, NASA can tag the fallen and temporarily continue the race? Yes I know, with the completion of the Shuttle program the push off is more of a challenge yet not impossible. NASA has a great deal of momentum after 50 years and the missing strategy is how to capitalize on this momentum to help push the commercial community. What does it mean in the access to space event to tag the fallen and temporarily continue the race? What is the strategy to ensure that NASA and the commercial community “skate” side by side to ensure that commercial space has the momentum to receive the push?

I believe that there is a winning strategy out there to ensure the success of commercial space and the launching of NASA beyond Earth’s orbit. So, who is up to the challenge of sitting down and defining this strategy?

Lunar Habitat Competition

By Steve Chance, INSPIRE National Project Manager

One of the many benefits of working for NASA as long as I have and being the INSPIRE National Project Manager is the opportunity to meet and get to know some REALLY cool people who turn out to be some of the world’s leading scientists, engineers and mathematicians. These men and women are just down the hall, at the table next to you at the cafeteria or across the road in a building that may look like an ordinary warehouse. But let me tell you, they are working on exciting projects that some of us can only dream about. To be a part of what they are doing, even if it’s only hearing about from a distance, is just cool!

After looking over many of the presentations, I was so impressed with the caliber of work offered in 3 presentations for the “Lunar Habitat Challenge” I asked one of those guys “down the hall” to look over three of the proposals we received.

I sought the input of Dr. Philip Metzger. He is a research physicist and one of those people who is doing cool stuff. Dr. Metzger is part if the NASA team at the Kennedy Space Center’s Applied Physics Laboratory, currently working on Lunar Outpost Technologies.

I sent Phil three of the “Lunar Habitat Competition” submissions. I thought you might like to see what he had to say:
________________
Hi Steve,
…. I have been working 70 hours a week with lots of driving/hiking to/from the test area, so I've been wiped out these past 2 weeks. Here are my comments from the review.

General: All groups did a good job of researching the literature and integrating many ideas into a coherent concept…….. One area where all three groups (could have added more) detail is the process of building the outpost. It is difficult to build a lunar outpost in part because each step of the way the partially constructed outpost must already be functional to support the people, energy demands, and logistics needed to continue construction in the next step. This is a difficult concept and so I'm not surprised that the groups did not put detail there. However, I would challenge your students to think of the construction itself as an equally important part of the outpost and think about how they would do modular step-by-step operations during the build-up process.

Specific comments for each group:
Group 1 -- Nice specificity in the design. I liked this one …. though little rationale was given for considering other options and rejecting them…… The integration of multiple concepts of lunar exploration were combined nicely demonstrating a lot of effort in researching the literature.

Group 14. -- The concepts seem to have been well reviewed and synthesized (though) not specific on construction of the radiation shield. This is a minor ….but there was some self-contradiction in the presentation regarding the perpetual twilight for solar energy and then 14 days darkness necessitating nuclear power. In perpetual twilight regions there won't be 14 days darkness. There might be just a day or two (when the sun goes behind a mountain along the horizon) but not a full 14 days, and that is the benefit of the perpetual twilight regions on the Moon. ………. Overall, this team did a good job of integrating many concepts into their outpost.

Group 10 -- This group also did a good job combining multiple concepts into one outpost. One minor point: cold fusion doesn't work, but I don't think they really meant cold fusion. Maybe they meant Radioisotopic, Thermoelectric Generation, or fission? In any case, nuclear reactors would need to be outside the habitat … due to radiation concerns. Another important issue is how would that much titanium be made from the lunar soil? In addition, how will the habitat be buried that deeply into the soil (what kind of excavators will be used)? These issues are as important, or more important, than the final outpost, itself. ……. I liked (this proposal) …….. because it seemed to be filled with great ideas. (Some) were unfortunately not feasible to implement. It is great "out of the box" thinking (though), and we need that to see where we are going in the long run…... Finally -- it is a nice idea to sleep in a centrifuge. Was that an original idea? That is pretty cool.

Best regards!
Phil
______________
In conclusion, he wanted all of you to know he reviewed these reports while he was on the side of a volcano actually testing lunar outpost technologies. He did the reviews in Hale Pohaku at about 9000 feet up Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii, just over a cinder cone from the main test site.

Congratulations to the teams who worked on the presentations! Good job!

In case you haven’t seen these presentations, they are on the “Showcase” page. Go check them out!

To learn more about some of Dr. Metzger’s research you can go to http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/space-junk-tracking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wiredscience+%28Blog+-+Wired+Science%29

School kids verify NASA satellite observations

By Michael Carlowicz

Most scientific observations are made by the most sophisticated of instruments. We build miles-long particle accelerators to see the smallest bits of atoms. We send bus-sized satellites all the way out to space to observe the dynamic interactions happening in our planet’s atmosphere.

Sometimes, though, a machine just won’t do. Sometimes a school kid looking up at the sky does the job quite well.

That is the premise of NASA’s S’COOL (Students’ Cloud Observations On-Line) project. While a satellite passes overhead observing the radiation emitted by Earth, S’COOL participants look upwards and take careful notes on the type and multitude of clouds in the sky.

This is not just for fun, and it's not just to get children and teens interested in the basics of atmospheric science. These observations are put to use by NASA scientists to verify that a satellite instrument overhead – the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensor – is accurately observing clouds from above. In some cases, CERES’ radiometers may interpret a glare or a land feature as a cloud. Student observations act as a “ground truthing” method to make sure the satellite is accurate.

The more observations, the better. In this regard, the gold star goes to the students at Chartiers-Houston Jr./Sr. High School in Houston, Pa. These students have made more than 5,000 all-time observations for the S’COOL folks at NASA’s Langley Research Center. (5,276 observations as of Jan.10, to be exact.) The number is a record and nearly the doubles the total reported by any other school.

The S’COOL program is beginning its 14th year and has inspired school children in more than 75 countries to take their cloud charts outside. Chartiers-Houston has long been among the most active in the program. Students can make observations anytime, but ideally they walk outside at the precise time that the satellite is passing over their town. They must know the types of clouds and know the recording methods to make useful observations. This requires, in other words, dedication.

Science teacher Gary Popiolkowski, who’s been leading students outside to look skyward since Aug. 2000, said he likes S’COOL because it allows students to get “involved doing real science, acting like real scientists.” He said his students even make observations after school and on weekends, on their own time.

“My students have developed a sense of pride in continuing our observations over the years,” he said. “Besides recording the scheduled observations, we also identify the clouds each period throughout the day as a daily class starter. S’COOL is integrated into our weather unit and fits into my philosophy of “no child left inside” as we constantly “look up” anytime we are outside.”

Meet John C. Fischbeck III, Master Mariner

By Steven Roy, MSFC

John Fischbeck III, 59, is a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, a graduate of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, in business administration and a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War. His entire Navy service, 1965-1971, was spent aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown.

In 1979, he completed training as a Merchant Marine Officer and today has achieved the highest rank in the commercial maritime industry, Master Mariner. At NASA/USA, he serves as solid rocket booster retrieval operations supervisor.

Let's ask John what achieving Master Mariner means. John says, "Achieving Master Mariner is one of the most important goals in my life." The term Master Mariner was introduced in the United States in the mid-19th century; earlier in England. Currently, a U.S. Master Mariner License is reserved for those few who have attained the level of Unlimited Master, as well as Unlimited Chief EngineerSenior. Traditionally, a person holding an unrestricted master's license is called a Master Mariner. The term unrestricted indicates that there is no restriction of size, power or geographic location of the vessel on the license.

It is the highest level of professional qualification amongst mariners.

John has served as Master on all three booster recovery ships including the Liberty Star, Freedom Star and Independence. He has served on 125 booster recovery missions, more than any other member USA Marine Operations.

John's current responsibilities include onboard Marine Operations Manager for the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Retrieval Operations and External Tank (ET) Ocean Transportation Operations.

What does John like most about the job at sea? In his own words, "supporting America's spaceflight program, the great team of people I work with, and the ever-changing conditions that confront us everyday. Challenge, Adjustment, Success!"

What does John like to do when not sailing with NASA? He ships out again...on ocean yacht racing, sail cruising and studying the guitar/banjo.

The Ultimate Adventure

By Dan Stillman

Emily Calandrelli has floated in zero gravity, traveled to the middle of the desert, searched for the potential for life on Mars and co-authored four published research papers. In 2009 alone, she was named to USA Today's All-USA College Academic First Team, received two prestigious scholarships, and was voted West Virginia University's Ms. Mountaineer for her exemplary academic achievement and extracurricular involvement.

That is not a bad resume, especially considering Calandrelli is only a senior in college.

A passion for space and an interest in mathematics and science during high school led Calandrelli to major in mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University. She is drawn not only to the challenge of space exploration but also to its benefits.

"I've always been in love with the stars and view the cosmos as the ultimate adventure," Calandrelli said. "Because of technologies from space exploration, we can begin to understand our world's origins, and our lives are improving. These are the reasons why dedicating a life to the sciences and space exploration is so meaningful and rewarding."

Throughout her college years, Calandrelli has worked on several NASA projects as part of NASA internships and student research programs. (Her NASA-related work has been funded primarily through the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium.) She has used lasers as part of research to reduce harmful emissions from jet engines. She has developed nanowires, incredibly thin wire-like structures, for use in chemical detection sensors. And she has studied the effect of gravity on different fluids, such as water and oil.

Calandrelli says the most interesting NASA project she has worked on was designing a simulation of the Phoenix Mars Lander's soil testing experiment. The Phoenix Mars Lander is a NASA spacecraft that landed on the Red Planet in May 2008 to study the history of water and potential for life on the planet. "We had the opportunity to work with the Phoenix Lander science team and were all able to get our hands dirty," Calandrelli said.

On several occasions, Calandrelli has presented her research to NASA engineers and scientists. What advice does she have for students who may get nervous about public speaking?

"The best advice is to practice your presentation so much that you could do it in your sleep," Calandrelli said. "When you are nervous, it becomes difficult to recall information and improvise. But if you have practiced so many times that you don’t even need to think about it, you should be fine."

Calandrelli works to ensure that other students have the same opportunities she has had to explore space. She and other West Virginia University students founded the Student Partnership for the Advancement of Cosmic Exploration, or SPACE. The group provides college students with information about space exploration activities and resources for financial support. It also reaches out to students and the public to promote awareness of the benefits of space exploration.

One point that Calandrelli stresses when she speaks to students is the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

"I tell students that I believe STEM majors have the most exciting opportunities than any other majors in college," said Calandrelli, whose success, leadership skills and commitment to public service earned her the 2009 Goldwater and Truman scholarships. "Because of engineering, I have been able to experience things I never thought I would be able to do as an undergraduate.

"I especially encourage females to get involved in these majors because we are in the minority (in these fields), and that needs to change. STEM majors come with challenges and exciting opportunities, and women should not be discouraged or intimidated because they think it is a 'guy major.'"

Never a Dull Place

By Daniel Lockney, Editor, NASA Spinoffs

Scientists and engineers are some of the most fascinating people in the world. They look at things differently, figure out how they work, and come up with ways to make them better. NASA scientists and engineers are at the top of that class, working on some of the world’s most challenging problems, expanding humanity’s understanding of the universe, sending robot explorers to distant planets, keeping astronauts alive and safe in the harsh environment of space, and studying our home planet from the unique vantage point of space. These folks are the best and the brightest on or off the planet. I can say that without humility, because I’m not one of them. I’m a writer. I tell their stories.

I am the editor of an annual NASA publication called Spinoff, which highlights the ways that technologies originally designed for NASA missions are now found in everyday life. At Spinoff, we cover everything from cutting edge medical technologies to items that you might find on your own kitchen counter. Each story is different and with a surprising result, but each follows a similar story pattern: NASA was working on something cool and high tech that had never been done before. Along the way, one of the engineers said, “Hey, I know we’re building this for a space mission, but you know where it might also work?” And then I come in a little while later and tell the story of how a tracking device designed for a satellite is now being used to automate farm equipment or how pattern-matching software developed for the Hubble Space telescope to map the stars is now helping biologists track endangered whale sharks and polar bears, both of which have life-long distinctive markings similar to a human’s fingerprints.

This job is never boring. In addition to interviewing and working with some of the best minds on the planet, each story we cover is different, so I am constantly learning about new and exciting projects. For example, NASA is currently experimenting with ways to make fuels out of algae. It turns out that algae is a great source for oil, and NASA has developed a method for using algae as both a fuel source and a way of cleaning sewage—by floating bags containing algae and sewage on the surface of the ocean. The algae remove carbon dioxide from the air, preserve useful nutrients while cleaning the sewage, and then release clean water into the ocean. The algae can then be made into biofuel. Other cool projects on the horizon are using nerve signals in the throat that control speech to create thought-controlled robotics. This may lead to the world’s first silent cell phone conversations!

NASA is never a dull place, and if you are interested in finding more about the ways NASA is bringing its space technologies back down to Earth, you can read on our website (http://spinoff.nasa.gov) about the over 1,650 cool spinoff technologies we’ve covered in Spinoff, or you can check out a colorful flash feature called NASA City that we created to show how NASA technologies are all around you: www.nasa.gov/city.

The Origin of the Big Bang... from the South Pole

By Yuki Takahashi, NASA Student Ambassador, UC Berkeley

I have been working with a team on a new telescope that we set up at the South Pole to learn about how the Big Bang started. We know that our universe had what we call the "Big Bang", meaning that it seems to have started from a tiny volume of concentrated energy, which then expanded as the universe itself stretched to the huge volume we see today. What may sound amazing is that we can still "see" the radiation from that beginning when the universe was much more concentrated and hotter. It's called the cosmic microwave background radiation. Astrophysicists in the 1960s detected this radiation (Nobel Prize) and in the 1980s found fluctuations of it across the sky (Nobel Prize 2006). We think these fluctuations came from quantum fluctuations that got stretched during the first tiny fraction of a second of the Big Bang when the universe seems have inflated extraordinarily fast, seeding density fluctuations that eventually became galaxy clusters of today. We also think that this initial "Inflation" produced ripples in space-time called the "gravitational waves", which has never been detected yet. If we can learn about these gravitational waves, we can find clues about the ultimate question of how the Big Bang started.

To look for a sign of these gravitational waves in the radiation from the Big Bang, our team of ~10 astrophysicists (Caltech/JPL, UC Berkeley, UCSD) developed a telescope and set it up at the South Pole last year. Because the microwave radiation gets blocked by water molecules (as you may know with microwave ovens), we chose the site with the least amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. The South Pole is at ~2800 meter altitude, above much of the water vapor, and its cold air doesn't hold much moisture. It's one of the best sites on Earth for studying the cosmic microwave background, although going to outer space is even better!

Ours is actually a precursor to a space-based telescope (Inflation Probe). Just like in any space mission, we kept the telescope compact to save cost while meeting the required performance. Because the site is so remote and not easily accessible, we designed and developed the telescope's motion control system and various electronics to be very reliable.


After shipping out most of our telescope parts in October 2005, I flew to the South Pole in November with 2 other members of our team. We began setting up our lab and our telescope in a new empty building about 1 km walk from the main station (which is right by the geographic pole). Even in -45°C weather with winds, walking in a gear almost as bulky as the spacesuit makes you warm. The desolateness made me wonder if it was anything like being on the Moon... More of our team arrived later and some went back. By the end of my 2-month deployment, we were able to get the telescope working. From March to October 2006, we used our telescope to map a small patch of the sky, integrating down in search of what is expected to be a very tiny gravitational-wave signal.

After a successful year of observations, my teammates and I went to the South Pole again to replace several of the telescope's ~100 detectors and calibrate them. We completed our planned 3 years of observations and have replaced the telescope with a next generation one. The gravitational-wave signal from Inflation is likely to be at least an order of magnitude smaller than even what the current WMAP satellite has been able to sense. By concentrating on a small patch of the sky with our array of sensitive detectors, we may have a chance. In any case, our experiment will be able to narrow down the possible explanations for how the Big Bang began.

Through our exploration of the beginning of the universe, it has been a privilege to be able to explore one end of the Earth. Some day, I would like to try living at the South Pole through its dark cold winter. And eventually, I would also like to go to the South Pole of the Moon . As we continue to explore space, there is probably a lot more to learn from experiences in Antarctica.

Gloves for Space Work

Amy Ross, Spacesuit Designer

When astronauts go outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk, they wear gloves that NASA engineer Amy Ross had a hand in developing. The gloves that Ross helped design nearly ten years ago are the same gloves worn by crewmembers today.

Ross is an advanced spacesuit designer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. She is also the daughter of astronaut Jerry Ross, who has flown in space seven times and conducted nine spacewalks, setting two U.S. records.

As a NASA co-op student in the 1990s, Amy Ross worked with veteran spacesuit designer Joseph Kosmo on a new glove design, which is still in use today. Kosmo has designed suits for NASA since 1961 and participated in the development of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and shuttle spacesuits, as well as numerous advanced technology configuration spacesuits for future applications.

Kosmo and Ross looked specifically at a new glove design for extravehicular activities, or EVAs, to replace the 4000 series EVA glove, introduced in 1985.

"The space station and EVAs were really ramping up," Ross said. "We needed to help those guys and gals. We needed to do something significant. And a new glove would be best."

"[Kosmo] had done several different glove designs and had tested them and took the good bits of each one and stuck them into one glove," Ross recalled. The results were the Phase VI glove, which gave crewmembers a more comfortable fit and improved hand mobility. The Phase VI glove was the first EVA glove to be developed completely with computer-aided design.

"It was fun," Ross said of the design and flight-certification process for the new glove. "My job was to get the Phase VI glove ready for flight. I certified our prototype to a flight design."

The first pair was worn by her father on the first International Space Station assembly flight, STS-88, in December 1998.

"He was supposed to wear the 4000 series on an EVA, the Phase VI on an EVA and then pick whichever pair he liked best on the third EVA so that we'd get a comparison," the younger Ross explained. But her father didn't exactly follow that plan.

"He wore a Phase VI glove on the first EVA. He wore a Phase VI glove on the second EVA. And he wore a Phase VI glove on the third EVA," Ross said with a smile. "Apparently he liked them. After that, we went into production."

Ross' mom is also part of America's space program. Karen Ross is a food technologist with United Space Alliance, a NASA contractor. Ross said her dad jokes that she dresses him and her mom feeds him.

Ross said her parents' careers, as well as a summer tending animals, influenced her decision to pursue a career in science.

"In high school ... I liked animals a lot, and space, of course, was everywhere. So I went and worked at a friend's dad's vet clinic one summer and decided, 'Nope, I don't want to do that,'" Ross remembered.

After high school, she successfully pursued a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. She got her foot in NASA's door in 1990 as a co-op student through the NASA Cooperative Education Program, which supports NASA's goal of strengthening the agency's and the nation's future workforce. Ross joined the space agency full-time in 1996.

In the late 1990s, Ross and other NASA engineers experimented with building a better surface EVA suit like those worn on the moon during the Apollo missions. Were they able to construct a better suit than those worn decades ago? Ross said the answer was yes ... and no.

"Some of the detailed designs were almost replicated because there are some limited options, for example designing a soft shoulder. There's only so many different ways you can do that," she said. "Now some of the other joints, like the elbows and the knees, were significantly better, and the gloves, of course, have come a million miles from the Apollo gloves."

"But these guys had never designed spacesuits before. Nobody had designed spacesuits before, so they did a really good job."

Her current focus is the development of a new pressure garment for the Constellation Program, which will carry humans back to the moon and beyond.

The scientists and engineers involved in the Constellation Program are currently looking at a design of spacesuits that would incorporate as much commonality as possible while still serving different purposes: launch and entry, EVAs in microgravity, and EVAs on a lunar or planetary surface. Although challenging, this design would allow the suits to perform different functions while taking up less space.

Engineers are currently exploring the functional requirements for future suits, specifically how those requirements are different from current needs.

"If you're on the lunar surface, what are you going to be doing on there? Geology. OK, if you're going to be doing geology, what do geologists do? How do they move to do their job?" Ross explained. "Once you have a good feel for what the requirements are, then you start trying to figure out what architecture will allow that."

Proposed suit designs will go through a feasibility study to make sure they meet the requirements and then on to a detailed design phase where factors like color and size will be determined.

When Constellation suits are flown, it will be the first time in 30 years NASA has used a new spacesuit, and the new suits have quite a bit more required of them, Ross said.

"It's a challenge," she admitted. "You're always widening your path toward the ideal. Ideally you'd build a spacesuit that weighs almost nothing, is very comfortable, allows you to move as if you don’t have a spacesuit on. There is probably an unattainable ideal out there, but you're always working toward that."

No Day is Ever the Same

STS-130 will host at least three EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity) or spacewalks. Here is an interview with Jonnie Yaptengco from the Johnson Space Center.


Spacesuits used for spacewalking are incredibly complicated equipment. In fact, the suits are self-contained one-person spacecraft. To successfully use the suits for a spacewalk -- called an extravehicular activity -- astronauts require extensive training. EVA trainers make sure the astronauts know all they need to know. Jonnie Yaptengco will be one of those trainers, after she completes her own training.

What is your job, and how do you support spacewalks?

I just began in the EVA Systems group in April. What this means is that I am in the certification process to be able to teach astronauts everything there is to know about the spacesuit and the hardware involved to get ready to do a spacewalk and what to do afterwards.


Why is this element of spacewalk support important?

Without us, it would be like allowing a new driver to get in the car without knowing how to prepare to do it or what to do when you want to stop. We are the astronaut trainers that allow them to be able to interface with their suits and the hardware associated with it.

How did you get your current position?

I earned a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida and applied for this job online. I interviewed and was offered a job.


Were you involved with NASA as a student in high school or college, and, if so, in what projects were you involved?

Not really. I was involved with Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, or SEDS, where we learned more about space advancement. I have always been fascinated by space.


What are the challenges your team faces in working with this aspect of spacewalks?

I think there is a certain stress level that our team needs to know how to deal with. Not only do we have to meet deadlines to complete certification in our classes, but once we are certified we need to always be on our toes. We need to know everything about the systems, and that is a lot of pressure! After we are certified instructors, we become flight controllers to interface with the crew and be able to solve any problems and monitor the associated systems. We need to be experts so if anything goes wrong with the suits -- which sustains life for the crew member -- we know exactly what to do and what to say to keep the crew safe.

What else would you want to tell people about your job or your experiences with spacewalk support?

I wanted a job where I wouldn't be stuck at a desk all day. I got just what I wanted! Sometimes, of course, you are at a desk. However, we get to train and take classes in full-size mock-ups, do simulations to test out the flight controllers and pretend to be the astronauts, and get to meet astronauts and work with them. It's such a unique place to be, and no day is ever the same. I was fitted in a suit in November, and I will be diving in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory! I'm so excited!

NASA Managers Give "Go" for Endeavour

Space shuttle Endeavour is set to begin a 13-day flight to the International Space Station with a Feb. 7 launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is planned for 4:39 a.m. EST, making this the final scheduled space shuttle night launch.

Endeavour's launch date was announced last Wednesday at the conclusion of a flight readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready.