But, naturally, the day did not end with the test. Shortly after the test, we had a class on the operation of the Ku-Band communication system. This communication system operates similarly to the other communications systems we have studied, such as the S-band systems, but, of course, it has its own particular nuances and terminology. Following the Ku class, we had a class on what is termed "pointing." Pointing is the process of determining a particular attitude for the Shuttle and telling the software what you want to do. For example, you may want to point the payload bay at a spot on the earth for some particular science that needs to occur. Or, you may want to point a certain side of the Shuttle at the sun for thermal conditioning, etc.

To communicate your pointing desires to the software, you have to make inputs based on the Shuttle coordinate system, which means that you have to wrap your mind around how that coordinate system is defined versus where you want to be in space. The best way to sort through all of this is to work lots of examples. And, the best way to work the examples is to use models. I can only imagine what it must have looked like to someone walking by our classroom to see the latest group of astronauts playing with toy Shuttles.

On Tuesday and Wednesday our regular training was interrupted with some required training levied by the State Department. Due to the continued unrest in the world, any government employee (not just a JSC or NASA employee) that expects to travel out of the country for a significant amount of time had to take this training. It was geared towards making folks aware of the threats that exist for Americans in other countries and how to do a better job of looking out for yourself. Since this training was mandatory for all astronauts, our training team had to be a little creative with our schedule as we were otherwise occupied for two days. So, Tuesday evening after the State Department training, I had a single systems training class on the Ku-band system. It was a long day. Luckily, Wednesday, I only had to take the State Department training.

Thursday morning's class was on the operation of the inertial measurement units. These gizmos measure the attitude and accelerations of the Shuttle and keep the software updated on where the Shuttle is. They have spinning gyros inside and every once in awhile they have to be realigned. The class covered the variety of ways that are used to keep these instruments in alignment and giving good data.

Thursday afternoon I had a very fun (and informative) class. This was a familiarization class on ascent and entry procedures in one of the full up simulators. The way this class worked is we had four people in the simulator - one of the pilots and two mission specialists from our class along with an already flown crewmember. The flown crewmember was there to herd us through the procedures, to make sure we were looking at/doing the right things at the right times, to tell us how crews normally divide tasks and operate, and so on. The simulator we were in was the "motion base" simulator. The motion base sim is a cockpit simulator that moves. It can be tilted up so that you are on your back for a launch or put in a horizontal position for a landing. It shakes, rattles, and rolls.

I have to admit, it was wild when we were tilted back for our first launch run. Your legs are hanging in the air and you have to tether your checklists so you don't lose them should you accidentally drop them. It is a very strange sensation to watch the clock count down and then all of a sudden have everything start shaking accompanied by lots of noise for the engines and solid rocket motors. You really feel like you are going somewhere. By the time the main engines cut off (about eight and half minutes after launch) the simulator has shaken back over to a horizontal position and you feel like you are cruising forward. Of course, it isn't just a carnival ride, you have to push buttons and throw switches, keep up with how the Shuttle is performing, and talk to the ground. It was quite a challenge to go through all of it for the first time. We did two ascent runs and one entry run during this training session.

Since we only had one pilot type, he sat in the pilot's seat for all the runs. He obviously needs to do that, since he is in training for that position first. We mission specialists got to change our roles around. For the first ascent run I was sitting in the mission specialist seat that is basically right behind and between the commander and the pilot. The person in this position is, in some sense, a backup for the commander in that you have to help ensure the flight is progressing appropriately. So, you help monitor the systems and make the appropriate calls to the commander when certain events happen. When we start training with failures, the person in this seat is heavily involved in tracking and working the problems that come up.

For the second ascent and for the entry run I got to sit in the commander's seat. That was a hoot. It felt very odd to move the controls as we were coming in for a landing and have the entire simulator move as a result. I am happy to report, that I landed us safely on the runway. This familiarization class was probably the first and last time that we will be able to see a launch and landing during our training when there are no failures. The next time we do these procedures, we will be dealing with simulated malfunctions.

Friday was a full day with three classes. I started out with a single systems training class on the inertial measurement units. Just like all the other systems operations classes, we went through all the nominal procedures associated with this hardware. Following that class, I had a Russian lesson. My afternoon consisted of a class on the escape systems equipment and in the Shuttle. This was an interesting class since it was a hands-on class. We began by going over all the ins and outs of the orange launch and entry pressure suits. We then climbed into one of the Shuttle mock-ups and covered how to blow the hatch in an emergency, how to use the emergency escape pole (used to make sure you do not hit a wing when you bail out at about 30,000 feet), how to pry open the windows and use a rope to repel out to the ground. We did not actually get to repel in this class - just looked at the equipment that we would use. However, in a future class we will be suited up in the orange suits and will practice getting out of the Shuttle.

And, so goes another week in our training program.