After the payload comm class, we had, get this, a review session for our next test. Didn't we just finish a test? We did. In fact, it was two weeks ago. But, because of our upcoming travel schedule, we are going to have to squeeze in our next test a little bit earlier than it would probably have been scheduled. Or, so they say. At any rate, the instructors decided to have some review sessions now, since it actually has been awhile since we have had some of the classes that are going to be covered on the test. The reviews are fairly informal - we have about an hour with the instructors. They go over a few of the high points of each system and we ask them any questions we might have. The review we had today was on the environmental control and life support system.

It was the final class I had today that made this day so fun (and long - we finished up around 8:30 p.m.). Three of us, and a previously flown astronaut, had a five hour simulation on what is called post insertion. Post insertion is the phase of flight that starts about two hours after a launch and is where the Shuttle is reconfigured for orbit operations. There is a lot going on in all the systems. The four of us methodically went through all the procedures. It took a long time since the instructors wanted us to do everything serially so we could see everything. Normally, all the tasks are divided up. The flown astronaut was there to keep us herded and to provide us with insight on how real flights go. At times it was rather chaotic since we really are not very quick at finding the switches we need to flip, or, in some cases, not any good at finding the particular panel where the switches were located. And, we did a lot of climbing up and down the latter between the middeck and the flight deck - come on crew, lets troop downstairs to push in a few circuit breakers. . . But the sim was really good because we got to put everything together and run the whole checklist from beginning to end.

We had some long classes on Tuesday. They were interesting, but long. We started with an introduction to extravehicular activity, a.k.a. EVAs, a.k.a space walks. This class was four hours and we covered how the suits work, how the training goes, and what the tools are like. Unfortunately, we will not be doing any EVA training during our initial astronaut training. So, it will be quite some time before I will get to go into the big pool.

After a short break for lunch, we had a three hour class on how one rendezvous with an object already in orbit - i.e., how you maneuver the Shuttle to meet up with the Station. It was interesting stuff. As it turns out, there is also a separate training flow on conducting rendezvous. We also will have that sometime after our initial training. I finished my day with a Russian lesson.

Wednesday morning I had single systems training class on the payload comm system. Yes, I still think there are too many boxes that start with the letter P. In the afternoon, I had been scheduled to ride in the backseat of a pilot who was to go out to El Paso for some Shuttle training aircraft training. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating out west and the training session was canceled. Luckily, the weather was a little better in the eastern part of the state and the pilot and I got some flying in. I actually did not think that we were going to be able to go anywhere, but it turned out that the weather was passable enough to the north; we flew to Fort Worth and back. We ended up taking off fairly late in the afternoon, as we were waiting for the weather to clear, so we got a few night landings in on the return leg. While I was out taking to the skies, the rest of my class was sitting in a test review session. I hope they took good notes. . .

My Thursday was not too bad of a day. I did not really have any technical classes. We had a test review session on pointing and the navigation systems. We had a briefing from some of the Russian Space Agency representatives on the Russian space program. And, I had a Russian lesson.

The word of the day Friday was pumpkin. I was fitted, sort of, for one of the orange pressure suits. If I have not mentioned it before, these are the suits that the crews wear during launches and landings. The suits consist of a Gore-Tex bladder with a bright orange flame-resistant material covering. The bladder will maintain a pressurized environment should there be a loss of atmosphere in the cabin. The suit is actually pressurized by the air your exhale. This is a very strange feeling. On the left leg of the suit are the connections for air/oxygen. From there the air goes through hoses up into the helmet where it is delivered to you when you take a breath - much like a SCUBA regulator - you only get air when you "ask" for it. When you breathe out, the air goes through a valve into the suit. So, you can feel yourself puffing up each time you take a breath. When there is a certain amount of air in the suit, there are valves that let the air out, keeping the right amount in. The suit's bladder closes off at your neck, so you feel the material around your neck puffing up and down each time you breathe. It is a very odd feeling.

In addition to pressure suit, there is also a "g-suit" that you wear during a landing. The g-suit is basically a pair of chaps that can be inflated to squeeze blood out of your legs and up to your head. During a space flight, since there isn't gravity pulling all your fluids down, they shift in your body. This is the reason why some of the astronauts look like they have puffy faces and bird legs - everything has shifted up the body. When you come back to Earth, the onset of gravity can cause you to have too little fluid in your head, which will make you pass out. Hence, the crews wear a g-suit for landing. It is worn underneath the pressure suit.

The bottom layer that you wear is a liquid cooling and ventilation garment. This is basically a pair of long-johns that have plastic tubing sewn into them. The tubing is hooked up to a water supply which circulates chilled water through the tubes. This is used to keep you cool when wearing the rest of the suit. It is pretty neat and works very well. I guess I shouldn't forget to mention that you also wear a diaper. Yes, I had to try one on, to see how everything fit. The diaper is there since on launch day, you can be all dressed up waiting to go for up to six hours. No word on how often the diapers are actually used. . .

These suits are, if you will, off the rack. They come to NASA from the Air Force and NASA has a certain number of sizes in their closet. The reason I said above that I was fited, sort of, for a suit, is that it turns out I am not one of the standard Air Force sizes. Go figure. Apparently I am very long in the torso (who knew?). So, I had a hard time fitting into a standard suit. In fact, to get the torso to fit properly I ended up wearing a "large"?!? They had to take in the sleeves and legs since a large suit is made for a much taller person than I am. And, the neck material is too big, which is not good, since that is supposed to hold your pressure in. But, they can custom fit the neck and will do that for me eventually. Unfortunately, they can not custom fit the rest of the suit. Along with the suit you wear a harness that connects to the parachute. The harnesses were even more of a problem to get fit properly than the suit. Let's just say that I am a girl and the harnesses were designed for male pilots.

One of the last things we did during this fit check was fully pressurize the suit. I felt like the Stay-Puff marshmallow man when that was done. The pressure makes it very hard to move. The suits aren't exactly easy to get around in to begin with (with all the gear on, you are talking 60 or so extra pounds to lug around). It will be interesting to see how it is to operate in a cockpit with the suit on. We will have a class in the near future where we will have a suit on and will get to try out how much maneuverability we actually have.

My last event for the week was a Russian lesson.