After class on Monday we had a short tag-up to go over the results of our test last Monday. I am quite pleased with my results. I only missed a couple of questions. On one of them I even knew the right answer, but I just circled the wrong answer on the answer sheet. Duh!

Late in the afternoon on Tuesday we had a class on escape procedures, i.e., how you get out of the Shuttle quickly if there is a problem either on the ground before a launch, when you are in the atmosphere, or on the ground after a landing. There are a couple of ways to get out, depending on where you are. At the launch pad, you have to go out of the hatch where you enter the Shuttle. There are small explosives on the hatch which will get it open, if for whatever reason, you can not open it with the handle. When you are in the atmosphere the method of escape is jump out with your parachute. There is a pole that extends out of the hatch that you slide down to make sure you clear the Shuttle and do not go bouncing off the wing. If you are on the ground after a landing you can either exit the orbiter via the side hatch or you can go out through one of the overhead windows. In these cases, since there is likely no supporting structure or stairs to walk down, you either repel to the ground or go down a slide like they have in the emergency exits of airplanes. I will get to try my hand at these procedures tomorrow afternoon.

My Wednesday started with a Russian lesson. After that we had class on what is termed range safety. These two words cover all the people, equipment, and procedures that ensure that folks on the ground are safe if the Shuttle veers off course during a launch. There are people who work for the Air Force whose job it is to determine if whatever has been launched, be it the Shuttle or something on an expendable rocket, is going where it is supposed to. If it is not, they predict whether or not it will impact the ground a populated area. And, finally, if it looks like it will hit the ground in an undesired location, it is their job to send the destruct command. Bet you did not know that - that they can and will deliberately destroy the Shuttle to protect people on the ground. There are explosives on the solid rocket motors that can be used for such an emergency. As you might expect, there are a complicated set of rules of when they would actually destroy a Shuttle. Because the Shuttle has people on board that hopefully can effect some sort of correction, much more time is given once an incorrect course has been determined than with expendable rockets. After the solid rockets are no longer being used and have been discarded, it is presumed that the crew can either get the Shuttle to a safe location, be it either in some kind of orbit, or at one of the emergency landing sites, or the crew can ditch it in the water and use their parachutes.

So, after that rather informative class, I got to practice my emergency escapes. On the one hand, the emergency escapes class was a lot of fun since we got to break open hatches and do some repelling and the like. But, on the other hand, I did not enjoy the class at all. You may recall that I have had trouble getting a proper fit for a launch and entry suit. Specifically, the harness that goes with the parachute has been problematic. For this class, they tried a different harness from the one I wore last week. It was much worse than the one I had before. For the previous class, we were in our suits for about an hour. I had some limited mobility in my arms and ended up with some bruising on my arms from some fittings. The bruising was not that big of a deal, since I do tend to bruise easily, but the mobility was definitely a problem, since my ability to accomplish tasks was impaired. For today's class, we were in the suits for about four hours. By the end of the class I was in a fair amount of pain as the harness was digging into my shoulders. It was also causing my hands to feel tingly since it was either pinching nerves or cutting off circulation. And, I had even less mobility in my arms than before. Definitely not pleasant and definitely a problem.

But, aside from that, it was a great class. I think we did every escape possible, except for the one we did last week when the Orbiter was in the vertical. We would fully strap into seats and then go through the procedures of getting out for whatever case we were in. We crawled out of hatches and windows, jumped out as if we were going down the slide pole with our parachutes, and we slid down inflatable slides. My favorite part, though, was the repelling. There is some nifty equipment that makes it very simple to repel. In order to get us up to speed on how to repel before we went through the escape procedures, we were hooked up to a crane and hung about 40 feet in the air. We practiced using the repelling equipment to lower ourselves back to the ground. That was fun.

Getting out the overhead window was quite a challenge for me because of my harness issues. Once the window is open, you are to toss out your repelling rope. This requires you to throw the rope up and out the window. Let's just say that it is very hard to throw things up when you cannot lift your arms above your head. Trying to worm your way out the window is also quite a challenge. When you are in the bulky suits, you are about the same size as the window opening. And, with the helmet on it was pretty close to impossible to look up when I was trying to climb out. You get out the window by climbing up the back of one of the seats in the flight deck. I would step up on the seat and, clunk, my helmet would hit the window frame and I would not be able to go anywhere. It took me a few tries to finally muscle my way out. Once you are out of the window, you are sitting on the top of the Shuttle. Then, you grab hold of your rope and repel over the side. That was interesting because you are pretty far off the ground and there is nothing to hold onto (except your rope). When we were finally done with the class, I definitely felt like I had had a super workout at the gym.

Thursday morning I had an evaluated single systems trainer class. This one was on data processing system malfunctions. I thought the class went well. I managed to do all the right procedures and recognize the failures that were being introduced, which was the point of the class - to start introducing us to failures and get us thinking about how they affect the bigger picture of operations.

In the afternoon we had some time with the group at JSC that is working on the next generation of Moon rovers. They are working with the group at Ames on the nifty EVA assistant that we were briefed on when we visited out there - the rover that would respond to your voice commands and follow you around, take pictures, and catalogue data. This group is also working on a new buggy to drive around in. They have a prototype that can go for several hours on a rechargeable battery. Some of us got to take it for a test spin. I did not, but it looked fun to drive. Although, if you ask me, I think some of my classmates need a little more practice before they are unleashed on the surface of the moon. . .

Friday was not too heavy of a day in terms of classes. We only had a tag-up with the chief of the office in the morning. He wanted to meet with us, since we really have not spent much time with him in the last six months. It was a check-in-and-see-how-things-are-going type of meeting. The good news is that if the Shuttle flies 28 more flights (which is the current plan before it is retired), he believes that he has a plan that will get all of us flown either on the Shuttle or on the Station. Of course, if the Shuttle plans change and there are not 28 flights, then all bets are off. It was good to hear, since we were selected knowing that there was no guarantee that we may ever get to go into space since the future of the Shuttle and Station programs is somewhat in flux and the program to go back to the moon is not quite in full swing.

After that meeting, I had a short break and then ended my week with the proverbial Russian lesson.