This week was a momentous one for our class as we began a new phase of our training. We started our Station training. For the next 26 weeks we will be doing both Station and Shuttle classes. And, I thought we were busy before. . . It is nice to know that Station training flow will be over in mid-November. It seems a bit more definite than the Shuttle training which is still alleged to be over at the end of the year. . .or January. . . or February or March. . . Not that I am complaining, mind you. One of the big uncertainties of the Shuttle training is how much simulation time we are able to get when. The simulator availability is dependant on the Shuttle launch schedule, which is still in flux. With the Station training, we also need the equivalent simulator time, but it is apparently more available. Or, rather, we are going to be scheduled at all hours of the day or night when the simulators are available.

So, today we had four Station classes. We started with a short introduction into our training program followed by a class on how to use some of the computer tools that are part of the training. There is quite a difference in the approach to training between the Shuttle and the Station world. In the Station world, they are not going to require us to do a lot of prerequisite reading like we have in the Shuttle training. We are also going to spend more time on each system at one time. In the Shuttle world, we have pretty much covered the basics on each system, then we went into the first level malfunctions for each system, and now we are going deeper into the malfunctions on each system. Eventually we will put all the systems together near the end of our training flow. In the Station program we will be taking each system or a group of systems and going into some depth in terms of its operations and malfunctions before we move on to the next system or systems. We also will not be having the written tests like we have in the Shuttle program. However, each class that we have in the Station training flow will be evaluated in some fashion - a short written or oral quiz at the end of the class (so, no snoozing in class. . .). The Station approach is a much more hands-on approach at the beginning of the training than the Shuttle training was. I am looking forward to diving into it.

In the afternoon we had our first Station systems classes. We started out with an overview class on the communications systems and then we had an overview class on the data processing system. As I have mentioned in the past, the Shuttle has 5 main computers that handle all of the operations of the Shuttle. On the station there are, well, a ton of computers that all handle bits and pieces of the Station management. There is a tiered approach to the computers on the Station. There are some top level computers that send commands to lower level computers that send commands to even lower computers that talk to the hardware. This distributed approach helps solve redundancy issues - you do not have one computer take down your entire station if there is a problem. You want to keep the problems isolated to minimize the effects as much as possible. So, lots of different computers to learn about. And, of course, you have to have the American computers talk to the Russian computers. I can only imagine what my classmates must have thought about encountering a whole other set of acronyms that have to be learned. Plus, if you are talking about anything on the Russian side of the house, you may have an acronym in Russian or you may deal with an acronym of the English translation of the Russian or both. I am REALLY glad that I already know a great deal of the terminology.

Our morning class on Tuesday covered what is termed "daily operations" on the Station. This meant that we examined the types of activities that go on each day on the Station as well as the tools that are used to accomplish said activities. Like the Shuttle, there are several laptops that are used on the Station. However, the laptops on the Station have a different role than the Shuttle ones. The Station laptops not only are used to interact with all the systems, they have all the plans and procedures for the crew. Each day, the ground uplinks the final plan for the day (as well as the expected plans for the next five days) along with any new or updated procedures. On the Shuttle the procedures are all in paper form, on the Station they are almost exclusively electronic. And, on the Station, there are some pretty slick applications for keeping up with all the work - the crew will get a plan for the day that will have links to the procedures that will be used. Unlike the Shuttle, the Station crew has some flexibility in performing their daily duties (i.e., if they want to exercise before lunch and do payload activities afterwards, they can do that). There are various electronic tools for the crew to indicate to the ground what they are working on and what they have finished. This way the crew and the ground can stay in sync, even if they are not constantly talking to each other. While these tools are pretty nifty, the next version of these applications will be web based, so the Station program is really making use of all the modern technology and programming that is out there being used by the public. Although, there is no provision for the crew to be able to surf the web while in orbit - they are not connected in that fashion. But, the tools make use of the web technology.

After class I went flying. Today the pilot and I went over to the Laughlin Air Force Base in west Texas and back. They have some nutty altitude constraints around their airport for departing planes. You have to be at or below 1600 feet at the end of the runway, at or below 3000 feet 2 miles from the runway and at or above 3000 feet 5 miles from the runway. In reality, you pretty much end up doing a normal climb away from the airport, but you have a lot more to keep up with than just flying up to a given altitude.

On Wednesday we had our Shuttle test. Luckily it was a short one and it did not seem to be too difficult. Perhaps I am getting the hang of this stuff. Still, though, there is a big difference between sitting in a classroom and writing things down on paper and actually performing the actions on which your life may depend. The rubber really hits the road in the simulations, which is why we have so many evaluated sim sessions. After the test we had a class on malfunctions in the jets which are used for Shuttle attitude maneuvers on-orbit. At the end of the day I had a Russian class. It was my first Russian class in two weeks. I was a little hesitant to go to class since I had not had a chance to even think about Russian since my last class, but we managed to carry on a conversation the entire time. Well, it would be fair to say that my teacher did a lot more talking than I did.

Thursday started off with a Shuttle class on malfunctions in the environmental control system while on-orbit. We have had a similar class previously, but it dealt with failures during the launch and entry timeframes of a flight. At the end of the day I had a single systems trainer class on malfunctions in the Shuttle mechanical systems. As usual this was an evaluated lesson.

Friday was a very full day. Our first class was on the various crew duties on the Shuttle. We heard from some flown astronauts on how the various tasks are typically divided up on the flight deck during a launch. Since we have pretty much been only dealing with one system at a time it was quite illuminating to hear how it all comes together. After that class we had a lesson on geology and earth observations. As part of our science training we have quite a few geology lessons. We have this training for two reasons. One is that we have a unique observation platform from space on which to study the earth. The other is because some of us might actually go to the moon. Understanding geology and how it relates to the moon's history will be a big part of the lunar science program. This lesson was quite interesting for a couple of reasons. The first was just because I have never had any formal geology training (other than what I may have gotten in elementary school) so it is a new subject for me. The other is that the class was taught by the same folks that have taught all the astronauts their geology training - going back to the original Apollo astronauts. In a couple of weeks we will be doing a geology field trip to northern New Mexico to put our geology training into practice. Needless to say, I am looking forward to that trip.

In the afternoon I had a simulation session in the full up Shuttle simulator. This class put into practice all the entry theory that we studied last week. Remember that public math? Urgh! Well, I may not be an expert at this, but at least I managed to not crash the Shuttle. I ended my week with a Russian lesson. I do not think that this class went as well as the class I had on Wednesday. Oh well, some days are like that.