Bright and early Tuesday morning (7:00 am), I had a class in the full up motion simulator. This class was a familiarization class on aborts; the companion simulation run to the classes we had a few weeks ago. I was paired with one other mission specialist from my class and a pilot from a previous class. The class had us go through all the different types of aborts that you can have during a launch. It was impressive how quickly the pilot reacted to the failures while the two of us were still wondering if that was an alarm that we had heard. Since the purpose of the class was not for us to work the failures so much as to run through and follow the abort procedures, I did not worry so much about trying to figure out what the problem was, I just tried to work through the procedures correctly. We had four runs. On two of them we continued uphill and got into some sort of orbit - one where we could stay awhile and one where we had to land after one orbit around the earth. On the other two runs we landed, once over in Europe and once back in Florida. I managed to land the Shuttle in Spain successfully, and I did not even strafe any of the nearby buildings. All in all, it was a great class. Very informative.

While we were in the aborts class, the rest of our class had a class on Station emergency medical stuff. The class was basically on what kind of emergency medical services are available before and after a Station launch. I read the handouts after our class and it remains to be seen if the instructor is going to have to re-teach the class to the two of us.

In the afternoon I had my mastery evaluation for the Station command and data handling system, i.e., the computers that run the Station. I still cannot believe that we are starting the Station mastery classes when it seems like we just began the Station training. There were lots of questions of how things work and what happens when things break. In addition to the oral exam, I had to perform a lot of procedures such as setting up the computers for regular operations as well as working procedures for when the computers are not working properly. I had no issues and I passed, so I am qualified to work basic computer issues on the ISS. Yipee!

On Wednesday a couple of us started with a class on habitability equipment and procedures in the Station. This meant we looked at such things as how to attach stuff to the Station. I know this sounds a bit silly, but there are all kinds of clamps and brackets and bungees that are used to secure equipment to various locations. It is important so that your stuff doesnąt float away. We also dealt with the mundane - how to clean filters, inspect smoke detectors and other equipment. And, finally, we looked at how to configure equipment for when the Shuttle visits. Perhaps not the most mentally taxing class, but always good to get into the mock-ups and handle equipment.

After a short break for lunch, I had a single systems training class on propellant dumps. Amazingly enough, this one was not an evaluated lesson. It was nice to not have that pressure - this was a complicated class because there was a lot to try and follow. I liked being able to go through all the steps methodically without worrying about someone taking notes on whether or not I was doing things correctly.

Directly after that class it was back to the world of the Station. I had a class that was basically on the complicated nature of Station procedures. The way the Station's procedures are written are a little different from the way the Shuttle's procedures are written. Most of the basic procedure standards are the same, but since the Station is primarily controlled via laptop computers versus switches like on the Shuttle, you have to have a method of navigating to the correct software to effect whatever change you are trying to make. The way the engineers have set up navigation on the laptops is basically graphical. There is an outline of all the modules of the ISS with a tool bar that represents all the different systems. If you want to do something, say, with the electrical system in the Lab, you can either click on an icon that represents the electrical system and from there find the Lab equipment or you can click on a picture of the Lab and then navigate to the electrical system within it. From there, you click on whatever box or piece of equipment you are interested in and thus can find out what its status is, or send it commands, etc. I have to say that it is a pretty nifty system. But, until you get to know the systems, their various hardware components, and how to find things on the laptop, the procedures can be rather daunting.

Andy (Thomas, my husband is part of the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery's "Return to Flight" mission. ) went into quarantine for his flight this evening. The basic rules are that I do not get to see him unless it is scheduled. He also has to sleep shift around to getting up at about 3 am.

I had another class in the Station mockups Thursday morning. This one was on stowage. We spent time looking at the equipment used to contain stuff - the racks, the bags, the boxes, etc. Some of the hardware is similar to the Shuttle hardware and some of it is Station unique. After class, I was to go flying, but I lost my pilot. It happens. That was actually fine with me because I had the opportunity to have lunch with Andy and the crew in the crew quarters.

Late in the day our class had a meeting with the chief of the astronaut office. It was an opportunity for him to tag-up with us and vice versa. He talked a little bit about our class' flying expectations for the future. The bottom line is no one really knows. The expectation is that there will be somewhere between 15 and 20 Shuttle flights before they are phased out. Maybe there will and maybe there won't. A lot depends on what the White House wants. Our NASA Administrator is to present plans and options for the Shuttle/ISS/Moon/Mars to the White House "soon." So, once that is done the White House will have the opportunity to give any direction it wants and NASA will proceed. You may ask why NASA is so involved with the White House rather than dealing with the Congress. NASA does deal with Congress, but according to the official food chain, NASA falls under the National Space Council, which is headed by the Vice President. At any rate, if there are 15 Shuttle flights before it is phased out, it does not look good for many, if any, of our class to fly on a Shuttle. If there are 20 Shuttle flights, things could be ok. Suffice it to say, at this point, nothing is cast in stone and I remain optimistic about my opportunities to fly on some vehicle (either U.S. or Russian) at some point. But, you just never know. . .

Friday was a busy day. I began the day with a Station class on power connectivity. It was a more in depth look on how the various boxes of the electrical power system are hooked together, how the power is routed, how it is redundant, and what happens when things break. After a couple of hours of learning about the electrical power system I went flying. We went down to Corpus Christi and back. As soon as I returned I had a second Station class. This one was on malfunctions in the audio systems. Basically, it covered how other systems failures can affect the voice systems, for example, electrical failures can take down your voice channels. We also went over some of the procedures that re-establish communications once they are lost. These procedures can be quite complicated.

I was able to have dinner with Andy this afternoon. The crew is currently having dinner about 4:00 pm and going to bed about 7:00 or 8:00 pm.

I was also able to have lunch (about 10:00 am) with the crew on Saturday. Afterwards, they headed to the Cape on one of NASA's Gulfstreams. Normally they would fly to KSC in the T-38's, but there is a hurricane causing weather issues for Florida. So, they left a day earlier than originally planned and flew in a larger plane to ensure that they made it there safely. Since I had some free time, I went flying in the evening. One of the pilots wanted to get some of his night flying requirements for the quarter out of the way, and he had an empty back seat, so I jumped in it. We flew over to Lake Charles and back. It was a nice night where we were but you could definitely see lightening and storms in the distance. It was good that the crew left when they did to avoid the bad weather.