Training Day 3

It’s interesting to start the day trying to learn what went wrong with our shuttle disasters so we don’t make the same mistakes.  Thankfully the culture of NASA has shifted a lot to safety first.  But it’s always tricky to balance risk.  Hopefully I’ll make the right call in the future.

The fun part of the day was touring the rocket park and building 9.  The rocket park is basically the Saturn V inside.   It’s interesting to look at things with the new eyes of being part of the space program.  Building 9 was the best part.  We got to climb around in the shuttle mockup.  I took a bunch of pictures.  We got to look at lots of other mockups from the outside, but we did get to walk in the payload bay of the shuttle, which was neat.  We got to go into a few station modules.  The main JEM module is kinda neat.  Low fi but with amusing models of animal experiments.  I wonder if they’re really putting fish on orbit.  The idea just blows me away, though apparently small animals don’t do so well on orbit.  I guess we’ll find out.

We got to see the MPLM from the inside, which also got us a closer look at some of the other modules, though we couldn’t see the US LAB because the prime crew was training in the airlock and they obviously get priority.  I’m also glad we got to see the Soyuz.  I didn’t realize how crowded it was in the commanding area, but the living area isn’t that bad above it.  And the Russians certainly had some good solutions to engineering problems.  If we could just use the best ideas from everyone. But it’s not easy to get people on board for that sometimes.

So today was a good day at work.  Unfortunately, my car decided it was done.  The gas leak greatly increased tonight for an unknown reason and is undriveable.  Thankfully I am paid tomorrow and can put it in the shop over the weekend.  Yay rental car!  I worked out 3 contingency plans for tomorrow.  First I had emailed my group hoping someone would check their email at home.  While I waited I realized I could walk the 3 miles, but that would leave me very hot and sweaty.  I looked into the bus, which only goes to the center at 8:52, which is an hour late.  And then I realized there is a shuttle van that runs between the various USA centers at some interval.  The nearest center is only a block and a half away or so, which was my best option.  At 10 or so, my mentor called offering me a ride, so I didn’t need any of them.  Hooray!  Tomorrow I’m going to find a way home, and hopefully get someone to drive me to the bank right away so I can then rent a car and be good to go.

And now, it’s quite late and time for bed.  I’ve had a very full day.