Space Station Assembly Complete - 2005
I spent some time in the space station control center in the afternoon but it was pretty quiet in there. The shuttle right now is the leader as they have a crew onboard. when the space station becomes inhabited and larger the power will shift somewhat.
Then instead of the shuttle docking to the station, they will have to ask permission enter their space. The space station robotic arm will actually reach out and grab the shuttle and dock it to the station (instead of the other way around).
The controllers who are vying for the new Station Flight Director spots are excited about the future station. One young controller mentioned that 80 had applied for the 5 open Flight Director spots and 40 had been interviewed. It is very competitive. The current flight directors decide who will join their ranks.
The debrief was very interesting!
It was done over the comm link with every crew participating. All of the
problems were sorted out and changes to the procedures for the real flight
were hammered out. I learned a lot about what different engineers
do and what a well-run team the control center has to be. The training
is really tough because then when the crews are really flying they need
to be prepared for any emergency.