Everything Breaks on the Shuttle!

Well, I have been working for a group called Payload Operations for 7 months now. When I started working for the group they gave me lots and lots of books to read. I had to learn about all different parts of the shuttle - the electrical system, the mechanical system, the communication system, and many more things! After I had been reading for a while, I started taking classes about what I had been reading. These classes are called Single System Training (SST) classes - and they are a lot of fun! You go into a room that has been changed to look like the cockpit of the space shuttle and practice doing different things - like opening the payload bay doors or setting up computers.

After I took my SST classes, I started practicing in Mission Control. Our practices there are called simulations - and we pretend that there is a shuttle mission going on. During the simulations, our trainers make things go wrong and break, and it is up to us to fix things if we can. It gets to be very hard when lots of things are breaking at once! Only a few weeks ago I was certified - which means that the trainers thought I knew enough about the shuttle payloads to be allowed to work during a real space shuttle mission. Right now my first time to work in Mission Control will be during STS-93, which will launch in December.

Outside of work, I have been jogging a lot lately. There is a 5K "Space Race" this weekend - and I want to beat my Dad (he runs a lot). Wish me luck!