*Defining individual roles and responsibilities*

COMMUNICATIONS

The Communications Team relays all voice communications from the various
teams to the student astronauts.  The Data Team can send written data to
the astronauts via "fax" (a printer inside the simulator connected to an
IBM PC outside).  CAPCOM does much of the talking during the launch and
landing scripts.  It is also the ComTeam's responsibility to closely
monitor the countdown with JPLCLOCK, a mission status clock for the IBM.

        a) CAPCOM:  Relay all radio information from various teams to
        astronauts from lauch to landing; instruct data team to send
        teletype messages to astronauts.

        b) Data Team:  Receive information from Medical, Navigation,
        Public Affairs, and Lab Teams to send to astronauts via teletype;
        perform special effects during lauch and landing; assist Flight
        Director throughout flight.

MEDICAL TEAM

The Medical Team asks the Medical Officer on board the space shuttle
simulator to take blood pressure, heart rate, pulse, and respiration
readings from the astronauts several times throughout the simulation.
This is done before and after a period of moderate exercise.  These data
are compared and analyzed for significant differences.  The MedTeam is
expected to graph the results and compose a written conclusion based on
the results.  ADHERENCE TO THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS REQUIRED.

        a) Flight Surgeon: chief medical officer, coordinates the
        activities of the medical team; communicates with astronauts;
        evaluates physical, mental, and emotional condition of crew and
        relays this information to Public Affairs Team; works with
        physiologist and cardiologist

        b) Physiologist:  determines fitness of astronauts
        prior to launch and records results on chart; assists
        medical officer aboard Columbia II; relays results of
        experiments to Public Affairs Team.

        c) Cardiologist:  determines heart rate of astronauts
        before and after 2 minutes of excercise (sitting pulse
        standing pulse, lying down pulse, and inclined pulse)
        with a pulse meter

NAVIGATION TEAM

The Navigation Team follows the shuttle simulator's progess on a satellite
tracking program (STSORBIT) and records latitude, longitude, and altitude,
notes the time (in CST and UTC), and plots the shuttle's current position
on a large world map.  The Nav Team posts weather data on the shuttle
simulator's 5 (or 10) landing sites around the world and assesses whether
an emergency landing there is possible or not.

        a) Flight Dynamics Officers:  Communicate with astronauts during
        launch and landing; determine shuttle latitude, longitude,
        altitude (in nautical miles), nautical miles downrange, Mission
        Elapsed Time (MET), and orbital inclination every half hour and
        relay information to Publc Affairs Team; plot shuttle movement on
        world map; research for items of interest to astronauts concerning
        countries they are currently flying over and relay information to
        Communications Team.

        b) Meteorologist:  As M.E.1 weather plane, report current weather
        conditions to Kennedy Space Center on Merrit Island, Florida, for
        launch; Edwards Air Force Base in California and White Sands Space
        Harbor in New Mexico, for landing) with reference to temperature,
        humidity, wind directions and speed, and any special weather
        conditions (e.g., thunderstorms, tornadoes, snow, etc.);  relay
        weather information to Public Affairs Team every half hour.


PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM

The Public Affairs Team scurries about, picking up information from all
teams to post on a large bulletin board.  It is the responsibility of the
PubAff Team to post mission updates to various internet listservs
(isss@jhuvm.bitnet, armadillo-watch@chico.rice.edu, and
kidproj@vm1.nodak.edu).  If your school publishes its own newspaper, the
PubAff team can write articles describing the mission.  The PubAff Team
is also responsible for "advertising" the mission throughout the school
and local community by creating posters, leaflets, Press Releases for the
local (and national) media, and so on.

        a) Chief Correspondent:  Coordinate handling of information sent
        by the Medical, Lab, Navigation, and Communication Teams; post
        mission updates on school bulletin board; prepare summary for
        school newspaper; conduct preflight and postflight press
        conferences; compose Press Releases for local media

        b) Science Correspondent:  Compose news summaries of experiments
        conducted by the Medical Team; post summary of lab experiments on
        school bulletin board and Internet listservs

        c) Medical Correspondent:  Compose news summaries of experiments
        conducted by the Medical Team; post summaries of medical tests on
        school bulletin board and Internet listservs

        d) Flight Correspondent:  Compose news summaries relating to the
        position of the shuttle as determined by the Navigation Team; post
        summaries on school bulletin board and Internet listservs


LAB TEAM

The Lab Team collects data from the Payload Specialists inside the
simulator who are performing the experiments.  If possible, work with the
Lab Team to create a series of experiments for the astronauts to perform,
organized around a theme or discipline.  For example, the purpose of your
simulated mission could be to compare astronaut reaction times in a
microgravity environment to her reaction time on earth.  The experiments
would be selected accordingly.  If the purpose of the mission was to
conduct earth science experiments in a microgravity environment,
experiments could be selected on the basis of whether they could be done
under water (i.e., in an aquarium or large bowl) or not.  The Lab Team is
expected to graph the results and compose a written conclusion based on
the results.  ADHERENCE TO THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS REQUIRED.

        a) Science Officer (Mission Control):  Provide direction for
        experiments; coordinate all experiments conducted by astronauts in
        flight; relay experimental results to Public Affairs Team; prepare
        summary of experiments for postflight press conference.

        b) Chemists (Mission Control):  Provide direction for experiments
        involving chemicals (e.g., pH and acid/base tests; record results
        of tests;  provide summary of experiments ts Science Officer;
        record results.

        c) Mission Specialists (simulator):  Carry out the experiments as
        instructed by the Science Officer; record results.

---
 * Origin: School Daze - 210-982-2708 (1:397/2708)