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Good Evening.
We're here in the space shuttle flight control room continuing with some of our interviews.
Today, we're being joined by the Flight Dynamic's Officer
for our Orbit 3 team, Marc Abadie.
Thanks for joining us.
Sure You're the Flight Dynamics Officer.
Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about that position and what that all entails.
Sure. So the position Flight Dynamics Officer, we are essentially responsible for anything
that is trajectory related for the Shuttle, so it's our responsibility to make sure
and manage basically what the trajectory is throughout the flight.
What that really means when you break it down in the orbit phase,
I'll give you a few examples of what we pay attention to.
Before Rendezvous, our job really is to ensure that the Shuttle's orbit can get safely
from the initial orbit that we establish after launch
to the International Space Station's orbit in order to dock
with the International Space Station for a mission like what we're having here.
To do that we have to raise the Shuttle's orbit with a series of burns, and not only do we have
to hit the altitude of the ISS orbit, but we also have to hit the point
in space where the ISS is in that orbit.
So as you can imagine, there is quite a bit of calculation that goes into determining what
that series of burns needs to be to that point in space
at the right time with the right constraints.
So up until docking, our job is largely focused on that.
Other things that we are interested in during the flight, one example is making sure
that any debris or other orbiting objects do not come
within a distance of the Shuttle that is unsafe.
So throughout the entire mission we are working with some other folks to monitor these items
that are in orbit and ensure that they are not, you know,
coming in within a certain distance of the Shuttle.
As you may have heard in this mission we actually had a situation
that was along these lines and we had what was called a conjunction with one of these objects.
The time closest to approach was soon after docking, and a couple days prior to that,
once we had identified the potential risk, we actually put a plan in place
to consider moving the International Space Station and the Shuttle in order
to avoid a potential collision with that object.
We worked closely with our International Space Station counterparts to put that plan together.
Fortunately, for this flight we didn't have to execute that maneuver.
In the end, additional information on the object proved that it was a safe situation
and that we didn't have to do that maneuver.
That's another example of what we pay attention to during the Shuttle mission.
A third example is that at any point during the mission we need to be prepared
to bring the crew home if some unsafe condition exists,
and so throughout the mission we're ensuring
that the crew has the ability to come home to a landing site.
That protects us from any number of systems that we could have like the (inaudible 3:15),
but it's really to protect for those continuance cases and make sure that the crew has an out.
So throughout the mission we're observing what those landing site capabilities are,
what the weather is at those sites, and we're monitoring the orbit to know whether
or not we can reach a particular landing site at a given time.
So that's really the third area that we focus on.
There's others, but those are three key areas that we focus on throughout our mission.
I'm curious, how far in advance of a mission do you start working the docking type of plan?
That's a good question.
It's very important for us to understand what the International Space Station's trajectory is
going to be, obviously because even well before a launch we are concerned
with what orbital plane we need to launch into to have a safe rendezvous
with the International Space Station.
Well before a launch we're observing the International Space Station trajectory,
what their plans are if they have any reboosts planned or any trajectory plans
that could change our rendezvous plan.
I would say anywhere from six months to maybe even more depending
on the scenario that we're looking at.
Okay, and for this case you mentioned that there was the conjunction and the possible TCA.
How much additional work does that add for your team to be monitoring that situation?
I'm just kind of curious what that workload is.
Sure. You know it depends on the scenario.
For this case it was actually pretty considerable during the rendezvous time frame
which really begins with that initial orbit after launch that I had mentioned
up until the point that we dock with the International Space Station.
That two to three day period is a pretty intensive period to begin with
and so when you stack on top of it an analysis like this it can get pretty challenging.
So for this particular case because it fell
at that time it actually was pretty challenging for the teams to work together.
Also the coordination between the International Space Station team
and the Shuttle team can add a little element to it as well and since the time
of closest approach was after docking in this case, it was very important for the two teams
to coordinate and make sure that they both agreed with the plan that we had.
And you're also supported by backrooms.
How many team members do you have back in UAB (?
5:45) and how do you all work together?
It varies based on what point of the mission we are on
but in general we typically have two folks in the backroom that support navigation,
so they help us know at any given time what the estimated orbit is
of the International Space Station and of the Shuttle.
It's very important for us to know what the location of those vehicles are
at any given time with certain accuracy.
And we also have a couple folks that can help us with the rendezvous.
We have a MARS officer, which is the Maneuver and Rendezvous Specialist
and his sidekick Profile Support,
and those folks help us put together what the Rendezvous plan is so that series of burns
that I discussed and how that series of burns will ultimately bring us
to a docking with the Space Station.
So they help us manage that as well as any continuancies associated with that plan.
We also interact throughout the flight with our Landing Officer, LSO,
and that person is helping us keep abreast
of what the landing site situations are throughout the world in case we need
to utilize one of those sites other than what we have planned at the end of mission.
Thanks so much for the overview of your job.
Now let's a little bit more to your personal story.
Can you tell us a little about your background?
Where you grew up and where you went to school?
Sure. So I actually grew up in a suburb of Dallas, Texas called Richardson,
and I pretty much lived there throughout my life.
We actually moved there when I was a year old.
I was born originally in a suburb of New Orleans, Metairie, and then moved to Dallas
and lived there throughout my schooling.
Then I graduated high school there and stayed in Dallas to attend the University of Texas
at Dallas for two years before moving down to UT Austin
for my undergraduate and graduate degrees.
And what are those degrees in?
I actually studied aerospace engineering for my undergraduate as well as for my graduate degree,
and in my graduate degree I focused on guidance navigation and control.
So when did you decide or know that you wanted to pursue a career at NASA?
That's an interesting question.
So basically I pretty much followed my interests throughout .
When I was in high school I recognized that I really enjoyed math and science and so I took
that and when I went to college I looked at what fields really utilized math and science.
I found engineering and then after being in engineering for a while I sort
of explored the subject matters in engineering and realized that one had aircraft
and spaceflight as an area of study.
So I really enjoyed that, so I pursued that and from there NASA became an option and I decided
to take a position down here at the Mission Operations Directorate.
Now that you're in this role what do you find is the part of your job that you enjoy the most?
I'd say what I really enjoy the most is working with so many fascinating people.
I think many of my co-workers humble me on a daily basis.
Their aptitude and their work ethic, all of it really humbles me a lot.
I learn a lot from the folks that I work with and I try to give that back to the new folks
that come in from college, so I definitely enjoy that.
Another thing that I really enjoy about my job is knowing
that at any given moment all the training and all the studying that we do off console
that at any given moment we can be called upon to really put all that together
to really help the crew and maybe save the mission or even save the crew
if it's a really bad continuance case that we're looking at.
Just knowing that we're there to help in that way...I love that about the job.
And what do you find is the hardest part?
I'd say the hardest part is really when challenges in each
of those areas I've mentioned before, when they stack up on us.
I think that managing the workload for situations like that can really be difficult.
Making sure that you manage it and situate it so that it's affective
and it gives you the outcome, obviously, that you want.
Alright well we're only at flight day three and you've already done a lot on this mission.
I hope the rest goes really smoothly for you, and thanks for taking the time to talk with us.
Absolutely.
Thank you.