Nestled
near the edge of the Appalachians a woman nervously paced as she awaited her
command post for her first mission. The birds were happily chirping in tune
with the gentle breeze as it blandly rustled the trees. The deep rays of the
sun high overhead created small beads of nervous perspiration that now sat on
her forehead. She didn’t notice the birds, or the heat the extreme heat. She
only focused on the ground before her counting her steps. She always paced and
counted her steps when she was nervous. Today is the day she had been waiting
for. Today is the day she had been training for. Today, she would be given her
position on the Orion mission. She had hoped for an EVA, an extravehicular
activity. She dreamed about being on one of these missions for as long as she could
remember. She wanted it so badly, she could taste it.
She trained
every day, trying to put herself in the best possible condition she could. She
spent more time studying than the rest of the recruits preparing for any
possible situation. But she also knew she wasn’t the only one who wanted it.
She couldn’t forget about the Canadian and the Russian on the same mission.
They too had put in for it. The crew trainer called the recruits together. They
all stood at attention, hands behind their back, looking like toy soldiers
lined up in their blue flight suits. It was time to walk over to the Mission
Center Complex. All 14 recruits filed into MOCR, the mission operations control
room, where they director would announce positions.
She
silently prayed, please God, if you’re
listening today, please let me do an EVA. Please don’t let it go to the
Russian, not the Russian. It wasn’t that she had anything against the
Russian, it was just that he seemed to get all the best positions. The director
looked around, cleared his throat, glancing down at his clipboard, he gave a
speech telling the recruits not to be disappointed with any positions, and that
every position was just as important as the rest.
“We are
team, recruits.” He said in his southern twang, “we work together on this one.
I know some of y’all were hoping to put on the bunny suit today.” That’s how
they referred to the suit that the astronauts wore when going on a space walk.
“But, not everybody gets to play the hero. Your crew trainer will go through
your jobs. Let’s all be careful out there.” He handed the clipboard to the crew
trainer who briefly scanned the room.
“Uh, oh.”
She said to herself.
“What’s
wrong?” her classmate whispered leaning towards her.
“She’s not
making eye contact, that’s not a good sign.” She swallowed hard and closed her
eyes, opening them and looking straight ahead as the crew trainer made her
announcements.
All the
recruits stood waiting to exhale until all of the announcements were made.
There were sighs of relief from classmates as their names were called for ISS,
International Space Station. It was time for Orbiter positions; she crossed her
fingers and prayed again. She let out a huge sigh when she realized her name
wasn’t called. The trainer continued through the MOCR stations; EECOM, not her.
PAYCOM, not her. FDO, CAPCOM, GNC, again, not called. Everyone excitedly
started talking before the trainer could finish the list. She went through the
list again. Flight Director.
“Okay”, she
thought to herself, slightly deflated. It was better than EVA officer. They
only provided directions and support to Flight Engineers while they were on
EVA. That would be too much of a slap in the face, especially considering the
Russian and the Canadian get to do the EVA. “Flight Director,” she smiled to
herself as she let the words glide off her lips. She knew it was an important
role. She was literally responsible for crew safety and success of the entire
mission. She would also have deciding vote/rule on all anomaly situations. She
could handle that; after all, didn’t she have the utmost respect for Gene
Kranz, Flight Director for Apollo 13? And of course, she admired Michele
Brekke, the first female Flight Director in 1985 too.
She settled
into her chair at the command center computer module marked FLIGHT. She put
on
the headsets, set the channel, and spoke, “Mission Control, this is Flight
Director. Complete final pre-flight checks and prepare for lift-off for Atlantis
and her crew.” Yep, this would do nicely.
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