Space Camp - Day 3 - Half way and stretching my limits

Wow! Hard to believe that Space Camp is halfway over already.
Another jam packed day. I'm getting a late start on this today, so I don't know how long this will be. I want to say I'll start with the highlights, but there were a lot today. So, I'll go with themes. One theme was pushing limits. The other was Marshall team becoming more of a family.

Pushing Limits
Today was a lot about pushing limits for a lot of us.
Early this morning was training for Bravo mission. I was ACO - Assembly Control Officer, a mission control position that helps to monitor and check on the EVA that's going on on the orbiter. This is not the person who talks to the MSs doing the EVA and directs them. Really, there's not a ton to do on this position and I was a bit bummed when I realized this. But I knew that it's a part of the team and every person is important (and all that stuff that they tell you, but it really is true). After a break where we got to ride the MAT (Multi-axis trainer, the thing that has the three rings and spins around. That's fun. Not REALLY fun, but fun enough for a 45 second or so ride.) we came back and did Bravo mission. It turned out to be a lot of fun for me. Since I didn't have a lot to do, I was able to help out Buck (yes, Buck Rogers....I still smile every time I say his name) who was the EVA (directing the EVA happening on the orbiter) and keep an eye on the screens. I spent a lot of time reading ahead in the mission script and clicking around on the different screens to see what was going on. Since I had my eyes on the screens most of the time, I was able to catch the anomalies (and there were quite a few of them) about as quickly as they came up. Since I'm familiar with the idea of emergency procedures (than you previous trips to Space Camp and many flight test briefings where we go over the "Emergency Procedure of the Day") I was able to pretty quickly find the anomaly in the MAD (mission assistance mumble...something...I'd call it a combination brain and EP book) and quickly make recommendations to the flight director for fixes for the anomalies. I also got the idea of, once a solution was agreed upon, pulling the page for that fix out of my MAD book (three ring binder) and passing it down to our Capcom (who is the only person who can talk to the flight deck), who was often busy working on other things and wasn't always able to keep up with the anomaly fixes, along with our recommended fix. This saved time as he didn't have to flip around in his book. So, while I've often thought of mission control as not being as interesting, I found it a lot of fun this time around.

Later in the afternoon, we went over to Area 51 to do the pamper pole. This is a 30 foot tall, free standing telephone pole with a 12 inch diameter piece of three quarter inch ply screwed into the top of it. With three safety ropes attached to you and your team belaying those ropes, you climb to the top on first a ladder (that gets you about 8 feet off the ground) and then on large staples hammered into the pole. Upon reaching the top, you have to figure out a way to get standing on top, stand up straight, turn around 180 degrees and then jump off, theoretically trying to touch a white rope hanging about 6 feet in front of you. I've had the opportunity to do this type of element on previous occasions, but I have never done it. Always been too chicken. However, as with everything else, the folks at Area 51 are amazing. Everyone who goes harnesses up, regardless if you are going to climb or not. They have a good system of working people through a line belaying and then waiting to climb such that, except for the first person, there's no volunteering. You climb when it's your turn. Chuck (call sign Bojangles, an amazing man), who design and built ARea 51 was helping to facilitate our team's time there and he was great at motivating people. He never pushed too hard, but he did push. His goal was to get you to go one step farther than you thought you could. And he did a great job. Some people only got up to standing on the staples. Some only got part way up. Some got to the top but didn't stand. And all of that was okay. Most of us got all the way up and stood on top. I was the last to go. I thought this would be difficult for me, as usually if I think about stuff too much I'll think myself out of going. But, the way things go, it was just natural when my time came up. I was strapped in and up I went. I took it slow and steady climbing up and that wasn't a big deal. The fact that I just kept my eyes directly in front of me, focused on the pole helped. Right arm up, left arm up, right foot up, left foot up, repeat. Then I got to the top. This was where I knew I would have trouble. Balancing wasn't the big deal for me. Thanks to months of balance work at the gym, I feel comfortable with my balance, the standing up on the top of the pole (remember, there's nothing to hang onto up there other than the piece of plywood and your ownself), that was where it god difficult. Thanks to my morning runs (oh yeah, I went running again this morning) and lots of walking and stair climbing, my legs have gotten pretty tired. So I was worried. But I knew I had my team behind me (literally, I could feel the ropes they were belaying me on) and I knew that if I fell, I wouldn't fall far (a big improvement over most pamper poles where you might fall up to 5-8 feet before the rope catches you. That might not sound like much, but when you're 30 feet in the air, it's a lot). Chuck had talked to Bruno (who went before me) and reinforced to me that no matter what, I was coming back down to the ground (in a controlled manner), so why not take the chance and, if I was going to fall, fall going for the top. So, after some hesitation and some convincing my muscles to give it a go (although not as much as I would have thought), I made it up. The feeling of that was amazing. Hearing my team cheer for me was great too. Turning around was easy (I think the key is not to look at your feet, just trust that the wood's not going to go anywhere). Then it was time to jump. Normally, when I'm on a ropes course, it takes a lot to get me to actually step or jump of a stable platform. This time, I thought about it for a few seconds and then just went. I knew my team would catch me. I knew I wouldn't fall far. I didn't make much of an attempt to try to hit the rope (they don't even want you to try to catch yourself on the rope, just hit it). By that time my legs were all but gone. And then I was swinging in the air and then descending to the ground. After we got unharnessed, we did some debriefing. I looked around and realized that the faces of these people I call my team had changed. They had become more familiar. I was used to them. We weren't just 16 individuals anymore. We were truly becoming a team. And, more than that, we were becoming a family. This is a great group of people. We work together amazingly well. Even April is well accepted by everyone. Just a great group. About a week before camp, I picked up a new rock (when God impresses something important on my head and my heart, I like to have something tangible to remind me regularly of that, to help work the truth into my heart. So, I pick up a rock and carry it around with me.) This rock reminds me that there's more than one kind of family. As we were walking up to the bus, I reached in my pocket and felt my rock. And realized that this is yet another type of family. (And that's the second theme. No separate paragraph. So I type without planning out exactly what I want to say. It's my blog.)
Our final event of the evening was the MS time in the scuba tank. I've never scubaed before. Last time I had the opportunity at camp, allergies kept me from even being able to attempt. Because my ears have always been slow to clear and because this was something very new for me, I was more than a bit nervous. But I kept going through the lesson time (about 45 minutes working on a four foot deep platform where you learn and practice the basics with the instructor). And then it was time for me to dive. Lauren, another instructor, took me down. I had to descend very slowly, as my ears did take a while to clear. But they did. And wow was it fun. It's like playing in a swimming pool, but you never have to come up for air. Just amazingly cool. I got to play with a 100 lb, neutrally bouyant ball. So, you can move it around, hold it on one finger, learn more about Newton's laws of physics and all that. Then we contrasted that by playing with a toypedo. Which is hard to throw with your feet (although I tried) but fun to stop with your head. Lucy, who was down with Max our dive instructor the same time I was on the bottom, and I built a large tetrahedron structure. That was fun and not as easy as you'd think. It's a good simulation of working in space, cause there's nothing to push against to get leverage. If you try, you end up pushing yourself around. I'm used to being able to use my own weight for leverage, so I had to quickly learn to work in different ways. And I got to launch an air rocket (just turning a bunch of valves in the right sequence, but it's still kinda fun). I was in the first group to go to the bottom and apparently I spent 25 minutes under water. It's hard to believe it was that long. It seemed like so much longer. I was never scared or really worried, except when my leg started to cramp up. But I quickly realized what was going on and with Lauren's help, massaged it out and went back to work. And even then, I kept a level head and I think I did a good job. Max must have too. I was hanging around the top of the tank (after taking pictures of Bill, Marlon and Corey (Jason's wife) as they worked and played on hte bottom) and after Bill came up, Max asked if I had ever dove before. I said I hadn't. He asked if I'd like to. I said I would. He said that Thursday was my day. During the EDM, I will again be filling the position of ACO and also getting to do a "wet" EVA. This EVA includes wearing a "hard hat" or bubble helmet, which will allow me to breath without a regulator and be able to talk via a microphone. It should be an amazing experience and I'm really looking forward to it. If for some reason I'm not able to dive, Lucy is my backup, but I really hope I'm able to.

And I think that actually covers most of the activities for today.
Another jam packed day but a great one. Best yet. Space Camp still isn't as good as RYM last year, but it's approaching RYM this year very quickly.
Tomorrow's a big day. Charlie and Delta missions. I'm in the station for Charlie. Not sure of my position for Delta, a couple of different guest lecturers. We'll have to decide on our positions for the EDM (although mine is already chosen) and have our final training for that. And I think there's some more activities. It's going to be a jam packed day and I'm greatly looking forward to it. Not sure if I'll get up and run tomorrow morning. Have to see how I feel when I wake up. May just end up sleeping in a bit, or going walking and taking some pictures.

Speaking of pictures, here's some:
Jeremy, Corey, Jason (callsign Tiller) and me at Aviation Challenge, after flying the F-18 sims last night.


In the tank, right before instruction time started.


Me, in the scuba tank, working on our tetrahedron.