ASA: Pilot or Mission Specialist?

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ASA: Pilot or Mission Specialist?

Post by Sun_runner »

A friend and I are planning to go in late August/early September, but we haven't signed up yet because we don't know enough about the tracks. The website just doesn't give enough information.

What can you tell me about the pilot and mission specialist tracks, and what's the advantage of pilot SCUBA over regular pilot?

Thanks in advance!
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Re: ASA: Pilot or Mission Specialist?

Post by gt0163c »

Sun_runner wrote:A friend and I are planning to go in late August/early September, but we haven't signed up yet because we don't know enough about the tracks. The website just doesn't give enough information.

What can you tell me about the pilot and mission specialist tracks, and what's the advantage of pilot SCUBA over regular pilot?
When I did Adult ASA almost two years ago, all of the pilots had the opportunity to scuba. I don't know if they all selected that track or if that's always an option. If you don't scuba, there's probably some other activity that you will have the option of doing. This may include going to Aviation Challenge for more time in the simulators, spending more time in the shuttle simulator practicing landings, more time in the museum, etc. For my week, there wasn't a special activity that you only got to do if you dind't scuba.

As for the difference between the pilot and mission specialist track, the big difference is what positions are available to you during the missions. Pilots are pilot and commander of the shuttle, flight director and...blanking on the name, the position that talks to the shuttle, in mission control. Mission specialists do EVAs in the shuttle, and fill different roles in mission control, often being a bit more free to work the anomalies. There's different roles in station as well, but I don't remember there being quite as much of a distinction. One mission specialist may also be chosen to do a "wet" EVA during the extended mission. This involves a "helmet" dive in the UAT (underwater astronaut trainer, the big tank where you scuba). I got to do this EVA and, while it was pretty short (about 15 minutes underwater) it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. Almost like being on another planet being able to talk and breath normally but being underwater. Probably not a good sole reason to choose the mission specialist track (since only one person has the chance to do this) but still very cool.

Basically, the question comes down to do you want to fly the shuttle and be in charge in mission control or do you want to do EVAs. Hope that helps.
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Post by pilotgirl21 »

It depends on personal preference. I've always dreamed of flying, so I would choose the flight option. I might want to try MS one day, but I think I just like flipping the switches too much! Also, I've done the scuba diving, and I would recommend having that experience. It was a lot of fun, and you certainly get the weightlessness feeling!
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Post by monkeynautt »

All adult weeklong programs scuba dive. I've been PS, MS and Pilot but my fav is to do the EVA. It really is personal preference as to what position you want. It really comes down to if you want to perform an EVA or be in control of the space shuttle.
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Post by Mercergl »

Well this is digging up an older post but I'm going to ASA in 2 days (yay!) and I'm doing pilot having done MS last year. Hopfully it will be as good but I'm still a little disappointed that its only 6 days. Oh well.
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Post by pilotgirl21 »

You'll still have a great week I hope! Have lots of fun and let us know how it was!
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Post by Mercergl »

I just got back from ASA and it was great! I did the pilot track, which was fun. Well, mostly, because we did the centrifuge at AC but also the flight sims. The flight sims were the Mach 1 ones, which handle like a bar of soap on a slip-n-slide. All in all, I had an awesome time.
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Post by pilotgirl21 »

I'm glad you had a great time! Do you prefer the pilot or MS track?
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Post by Boomerang »

Glad you had a good time. In regard to the Mach 1 sims. All the AC sims use the same software though some programs use diffrent aircraft than othrs. The one thing to remember about the Mach 1 sims is duue to the ageofthe majority of the campers they take the most abuse. Keep in mind Mach 1 elementary school kids and even younger in some cases day campers use them. They ttake alot of abuse and believe me it wears on the equipment especialy the light control sticks.
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Post by Mercergl »

That's what I figured about the Mach 1. Obviously little kids are going to fly the plane at full throttle and with erratic movements. In regards to which track I prefer, I'm really not sure. For the EDM I was capcom which was a lot of fun, so I think for the orbiter ms is more fun while for MOCR pilot is better. Either way it was a nice balance and the anomalies kept us busy (giving benadryl to a narcoleptyc is a very bad idea lol).
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Post by gt0163c »

Mercergl wrote:For the EDM I was capcom which was a lot of fun, so I think for the orbiter ms is more fun while for MOCR pilot is better. Either way it was a nice balance and the anomalies kept us busy (giving benadryl to a narcoleptyc is a very bad idea lol).
The thing that got me about the anomalies in MOCR is that there were major flaws in the realism. Some of the medical stuff was just wrong. For someone with narcolepsy, a caffinated beverage isn't going to counteract the effects of the benadryl. For most people with narcolepsy, caffeine will put them to sleep (it has the opposite effect as it does with people without the condition). A better solution is ritalin. But there's not ritalin in the med kit. (Yes, I know, this is counter-intuitive. But it's true. I had a good friend in college with narcolepsy.) I wasted a good ten minutes first looking for the ritalin and then trying to explain to the MOCR ghosts why I was looking for it.

Similarly with the gas leak. First, in a real gas leak there wouldn't be any question about what it was because it would be smelled. (Again, I've had experience with gas leaks.) Second, those who were closest to the leak, especially the smaller people, would have felt the effects before those farther away and larger. In my EDM it seemed that the "gas leak" took out the people who were more adept at solving the problems rather than those who would have logically been effected. And that bugged me, especially as I went into "House MD" mode and quickly ruled out anything environmental. An Airplane scenerio where everyone who had the fish at lunch (or whatever was served that day, I don't remember) would have been more plausible and possibly more fun.

I understand the medical stuff is where the anomalies come in for MOCR, but the lack of realism bothered me.
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Post by SpaceCanada »

gt0163c wrote:I understand the medical stuff is where the anomalies come in for MOCR, but the lack of realism bothered me.
Ah, but this is when it is loads of fun having real doctors and surgeons on your team. They brought their own medical books with them that we looked through to find diagnosis, medications, and dosing. Then we simply made things up as we went and over-dramatised everything. The med kit doesn't have XYZ medication, run down to the pharmacy (vending machines, mess hall, wherever) and get some! Great fun.

Got an ear ache? It must be XYZ condition that needs surgery! We made up a surgery in MOCR (with our handy ear-nose-throat surgeon). Good times. The ghosts totally went along with our antics too. I think the ghosts' reactions to your resolutions are key.
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Post by gt0163c »

SpaceCanada wrote:
gt0163c wrote:I understand the medical stuff is where the anomalies come in for MOCR, but the lack of realism bothered me.
Got an ear ache? It must be XYZ condition that needs surgery! We made up a surgery in MOCR (with our handy ear-nose-throat surgeon). Good times. The ghosts totally went along with our antics too. I think the ghosts' reactions to your resolutions are key.
And that would have been great. I guess our ghosts' reactions weren't as top notch as yours. In thinking back about this some more, I think it also would have helped if our flight director had a better grip/control on what was going on.

I have aircraft flight test control room experience and I think some of my frustration lay in trying to get into the realism of the sim but that having it broken because the flight director wasn't acting as I would expect any test conductor to act (I'm used to the TC being the calm, unbroken voice of reason regardless of what's going on. Just like you see the flight directors in the NASA movies and videos our TCs are trained to handle everything including world ending chaos in such a way that you'd never know that the world really was ending.).
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Post by Boomerang »

The discussion on the Gas leak reminds me of one of my favorite things from summer 07 when i worked at camp. It was a weekend and a 12 day ASA team was doing their EDM when a friend of mine who was one of theor counselors came up to me at dinner and asked me to help out and play the gas man. I was taken back to the sims pit given the costume and told the phone would be ringing for me from MOCR. All i was told was to be grouchy and realy play up the part and at some point to have a heart attack in MOCR. With those few instructions in mind i prepared an act that is still remembered b y those who saw it.

I answered the phone grouchy telling them i'd be theor as soon as i had time for them. A few minutes later i arrived at Eterprise MOCR they let me in told be about the leak. So immediately i start looking for someone to blame and complaining about my doctors appointment with my cardiologist earlier in the day. All the trainees tried to blame someone else for the leak. So i finaly told them i'd fix it but they had to pay me up front. They looked at me like i was crazy till they realised i was dead serious. Next thing i know every trainee in the room was going through their stuff looking for any cash they had. In the mean time the ASA counselors were cracking up the whole time. I was told later theyd never seen a performance quite like that or seen the trainees that jumpy over the Gas man. In the mean time while they are searching for money to pay me i grab my chest and pass out having a heart attack. And they were still looking for money to pay me. I'm supose to be unconcious and trying my hardest not to crack up from the whole scene. They finaly realised their gas man was unconcious and remembered my cardiologist comment and saved me but it was hilarious. I wish i had a video of that one.
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Post by Mercergl »

We pretty much made our disgruntled CATO do the phone work, which was pretty funny to watch. The medical inaccuracies don't bother me too much, since they're so much fun.
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Post by DanM »

Not to necropost, but I'm kinda in the same boat as this. What exactly are the ASA EVAs like?
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Post by SpaceCanada »

I don't think they have changed much since 2005, so here's what we did then:

One mission, two MSs were suited up in white coveralls and a helmet and wired to (hang gliding?) harnesses attached to the ceiling. You go into the cargo bay and maneuvre around to build a solar array or replace a battery in the chronically plagued West Star satellite. Sometimes one person gets to use the Canadarm (cherry picker) during the EVA whilst the other is hung in the harness.

Another mission, an EDM or LDM, two MSs were suited up as before and wired to two other harnesses attached to the ceiling alongisde one of the ISS modules. They had to construct the Canadarm2, I believe.

Those were both the MSs within the orbiter at the time. The MSs in the ISS performed experiments on varying topics. Everything from diapers to robotics to hydroponics. Someone may have sone the apple pie experiment one year too.

In MOCR, the MSs have one of several positions. Surgeon is always fun. Sometimes (only for 8-day camps) two MSs in MOCR get to do a sim in the UAT to resolve a problem on the ISS or orbiter. In my case, we had to build a solar array in the UAT and then relay the instructions to the orbiter-ISS so they could build the same one in space. That was pretty neat.

Those are all the EVAs I can recall. I'm sure there are more now, with the new TCF layouts and additional ISS modules. Hope that helps.
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Post by gt0163c »

SpaceCanada wrote:One mission, two MSs were suited up in white coveralls and a helmet and wired to (hang gliding?) harnesses attached to the ceiling. You go into the cargo bay and maneuvre around to build a solar array or replace a battery in the chronically plagued West Star satellite. Sometimes one person gets to use the Canadarm (cherry picker) during the EVA whilst the other is hung in the harness.

Another mission, an EDM or LDM, two MSs were suited up as before and wired to two other harnesses attached to the ceiling alongisde one of the ISS modules. They had to construct the Canadarm2, I believe.

In MOCR, the MSs have one of several positions. Surgeon is always fun. Sometimes (only for 8-day camps) two MSs in MOCR get to do a sim in the UAT to resolve a problem on the ISS or orbiter. In my case, we had to build a solar array in the UAT and then relay the instructions to the orbiter-ISS so they could build the same one in space. That was pretty neat.
This sounds similiar to what we did for Adult ASA in 2007.
Although I think the EDM EVA was another satellite fix. And, even though we were a six day program, one MS got to do an EVA in the UAT to build a solar array. That was a "helmet dive", using a diving helmet that had the regulator hooked up and allowed for conversation and normal breathing and all that. Another MS helped out, on deck, giving instructions and such.
I got to do that EVA and, while it was short - about 15 minutes on the bottom, 20 minutes total time in the pool - it was one of the coolest, most amazing experiences I've ever had. Seriously, like being in another world. I wish everyone on my team could have had that experience.
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Post by SpaceCanada »

Yes, the UAT helmet dive is a really unique experience - so much fun! Breathing normally, talking over the radio, awesome! Sadly, I won't be able to do a helmet dive again because my neck is too small and the helmet flooded, resulting in an emergency surfacing. Boo. Although, I was promised that if I went back I could do the UAT EVA again with a regular SCUBA apparatus.

Does anyone know if they ever got a smaller collar for the dive helmet? They were going to look into it after my little incident, but I never heard what came of it.
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Post by DanM »

Why must everyone have to talk about how amazing the UAT is? If only I was never diagnosed with asthma. Thanks for the info on the other EVAs/activities, though.
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