I am mere days away from getting all of my paperwork signed and officially becoming a certified ARD Support Officer. I just have to watch one more sim from the Booster backroom (a different position, but their problems become our problems so they are important to us).
This morning was my coworker’s Ascent FDO Cert Sim. This was a big deal, I mean BIG DEAL, with capital letters. Ascent FDO cert sims happen, at best, once every couple years. This particular coworker is a great guy and a great flight controller, and we all knew he would do well. But earlier this week we all had fun teasing him, because he’s a bit high-strung. By Tuesday, we were talking about scraping him off the ceiling, and yesterday I thought his head might explode. 😉
He passed with flying colors, of course, and the flight directors sang his praises and he’ll be working his first launch this summer. Becoming an Ascent FDO is a 10-year process, so it’s the culmination of many, many years of work and training. Pretty cool to think about.
Because it was his cert sim, and he is the front room controller that I answer to, it meant that I saw a bunch of difficult cases as well. I left feeling almost as if I’d just had my own cert sim all over again. I actually did well and was pretty happy with my performance; it was personal confirmation that I’m ready to do this job for STS-117. But what happened next made me feel even better.
First, the newly-minted Ascent FDO thanked me for doing such a great job today and helping make things easier for him. It’s always good to hear praise from your team lead, and know that he’s happy with your performance.
But then something happened that has never happened before. I sit in the back room (right now anyway), a place that doesn’t usually catch the attention of higher-ups like the flight director. This afternoon I’d just gotten back from lunch when one of my managers walked in. He’d been watching the sim this morning as an evaluator, along with an already-certified FDO and an Ascent Flight Director (in addition to the one flight director who was working the sim and the two other flight directors who were training via watching).
“The flight directors were very impressed with you this morning,” he said. “And they scolded me for letting you become a GPO instead of a FDO. Just thought you’d like to know.”
So yeah, that pretty much TOTALLY made my week.
I ran 4 miles last night — outside! Hooray for no treadmill! After all the rain, the stars looked particularly bright, shiny, and beautiful. I don’t remember the time, but it was just under an 11:00/mile pace, so something like 43:xx. Today I am doing nothing! Rest day! Woohoo!