On Wednesday, I got to be a pretend astronaut for a rendezvous sim. Why? Well, the crew office is no longer supporting generic sims (i.e. sims not designated to practice specific objectives for a planned mission), but there are still flight controllers who can benefit from the training. And you can’t have a sim without a crew. Enter: instructors and flight controllers pretending to be astronauts! This is the third time I’ve done it, and it’s always fun (and exhausting).
Because the sims last 8 hours, the crews are always provided with food. Since the crews were always astronauts, they often got astronaut food. And astronaut punch! I learned how to use the galley in the shuttle simulator to fill drink bags, so I took a video for you all to see how it’s done. (It’s super crappy because it was hard to hold the camera and work the galley at the same time.) Basically it goes like this: insert bag into slot, latch closed, select the amount of water to be dispensed, and then push hot or cold. Voila! Space drink!
Make sure to enjoy my sing-song “it’s magic!” as the bag fills with water.