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Today started at 7 am and by 3:00 I was SO READY to get away from work. It was a crazy, crazy day.
I’ve been working through the CoFR (Certification of Flight Readiness) process for the first time, which involves a lot of information gathering and chart making and presentation giving. This process happens for every launch of anything that goes to the space station, and I’m currently doing it for the next Progress launch, scheduled for the end of this month.
It’s nice to start with a Progress launch instead of a Soyuz mission. Because Progress is unmanned, the process is a little easier and people are more relaxed. (When there are astronauts and cosmonauts onboard, the stakes are understandably higher. That’s not to imply that standards are lax for unmanned vehicles, but hopefully you get the gist.)
Each time I think I’ve gotten my head wrapped around the next step in the process, I find out that I missed like 3 other steps. Some are technical items, and many others are paperwork and process related. There is a lot of paperwork and process involved when you’re 1) a government agency from this country working with 2) a government agency from another country. I thought things were complicated when I was inside the space shuttle bubble, but wow — it’s a whole other WORLD to learn when our international partners are involved!
I know I’m still learning my job — and honestly it’s kinda nice to have that “excuse” at the moment — but unfortunately it doesn’t make me any less frustrated that I’ve been 3 steps behind where I should be the entire time. I’m just trying to stay positive and remind myself of what I learned in Russian class last week:
Первый блин комом!
(The first pancake is a flop. In other words: practice makes perfect!)
Huh, I like the expression. So when do you get to go to Russia?
And since you’re working with the Russians, could you get your friends in to see a launch in Kazakhstan?
I don’t know if I’ll get to go to Russia or not. For now I’m just crossing my fingers.
As for launches, that’s a pipe dream even for me right now! One of my coworkers got invited to the last Soyuz launch by a crewmember who was launching, but the price was exorbitant. He said it was like $4000 just to fly from Moscow to Baikonur.