So what do you do?

I have been asked this question by many of my friends and family lately. I decided I would finally attempt to shed some light on my job.

According to the Guidance, Navigation, and Control(GNC) Training Manual:

The International Space Station Guidance, Navigation and Control (ISS GN&C) system is composed of United States Orbital Segment (USOS) and Russian Segment (RS) capabilities. Together, they provide attitude and state determination, propulsive and non-propulsive attitude control, and Pointing & Support. The US GN&C system can request Russian thruster firing to desaturate the Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) set when needed. The GN&C system also provides generic pointing data to solar collectors, thermal radiators, antennas and other articulated appendages.

That gives you a basic high-level overview of the system I am studying. I say "studying" because I am actually in the "flow," as they call it. The flow is really just the sequence all new-hires in Mission Operations follow. You first learn about all the systems onboard the International Space Station(ISS); then you begin to study your system(in my case, GNC) in depth. This involves learning about critically related systems in depth, with a Knowledge Requirement(KR) after each section. A KR is an oral checkout of how well you know the subject at hand, usually conducted by a certified front-room controller. Currently, I am studying the related systems of Command and Data Handling(CDH, my last group), Thermal Control System(TCS), and the Electrical Power System(EPS). I am rather confident in my CDH knowledge, so I will more than likely be taking that KR rather soon. I'll eventually get the other KR's done as well.

The group that I am in, and the one that is primarily concerned with the GNC system is the Attitude Determination and Control Officer(ADCO) group. This flight control group consists of a front room controller, the ADCO, an his backroom support man, HAWKI(pronounced Hawk-eye). HAWKI isn't really an acronym, but it kind of is. Basically, each letter in the call-sign HAWKI stands for a variable that is related to the system. For example, H represents angular momentum in physics; A(actually a lower case greek A) is the variable for angular acceleration. W(again, really a lower case omega) stands for angular velocity. K is the familiar variable for kinetic energy, and I is moment of intertia. That is how they came up with name HAWKI; although, I am sure they came up with the name FIRST and then tried to decide what made up the letters. Nevertheless, that has to be the coolest call-sign out of all the ISS or Shuttle disciplines.

Since I am only here a few months, there is no conceivable way I'd get backroom certified. I am just expected to go as far into the flow as I possibly can. After the KR's, I'll sit-in on many simulations(sims) and get some On-the-Job Training(OJT) with ADCO and HAWKI.

In addition to the flow, I am busy with several other projects. The main one involves this PC tool, named the Basic Attitude Replication Tool(BART). My group lead has a thing for Simpsons characters. Anyway, BART is just like the name implies, a simulation tool for the station. It involves TONS of math(some of which I have never seen), some coding, and lots of problem solving. I am enjoying that challenge so far. I am supposed to be given a new task tomorrow, so that is something else I can look forward to. During my time this semester, I have noticed the group website is quite possibly the worst out of all the disciplines at the J, so I have taken it upon myself to update it, Henry-style. That should be a fun side project as well...

Some post later, I will try to describe all the people in my group. They are truly a diverse collection, haha. I will mention one thing, though. My group lead, Brian McDonald(BART creator), is a graduate of Mississippi State. Needless to say, he and I get along juuusst fine :)

That's it; I'm done. NFL is on, the Sox are down 3-0 in the ninth, and the Yanks have lost 7-4.

-H