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August 15, 2007

Suni and Clay have both written about their typical day on board the ISS. I thought I would do the same, that is, describe the typical day of the lead flight director during an increment.

• The first thing I do when I get up is check my e-mail for any crises that have erupted over night. It is rare but sometimes things do happen. For example, a few months ago, one of the Main Bus Switching Units (MBSU) failed. These are large power relays that route power from the solar arrays to the systems inside the station. Like a giant circuit breaker, it had turned off and then back on automatically. And unexpectedly. This was very significant since the MBSU powered some critical pieces of equipment. While it was operating again, we had to understand what had happened and whether it was an indication of an impending total failure. Since I knew this would mean a number of meetings, I had to study the architecture and previous history of MBSUs before doing anything else that day.



• If there is time - I run! Just like the crew on the ISS, I run daily to keep healthy. It helps wake me up and makes me feel invigorated. I run first thing in the morning because my days are so long right now, and I am too tired in the evening. So I get up around 5:15 each morning, much to the dismay of my wife. Then I run about 6 miles.



• Next, as I cool down and eat breakfast I read all the shift reports from the last couple of shifts. I note all the anomalies that will need to be investigated during the day (if any). There may be reports of crew activities that did not go as planned but there are also cases where things went faster than expected and we might have to adjust some other tasks. The crew has been up for about half a day by the time I wake up. Therefore, if a task that was scheduled for two hours took an hour, we now have an hour of open schedule in the crew’s afternoon. Therefore, we look for items to fill the time. (The crew also has a task list or “job jar” of small items that can be done if they have free time and are not tired. However, usually these items are not critical. If time is suddenly available, we might want to move some higher priority task to the timeline.) Of course, sometimes things do not go smoothly and we get behind. That means we will have to scramble to re-schedule the activities that now won’t fit in the afternoon. If things did not go well that also means another meeting to figure out if the procedure was not clearly written, we underestimated the time it would take to perform, something was missed, etc.



• I also read my e-mail. We do a great deal of work via e-mail. Any e-mail from overnight is usually something related to a problem, or e-mail from the crew. Several times a day we synchronize the crew’s e-mail on ISS so e-mail from them will come in batches, usually overnight. As our International Partners ramp up to their missions in a few months, e-mail from overseas is increasing. By 7 a.m. I typically already have 30-40 messages, though not all are related to the increment.



• I then go in to work and attend a couple of meetings. First, we have a tag up with our Russian counterparts. This is an informal meeting to discuss problems since the last meeting or questions that need to be resolved. This meeting only lasts 30 minutes but it is a very important one. The deputy director of the ISS program, the program lead for the increment, a representative from the safety organization and myself attend with a person there to translate. In Moscow there are several high level managers and some U.S. flight controllers.



• Next, at 8:00 a.m. we have the ISS Mission Management Team meeting or IMMT. This is a meeting of people representing all the key areas including mission operations (myself), the ISS program office, the medical office, the crew office, safety and so on, as well as members from the International Partners, especially Russia. Here we talk about the more serious problems that have occurred and their resolution. This is where major decisions for operations are made. We also discuss upcoming operations and take a formal “Go” or “No Go” poll to see if everyone is ready. For example, if the shuttle is about to be launched or we are about to conduct a spacewalk, we will review the plans to ensure everything is ready.



• Then I begin to review procedures or plans for upcoming activities. I may need to meet with some of the flight controllers to go over a procedure or to get status on a project. New procedures or messages for the crew all have to be reviewed and approved. There might be meetings to talk about recent failures such as the MBSU failure I mentioned above. In addition, there is an upcoming shuttle mission to the ISS. These missions have their own meetings that I need to attend so I can be sure that all the activities that have to be performed prior to the mission are indeed being worked into the day to day operations.



• Then there are the numerous “spontaneous” meetings. These are the meetings I don’t know are coming but have to attend. For example, the deputy director of the program may need to talk about an issue and suddenly has 30 minutes to talk about it, so off I go.



• I am also an interface. I might have to go talk to the Boeing engineering support team or the payload team. The engineering team has to review all the operations of the ISS and sometimes there are delays, miscommunications, or new processes that have to be worked out.



• Of course, my day is constantly punctuated by the phone ringing. That is typical of any office worker. However, every now and then it might be the space station crew calling on the Internet phone. Since they can call me but I can’t call them, I can’t ask, “Can I call you back?” It still amazes me when my cell phone rings and on the other end is the ISS!



• I often have to attend meetings while working other critical tasks (for example, while I am producing charts concerning a spacewalk for the IMMT coming up the next day). Therefore, I will listen to the meeting via teleconference in my office at the same time. Now here I have to digress and describe my “office.” I have a nice office with a window; however, I am never there. That is back in the office building with all the other flight directors or flight controllers. During the increment, I live in Mission Control. In the back of the control room is a little glass viewing room about the size of two phone booths. That is my office. This way I can be real close and observe the actions going on in the control room. I have a phone and a little desk for my laptop computer. I am never anywhere without my laptop! In addition, I have a speaker box to listen to the communications between the crew and ground. By listening to the “loops,” as they are called, I can monitor what is going on in real time. It is not uncommon to be listening to a teleconference, working on my computer and listening to the crew or flight control team. Usually, it is about then that someone calls me on my cell phone. Multitasking like this all day long is very mentally tiring.



• E-mail. I do a lot of e-mail during the day. The crew will e-mail questions or concerns. The flight controllers will e-mail me products to review or plans they want to make. ISS program officials might need information or help with a task. Meeting notices are announced electronically. My boss may need a status on an upcoming event. And so on. Much of this communication is done via e-mail so I have to pay close attention to it. On a typical day I receive almost 200 e-mail messages. On a recent day I discovered that I had actually sent 183 messages in a single day! My fingers are usually sore at the end of the night.



• The days are so busy that I usually eat my lunch slowly - a bite during a teleconference, another mouthful as I run off to a meeting. I carry my lunch with me but frequently I am in meetings where I do more talking then eating. Sometimes I don’t get to my lunch at all! We jokingly call this the “increment flight director diet.”



• Finally, about 6 p.m. I head home for dinner. But that break is short lived. After dinner I get back on the computer to produce a presentation for the next day, approve a new flight rule, check on the progress for some activity and so on. Finally, I spend a little time reading if I am not too tired, or visiting with my wife. But usually I am pretty tired and go to bed. And before I know it, I start the whole process all over again!

- Bob Dempsey, Expedition 15 Lead Flight Director