Page 67 of Space Oddities

Ian

The bright,fluorescent lights of NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab, normally a happy trigger for me since I love this place, do nothing to calm my rising anxiety.

And that’s even after I snuck in a hard swim before the spacewalk training.

I’m out of the cube farm today, muscles exhausted from the punishing workout, and Trish is at my house, probably writing by the pool. I should be feeling great, sitting in the NBL’s simulation control room as the extra-vehicular activity (EVA) lead for the billion-dollar Bartolomeo project.

But I’m not.

“Bodie, rotate the arm ten degrees counterclockwise, and then move arm nadir three inches,” Simon, one of the two astronauts in the water, says. “Thatshouldget us in the right position to muscle it into engagement position.” Simon Anderson is the German astronaut and a master engineer who’ll be taking lead on the Bartolomeo spacewalks required to get the new commercial platform installed.

“Roger that.” Bodie’s voice, even underwater and in three hundred pounds of flight suit, comes through the comms clear as day.

All of us in the control room are glued to our screens, watching the two astronauts work through the approved EVA protocol.

NASA’s plan is to start the Bartolomeo spacewalk training here before ending it in DLR, the German Aerospace Center. It’s there that the crew will finish their training alongside DLR, the European Space Agency (ESA), aerospace giant Airbus, and hopefully me.

Although at the moment I’m more anxious about the short southern brunette sitting poolside than I am about flying in an airplane.

On the drive home from my father’s fundraiser two nights ago, I had explained everything to Trish. That I’d been cornered after the family photo, that I’d thought she’d be waiting at the table when I arrived. That I’d left when I saw that wasn’t the case.

She had nodded throughout my whole tale. Even said she understood when I’d finished talking just as we pulled up to the house.

I’d followed her inside, the swishing of her evening gown’s heavy fabric the only sound in the quiet house. I’d been sure she would make up some excuse to sleep in the guest room, and honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had.

But instead, she’d gotten ready for bed right beside me. Looked into the same mirror in the master bath as we’d brushed our teeth. Dressed in pajamas from our shared closet before we’d slid under the same covers in the same bed. After a moment of hesitation, I’d pushed my luck and pulled her to me, nestling her back into my front. She never pulled away or stiffened. Not so much as an aggravated sigh had passed her lips.

After the shitshow of that night, it was more than I’d deserved. In fact, it was everything I’d ever wanted with Trish.

So why had it felt so… one-sided?

Sean, the flight director lead for the Bartolomeo installation and activation, leans back in his chair, the groan of leather bringing me back to the present. “Ian, let’s take a side break after the cabling is completed to put together a more detailed plan of our trip to DLR.” He gestures to the room. “We have the right quorum here to finalize our objectives for the technical interchange.”

The rest of the team is made up of the chief training officer, the DLR lead, the ESA liaison, the EVA task team, and the extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) specialists, who all nod in agreement.

“Ah, yes, sir.” I straighten in my chair. “Sounds good.”

I concentrate on the big screens, dissecting what’s happening right outside the control room’s huge picture window that overlooks the pool. Simon and Bodie work through the procedures to attach the power and data connectors along the outside of the ISS to the Bartolomeo platform, as well as a slew of data connections and a high-speed antenna to allow for activation and checkout for future commercial users. I make notes on the time it takes for each step, compiling information for a later analysis and rework if needed.

Besides the crew, NASA is also using the Canadian robotic arm to help maneuver Bartolomeo into the install position, in addition to Robonaut. The amount of ingenuity, engineering, and money inside that forty-foot-deep pool is staggering.

A thrum of excitement runs through my body. I love my job. People always say NASA’s heyday was during the Apollo missions, and they aren’t exactly wrong. But NASA is poised for a new era of greatness. We’re heading back to the moon for more exploration and science, rather than to just stake a flag in the gray dust and call it conquered. Now we’ll study, analyze and evaluate. And beyond the moon—Mars. I truly believe that in my lifetime I will see people, decked out in flight suits that carry the NASA emblem, walk on the red planet.

Even at the present, right here, right now in this room, new things are being accomplished. Companies, rather than governments, are utilizing the International Space Station for microgravity scientific research. Research that will be completed in the new Bartolomeo lab. The waiting list for commercial companies to get time in Bartolomeo is already long, with various entities chomping at the bit to get into space. Athletic shoe companies, medical investigators, biochemists and even cosmetics manufacturers. The list is long, and I need to get my head in the game.

After Bodie and Simon complete the list of procedures and Ricky and his crew in the water bring them to the surface, we all breathe a sigh of relief.

It was only a few weeks ago that another astronaut in the NBL almost died at the hands of someone bent on revenge.

Mike, the chief training officer, starts us off. “We’ll need to swing by the European Astronaut Center in Cologne and go over the logistics and lessons learned from this run and the NBL run in two weeks.” He drums his pencil on the table. “We can set aside four hours with the EVA and robotics team, have DLR and Airbus there for technical expertise, and see what other efficiencies can be gained in the instruction.”

Sean nods. “Agreed. With all the entities represented we can also pick the crew’s brains”—he points his pen at the screen where Bodie and Simon de-suit with the help of the NBL crew—“and see if there are any additional maneuvers, tools, or logistics to put in place for the nominal case. And decide if the crew just needs to do the cable installs, or if they need to spend the time helping with the contingency install, like today...” He looks at me expectantly.

“Sounds good on all accounts.” I take a deep breath. “Also, let’s be sure to protect the days we have scheduled at the Columbus Control Center in Munich.” Though travel from Cologne to Munich means more time in cramped, public transit, or worse, a jumper flight, being able to step foot in what is basically Germany’s Mission Control is vital. “We need to interact face to face with the flight controllers on the Columbus side, see where they’ll be monitoring the health and status as the EVAs for Bartolomeo progress, and ensure all the correct video and audio feeds will be available to the larger team here as well as DLR and Airbus.”

The ESA rep, Paul, adds his two cents. “It might mean additional travel, but I definitely see the benefit of covering both the training and the operations during the upcoming session.”

Everyone here wants to give Bartolomeo the best chance for success; it’s the best way to ensure expansion of low Earth orbit (LEO) commercialization.

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