Hi Gene,
Thanks so much for you response to our first NASSAC mission. My goal has been to make the
experience as real as possible. The thinking is that the more real and challenging it appears then
perhaps it would appeal to the older teens as well as juniors.
I understand the problems you are facing with flying a real time mission. Before flying real time I
had to set up a scenario that would fit within the 25-30 hour window. To do a real time flight
however requiers more than just one individual on the flight to make it realistic. I used the time in
between Orbital burns and RINC adjustments to teach both the flight crew and those watching via
Mission control about the procedure and the reasons for the upcoming burn. The truth is I ran out
of time. In the evening we showed two videos that were space related. In addition the kids had a
list of 25 questions that they had to answer. They needed to work as a team to get all the
answers. But it was the length of time and the seperation from the rest of those that were
involved that gave it that added dimension of realism. All communication was by Com1 or Com2.
After doing our first real time mission, anyting else will not be as satisfying. True it takes a lot of
preperation. I worked over a year to setup the system to involve as many as I could. It was all
worth it. Now, both parent and child are asking when we could do the next mission? I am shooting
for November or December for the next mission. This time we are going to let the junior and teen
girls go. I will stay behind on this one and work remotley to control things and direct the flight. It
will probally be the same flight with a different twist to it.
We are talking about a mission to the Moon and Mars. We will do this in real time with large gaps
in between. Or maybe will will break for the evening let the crew on board and do a warp
command on the time. We will have intermediate goals and end the sessions after the prime goal
is met. As I think about it there are many ways to approach the scenario. It may look something
like this.
1. Launch and docking with ISS to refuel and Transitional orbital burn to target.
2. Orbital corrections along the way will be carried out by mission control
3. The crew and Mission Control wll gather for phase two of the mission, Orbital insertion, docking
with an orbital space station, landing on the Moon or planet.
4. Return to earth, launch, orbital transition burn,
5. Orbital corrections along the way will be carried out by mission control for the return trip.
6. Regather the team forOrbital insertion & docking with the ISS again and then returning to earth
and landing at KFC.
The biggest problem is training others to do their part. This requiers the greatest amount of time.
Kids need to understand it if they are going to stay interested. I am always looking for help and
funds.
I hope to make the simulator available for school groups to use. I would like to challenge them to
work together to assemble a mission and then carry it out. The science and the math lessons
learned along the way could be tremendous.
In our first mission we constantly did ctrl-s to backup the mission in case the computer went down.
We had two occassion in two days to do just that. For the most part I reloaded Orbiter and
pickedup almost exatcly were we left off. It was hardly noticed by those watching.
In doing real time missions it be would nice to have an auto save feature that would back up your
scenario every 5 minutes or so.
There are a lot of challenges but we learned a lot from our first mission just as NASA learns from
every mission they do. The bottom line is that the kids love it and learn a lot from the experience.
If you ever get up to Berlin, MD stop by and say hello. NASSAC 519 South Main Street Berlin MD
21811
With High regards;
John
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