Astronaut Wakata's training report (3)

Sonny Carter Training Facility

NBL

Control room

Wakata in a space suit preparing for under-water training.

Under-water training

Astronaut Wakata has many important roles in the STS-92 mission. Since he is the primary robot arm operator, he now spends much time for robot arm training, as presented in the previous report. During the STS-92 mission Wakata will attach the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) and the Z1 truss to the International Space Station (ISS) using the robot arm. However, detailed operations such as connecting cables and fastening bolts will remain, and these will have to be performed by extravehicular activity (EVA). Supporting the EVA crew by operating the robot arm is also one of Wakata's important roles. Four EVAs are planned to be conducted during the STS-92 mission. This makes the training sessions conducted in coordination with EVA crew members very important.

EVA training is conducted primarily in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) located in NASA Johnson Space Center. The NBL is a 60m(L)x 30m(W)x12m(D) water tank. Life-size mockups of a Space Shuttle cargo bay and components of the ISS are located in this underwater facility to train astronauts in a simulated zero-gravity environment, and to evaluate on-orbit task procedures (Fig. 1). A robot arm called the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), which Wakata operates in the STS-92 mission, is also located in the tank and it is operable from a control room like a real SRMS.

Recently, integrated simulation training was conducted in the NBL in cooperation with EVA crew members to develop and evaluate the EVA procedures. The scheduled four EVAs to be performed on the STS-92 mission require closely coordinated procedures between the EVA crew and the SRMS operator. Although astronaut Wakata is the SRMS operator, he wore a space suit during this training and dived into the water to evaluate and confirm the task procedures. Likewise, EVA crew members sometimes operate the SRMS in the control room as well. In this manner, they increase their skills and refine the task procedures through a deeper understanding of mutual tasks.