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American Morning

Columbia 7 Went Through Rigorous Program

Aired February 05, 2003 - 09:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Columbia 7 went through a rigorous program to meet the demands of operating a space shuttle. The crew trained in a facility at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, and Jeff Flock spent some time there, finding out what it takes to have the right stuff.
He joins us live.

Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you, from building nine.

The Columbia astronauts were last in here January 2nd, and this is where all of the astronauts train. We're going to get a quick tour of it this morning from John Sims, a man who runs the facility. This has been backdrop of a lot of our coverage, John, but we haven't really looked up close and personal at them.

What am I looking at right here?

JOHN SIMS, NASA MANAGER: You're looking at our robotics training facility. We use this for space station robotics training. You can see we have a mockup of the laboratory here, and a node (ph) one there, and then we have a mockup of the shuttle payload bay.

FLOCK: So that's an actual payload bay of the shuttle.

SIMS: Full size mockup of the payload bay/

FLOCK: What they would train to operate the arms and all that sort of stuff?

SIMS: They use this. They have a -- we can't see it here, but a space station robotic arm right there, and they use that to take things out of the payload base and attach to the space station.

FLOCK: Got you. Let's walk on out this way if we can.

I'm seeing what looks like the shuttle itself right here. What are we looking at here?

SIMS: This was what we call our full fuselage trainer. This is a full-size mockup of the space shuttle.

FLOCK: What do you use that for? SIMS: We use that for all sorts of training, training crews on how to get in the shuttle, how to get out. We use it for maintenance training, say they have to do a repair on orbit or change out computer or something like that. It's kind of like you train here like you train to change a spark plug out in your car so when you get to into space...

FLOCK: Everything's the same size.

SIMS: Everything's the same size.

FLOCK: Typically you have training going on here at a normal time, today even?

SIMS: Today even. We train five days a wee, and often on weekends and its when required.

FLOCK: What am I looking at here?

SIMS: This is the crew compartment trainer. It's in the ascent position. We use this to help train the crews on how get in and out of the space shuttle on the pad.

FLOCK: How elaborate is that in there? If I climb in there, what's that like?

SIMS: If you climb in there, you will think you're inside the space shuttle. It is extremely accurate. We also use it for real- time mission support. If something needs to be looked at in space, the shuttle crew has a problem on orbit, they need to fix something that they don't have a procedure for, and we'll come try it out here first.

FLOCK: I want to take a look back over in this area. This is where I know you do some space walking practice.

SIMS: Right.

FLOCK: Is that an airlock up there, to right?

SIMS: That is what we call the external airlock. That is normally in the payload bay of the space shuttle. Since this trainer doesn't have a payload bay, we have it on a free-standing stand. So we use that to dock up to this crew compartment training so they can train how to get into the spacesuits, how to get out and how to get ready for spacewalks.

FLOCK: Last, I need to ask you when training is going to resume in the facility.

SIMS: As you know, we've got three astronauts on the space station right now. We've got other space station crews that are in training as we speak. We expect training to resume, if not late this week, early next week.

FLOCK: As late -- as early as the end of this week? John Sims, I appreciate the tour. Thank you so much for the time this morning.

SIMS: You're welcome.

FLOCK: Behind the scenes look, Paula, if you will, Paula, at what the space shuttle astronauts went through themselves as recently, we are told, as January 2nd.

Back to you.

ZAHN: It's sad to even think about that. Thanks, Jeff.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 5, 2003 - 09:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Columbia 7 went through a rigorous program to meet the demands of operating a space shuttle. The crew trained in a facility at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, and Jeff Flock spent some time there, finding out what it takes to have the right stuff.
He joins us live.

Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you, from building nine.

The Columbia astronauts were last in here January 2nd, and this is where all of the astronauts train. We're going to get a quick tour of it this morning from John Sims, a man who runs the facility. This has been backdrop of a lot of our coverage, John, but we haven't really looked up close and personal at them.

What am I looking at right here?

JOHN SIMS, NASA MANAGER: You're looking at our robotics training facility. We use this for space station robotics training. You can see we have a mockup of the laboratory here, and a node (ph) one there, and then we have a mockup of the shuttle payload bay.

FLOCK: So that's an actual payload bay of the shuttle.

SIMS: Full size mockup of the payload bay/

FLOCK: What they would train to operate the arms and all that sort of stuff?

SIMS: They use this. They have a -- we can't see it here, but a space station robotic arm right there, and they use that to take things out of the payload base and attach to the space station.

FLOCK: Got you. Let's walk on out this way if we can.

I'm seeing what looks like the shuttle itself right here. What are we looking at here?

SIMS: This was what we call our full fuselage trainer. This is a full-size mockup of the space shuttle.

FLOCK: What do you use that for? SIMS: We use that for all sorts of training, training crews on how to get in the shuttle, how to get out. We use it for maintenance training, say they have to do a repair on orbit or change out computer or something like that. It's kind of like you train here like you train to change a spark plug out in your car so when you get to into space...

FLOCK: Everything's the same size.

SIMS: Everything's the same size.

FLOCK: Typically you have training going on here at a normal time, today even?

SIMS: Today even. We train five days a wee, and often on weekends and its when required.

FLOCK: What am I looking at here?

SIMS: This is the crew compartment trainer. It's in the ascent position. We use this to help train the crews on how get in and out of the space shuttle on the pad.

FLOCK: How elaborate is that in there? If I climb in there, what's that like?

SIMS: If you climb in there, you will think you're inside the space shuttle. It is extremely accurate. We also use it for real- time mission support. If something needs to be looked at in space, the shuttle crew has a problem on orbit, they need to fix something that they don't have a procedure for, and we'll come try it out here first.

FLOCK: I want to take a look back over in this area. This is where I know you do some space walking practice.

SIMS: Right.

FLOCK: Is that an airlock up there, to right?

SIMS: That is what we call the external airlock. That is normally in the payload bay of the space shuttle. Since this trainer doesn't have a payload bay, we have it on a free-standing stand. So we use that to dock up to this crew compartment training so they can train how to get into the spacesuits, how to get out and how to get ready for spacewalks.

FLOCK: Last, I need to ask you when training is going to resume in the facility.

SIMS: As you know, we've got three astronauts on the space station right now. We've got other space station crews that are in training as we speak. We expect training to resume, if not late this week, early next week.

FLOCK: As late -- as early as the end of this week? John Sims, I appreciate the tour. Thank you so much for the time this morning.

SIMS: You're welcome.

FLOCK: Behind the scenes look, Paula, if you will, Paula, at what the space shuttle astronauts went through themselves as recently, we are told, as January 2nd.

Back to you.

ZAHN: It's sad to even think about that. Thanks, Jeff.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com