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[Amiko Kauderer] So here with us today,

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we're inside the International
Space Station Flight Control Room.

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I'm here with Jerry Jason.

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He is the lead flight director of ATV-3.

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Welcome Jerry, thank you for coming.

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[Jerry Jason] Thank you very much.

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[Amiko] I think I actually just pulled
you out of a meeting with ATV-3.

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Correct? [Jerry] Yeah.

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We're getting ready to launch
here in just a couple of days.

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[Amiko] Lots to talk about.

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[Jerry] Yes.

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[Amiko] First I wanted to
talk a little about you.

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So tell me, how long have you been here at NASA.

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[Jerry] I've been at NASA since 1996.

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So about 17 years now.

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I started out as a space
shuttle flight controller.

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Became a group lead over there.

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And then I've been a flight director for
about four years on space station side.

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[Amiko] Thanks.

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Tell me some of your experience.

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Where did, how did you get to flight director?

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[Jerry] I started out in what is called the
MMACS group which was Mechanical, Maintenance,

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Arm and Crew Systems on the space shuttle side.

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On the space shuttle side that was responsible
for the auxiliary power units, the landing gear,

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some of the crew systems folks, the
escape systems, parachutes, etc...

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Got certified fully and worked several
missions about 20, 25 on the shuttle side.

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Worked some ascent/entry and then about four
years ago I got selected as flight director.

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And I've been working station since then.

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My biggest assignment was prior to
ATV, was working increment 23/24.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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Great. Thank you.

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Well, so you are the lead flight director
for the Automated Transfer Vehicle

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that we are hoping to send up soon.

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I know that there was a delay,
and we're going to get into that.

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But just first tell me, what is your role
specifically with regards to that cargo ship?

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[Jerry] Okay.

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ATV is really a trilateral vehicle.

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It's built by the European Space Agency.

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It's launched out of French Guiana.

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Hopefully, here in the next couple of days.

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But the trilateral portion is we
actually dock to the Russian segment.

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So the vehicle actually approaches from the
backside and docks to the SMF docking port.

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So a lot of the work that we have
to do is on a trilateral nature.

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So my responsibilities overall
are for making sure

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that the space station is ready to receive ATV.

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So that's the coordination that
I've been primarily working with.

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And I work with the flight directors in,
at the ATVCC which is Toulouse, France.

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And I also work with the SRP which is the
Russian flight director at the MCC-Moscow

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and make sure we're all ready to go.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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So you will actually be here for that launch.

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[Jerry] I'll be here for
the launch Thursday night.

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And then we'll be docking on the 28th.

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And I'll be the on-console
flight director for that as well.

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[Amiko] Great.

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So let's talk about the delay.

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So I know that it was originally
set to launch on March 9th.

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Correct? [Jerry] Yes.

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That's correct.

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[Amiko] So what happened?

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[Jerry] Going through the evaluation
of the cargo that was stowed in ATV,

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when we close out the vehicle they
go ahead and they take pictures of it

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and they did an evaluation and they
realized that the some of the buckles,

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the way that they'd been
fastened wasn't appropriate.

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So there was a concern that once you
launch the vehicle, that the ascent loads

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with the vibrations and the G-Force
that some of the cargo may become loose.

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And you don't want cargo whipping around
the vehicle when it's going into space.

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So for, therefore, ESA decided that it
was prudent to go ahead and go back in

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and roll the vehicle back, take the
fairings off, re-access the vehicle

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and re-secure that cargo which they have done.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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So it's not like, quite like, not packing your
suitcase properly and that delaying your flight.

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But, so a bit more to do with that.

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Did they have to unpack everything
and then put things back?

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Or how did they...

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[Jerry] It's just a matter of re-securing it.

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They did move some of the cargo bags around.

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They are different sizes of bags
that are carrying up our cargo.

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They move some of those around
in different slots

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to get a little more tension on the buckles.

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And they've also went ahead
and taped some of the buckles.

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They were a little bit more
concerned about that may come loose.

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So they have done a good job of making
sure that we're ready to go here.

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[Amiko] We don't want an
exploding suitcase in space.

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So thank you.

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So now let's talk some about the launch.

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Now I know countdown begins at
10 hours and then we have launch.

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So then can you tell me about what happens next?

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[Jerry] For the most part, as we
get ready to launch the vehicle

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and ATV Control Center is really is
going to be responsible for that,

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once again that's in Toulouse, France.

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They'll be monitoring the vehicle
as it gets ready to launch.

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And then once it launches it gets, it has
an orbit that is basically elliptical,

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and then about 40 minutes, 45 minutes later they
actually do a re-ignition in the second stage

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which is actually unique for a vehicle.

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As you don't re-ignite a second stage
and that will circularize the orbit.

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And then, it's gradually going
to be approaching station.

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We'll be in a little bit of a lower orbit.

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So we'll be going a little bit faster so
we'll actually be catching up to station.

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And then as we get closer to the
actual docking day were going

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to do several maneuvers that'll
bring is into the docking.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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So five days, or 5-1/2 days before
the docking and is that quick?

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[Jerry] That's actually quicker than
we have done in the past for ATV

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and the original launch had
about an eight day phasing.

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So we're doing it a little bit faster.

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So that means we're just going to, doing our
burns a little bit sooner and we'll be staying

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in a lower orbit a little bit longer.

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So we're actually moving
faster than the station is.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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And so, let's talk about the cargo.

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What's in there?

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[Jerry] There's lots of cargo.

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There's quite a bit of U.S. cargo.

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We have, of course we have food supplies.

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You have crew return items.

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You have crew personal preference items.

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You have a lot of replacement pieces
for the International Space Station.

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We're taking up a bunch of
regenerative ECLSS equipment.

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They're called RFTAs, which are used for
recycling our water onboard the station.

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[Amiko] Yes.

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We just replaced one yesterday.

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[Jerry] So, but part of it is to is, not
only are we taking all that cargo off,

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we're going to be putting a lot
of stuff in to the vehicle as far

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as trash that is no longer need to.

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So overall there's about 2,200 kilograms
of dry cargo we're transferring up.

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And we're going to fill that back
up pretty much when we leave.

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We're also bringing up some
oxygen, some air and then some water

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and we'll also provide propellant
oxidizer as well.

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That goes into the Russian segment
and we pump that in directly.

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So it supplies us with lots of cargo, lots of
air, food and we also get propellant out of it.

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[Amiko] So about 7.2 tons of cargo
is supposedly going up, right?

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And very critical items.

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We have air and water and also things like the
recycle filter assembly which is used to recycle

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that water and that's pretty
important there on space station.

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[Jerry] Yes ma'am it is.

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[Amiko] So, let's go to docking.

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We said 5-1/2 days before it actually docks
and so when it does come up there is it,

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is that automated, the rendezvous and docking?

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How is the approach?

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[Jerry] Yeah.

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As you point out before ATV is
Autonomous Transfer Vehicle.

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So most of it is automated.

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ATVCC has a lot to do with monitoring
the progress of the vehicle.

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They do uplink certain parameters
as we do the approach to make sure

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that ATV is getting all the data it needs.

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But for the, for the final portion
of it, it's pretty much all ATV

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in communication with the space station.

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So, the ATV is, has what's called a prox
link between itself and the space station,

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specifically the Russian segment,
so they're always comparing data

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where ATV is relative to space station.

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It also uses a laser targeting system as we get
closer in to it to make sure that we're matching

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up exactly with the docking port.

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Of course, you have ATVCC on the
ground monitoring ATV performance.

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You have MCC-Moscow monitoring
the Russian segment performance.

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You have Houston watching the U.S. segment.

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But you also have the crew involved
monitoring, making sure the ATV approaches.

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[Amiko] Now I know it's going to be
docking to the aft port of the Zvezda.

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So you're not, where there's not going to
be a window where they can actually look

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and see the approaching vehicle,
is that correct?

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[Jerry] That's correct.

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[Amiko] And so how will they
monitor its arrival?

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[Jerry] We actually have cameras that
look out the back of the aft port

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and it's actually displayed on a monitor.

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So the crew has several things that they get.

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They have data from the proximity
sensors and the Kurs system

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that are displaying the range,
and range rate of the system.

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But they'll also have the video cameras as well
and they actually have a overlay that they put

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on the monitor that shows the approach
corridor that ATV is supposed to be in.

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If they get outside that approach corridor,
if ATV hasn't already automatically retreated

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or escaped, they have the capability
to do that onboard as well.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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Thank you.

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So, and do you know exactly which
crew members are going to be involved

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in the, or is it all of them or...

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[Jerry] No, but specifically two crew members
that are trained for that and that's Kuipers

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and Kononenko are going to be our prime crew
members for monitoring the ATV approach.

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They actually get all their
training way before we launched.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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Yeah and we actually had a
picture just up now of the pair

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who will be actually doing the
monitoring of the approach of ATV-3.

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So, again I pulled you out of meeting.

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Anything juicy to tell us?

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Nothing. Nominal.

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[Jerry] Well, were just monitoring.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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[Jerry] I think you probably already
talked about, there's been a little

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of the issue with the two-alpha BGA.

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And we're kind of monitoring that to make
sure that isn't an issue for ATV approach

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because of using the GPS that it
uses between the two vehicles.

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We want to make sure that the arrays
are in a very specific position.

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So if we're having a problem with the BGA we
want to make sure that we have a plan in place.

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So we spent a lot of time discussing that.

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Doing what we normally do, we do a lot of
"what-iffing" as part of mission operations,

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saying "okay if it fails what do we want to
do with the array in the interim approach."

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[Amiko] Okay.

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Great and so you'll be on
console Thursday night.

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Back here for a long night.

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So you'll have to do a little sleep shifting.

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How much longer after launch
that, do you stay here to monitor?

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[Jerry] Yeah, I'll stay here until
we get the second stage reignited

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and get the orbit circularized and
then we'll be in a good configuration.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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Great. A good, long late night for you.

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Thank you so much for coming
by and talking with us.

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So if it's juicy enough we're all good.

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[Jerry] Yes.

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We're all good, ready to go for Thursday.

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[Amiko] Okay.

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Thank you very much.

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[Jerry] Thank you.