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>> Pat Ryan: Joining me this
morning is Angela Bauer,

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who is the lead of the Facilities
Operations and Maintenance Group

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in the Missions Operation Directorate.

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Angela, when you tell somebody what
it is that you do for a living,

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how do you explain what that job is?

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>> Angela Bauer: Well, if that person doesn't
work here at NASA, the way I explain it is

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that everything that you see
when you look at this room

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on television is something
that my group controls.

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So we control, or we take things as mundane
as the carpet and the pink color on the walls,

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but we also take care of the very
important things, such as the workstations

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and the consoles that the
flight controllers sit at.

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We control the data that flows here from
spacecraft through ground station to here.

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We take care of the processing
that happens to that data.

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We make sure that that data gets down to the
flight controller so that they can see it

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and view it and look for
troubleshooting and do their jobs.

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>> Pat Ryan: And yet your work is not
restricted to just this room in this building?

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>> Angela Bauer: No, we take care of this
entire building, which includes this room.

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We actually right now have four flight
control rooms, so we have this room,

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we still have the White Flight Control
room, which was used for the Shuttle,

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and now it is sitting waiting
for the next opportunity

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which will be actually the
Orion Exploration Flight 1,

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which will happen in 2014,
we're going to use that room.

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We also have a Blue Flight Control
Room and a Red flight control room.

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Those are mainly used for tests
and simulations right now.

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And in addition to that we also have
server rooms throughout the building.

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We have rooms where the data comes in.

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We have a lot of equipment that handles all
of the voice, all of the key sets and headsets

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that the flight controllers use
to communicate back and forth.

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We also have a lot of equipment
that does the video,

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such as the video you're watching right now, the
video that you can see on the screens behind us.

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>> Pat Ryan: On a day-to-day
basis, on a routine basis,

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what sort of support are your
folks called upon to provide?

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>> Angela Bauer: Oh, we do everything.

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Daily we take care of a lot
of things called anomalies

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that the flight controllers
and other people report.

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>> Pat Ryan: They don't sound good.

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>> Angela Bauer: No, but
sometimes they're not bad.

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Sometimes they're anomalies that a workstation
monitor isn't working or a unit that we use

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to communicate for the voice isn't
working, and those are pretty easy to fix.

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Sometimes they're a little bit more complicated.

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When you have a flight controller
attempt to send a command

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and the command doesn't leave the building,
then that takes a lot more trouble-shooting,

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to go figure out you've got to get into
the computer code and start to find

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out what happened and what went wrong.

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>> Pat Ryan: Those sorts of things, are
those routine, those kind of problems?

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>> Angela Bauer: Problems with the
Command system are not very routine.

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The Command system has been in place for
-- it was initiated about 15 years ago,

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so our homegrown Command system
is actually pretty robust,

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and we don't have a lot of
problems with it these days.

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>> Pat Ryan: In a dynamic environment like
that, where you've got a spaceship in orbit

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with a crew, those kind of things,
there must be some more unusual calls

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for support that your folks get.

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Can you give us a couple of examples
of the non-routine things that happen?

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>> Angela Bauer: Well, on a
large scale I'd say probably some

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of the most unusual requests we've gotten in the
past couple of years have had to do with the way

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that technology has changed so much.

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And so we've had to figure out ways that we
could have the astronauts do things such as post

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to Twitter, and surf the Internet and get
their e-mail while they're up on orbit.

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And those are things that were never really
considered when the Control Center was built

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in the first place, so we've had to come up with
some innovative ideas and ways to allow them

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to do that but still have it be safe so
that we can't compromise the Space Station.

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>> Pat Ryan: So that the
commanding and the other things

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that it was built to do, will still do.

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>> Angela Bauer: Right.

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>> Pat Ryan: We're referred to the fact over
the years that this room is in the same building

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as the Space Shuttle Flight Control
Room, and you pointed out that of course,

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that's not used for Space
Shuttle commanding anymore.

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Talk more about what it is
being used for right now.

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What have your folks had to do in that
room to get it ready for its next act?

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>> Angela Bauer: Well, actually, the Orion
Exploration Flight Test 1, which is scheduled

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for '14, is planning to use a lot of the
same equipment that we have in here today,

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so there's not a whole lot of
extra effort that we have to do

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to make it capable supporting that flight.

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So that test is actually going to use the
same workstations that we've installed.

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Our workstations are very flexible.

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We try to make sure that everything that we
do is something that we can use in the future,

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so our workstations can be loaded with
whatever operating system we need.

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So it's going to be used for tests
and observations for that Mission.

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Until then we also use it to support some

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of the other activities we
have going on in the building.

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>> Pat Ryan: Such as training
of flight controllers?

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>> Angela Bauer: Training and tests
that we do with collaboration with some

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of the other centers and international partners.

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We support all of those kind of activities in
this building daily, and so we're always looking

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for extra seats, because this room
obviously is used full-time for ISS.

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>> Pat Ryan: Occasionally, the folks
in here do get moved to other rooms.

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Are the other control rooms capable
of commanding the Space Station?

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Can people work in there?

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>> Angela Bauer: Yes.

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You are able to send a command to the Space
Station from any workstation in this building.

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That was one of the foundations that we had when
we designed the new building back in the '90s,

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was that we wanted the concept
of a roving flight controller,

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which means that we can put our flight
control team anywhere within this building

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and they can get the same tools and have the
same capabilities that they would in this room.

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>> Pat Ryan: Your group is responsible for
all of the control rooms and everything

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in this building, as well as another
building, that is elsewhere at JSE --

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the Jake Garn Simulator and
Training Facility, Building 5.

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What sorts of things are you
folks supporting over there?

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>> Angela Bauer: That's right.

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A couple of years ago, we found some
efficiencies in combining the operations

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of this facility and the training
facility, and so our main capability

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over there right now is the Space Station
Training Facility, where we have a mockup

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of the modules of the Space Station,
and all of them are functional.

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We have computer models in there that
aren't exactly what you have on board,

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but are close enough that we can train
our flight controllers and our astronauts

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to identify and troubleshoot problems.

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It also allows them to go through their standard
procedures and get adept at that as well.

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And the other thing that we
have coming into Building 5 is

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that we're constantly looking forward.

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We're trying to find the next innovative way
to make what we do here more cost effective.

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And we have a project called Training Systems
21, TS-21, and they are looking at ways to have

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that capability, not only for
the Space Station but also

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for any other visiting vehicles
that we would have.

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And so we have a lot of work
going on in that facility,

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building up for that future
implementation out in 2015.

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>> Pat Ryan: I assume that you've also
been involved with the changeover,

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because there were a lot of Space
Shuttle training facilities that were

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in that building until recently, too.

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>> Angela Bauer: That's right.

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We call that Shuttle Transition
in Retirement, so Shuttle TNR,

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because we have to make everything
an acronym here.

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And we have a lot of work
going on in that building.

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The building at one time housed our motion
case, which is the simulator that actually moves

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and allows the flight controllers -- allows
the astronauts to get their training,

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how to control the spacecraft, and we also
had a fixed based that was stationary,

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that allowed them to go and
work through their procedures.

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And so both of those are currently being
dismantled and prepared for shipment.

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>> Pat Ryan: It's building up new,
taking down old, all at the same time.

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>> Angela Bauer: That's right.

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>> Pat Ryan: Tell me about
how you came into this job.

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Have you been working NASA long,
or in Facilities Management?

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>> Angela Bauer: Well, actually
I came to NASA in the year 2000,

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so I came from the petro chemical industry.

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That's not a standard career
path that most people take.

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A lot of people come straight out of college.

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So I came here in 2000 and
I went into flight control.

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I was a Shuttle electrical
power systems flight controller.

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And then in 2003 I was given the opportunity
to move over to the Facilities Division,

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which handles all of the infrastructure that you
see here, and I was actually the project manager

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for the last update that we
do to all of the workstations.

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So I've been in Facilities since 2003.

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>> Pat Ryan: Did you enjoy
being a flight controller?

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>> Angela Bauer: It has its moments.

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My husband is also a flight controller,
and at home we say flight control is hours

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of sheer boredom followed
by moments of sheer terror.

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So there were some very exciting times
when I was a flight controller where we had

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to do trouble-shooting on the
station that I'll never forget.

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>> Pat Ryan: Yeah, things that specifically
you'd never train for, but that's the job.

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>> Angela Bauer: Right.

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>> Pat Ryan: Coming out of the petrochemical
industry, what was your education background?

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what education gets you ready
for that job and this one, too?

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>> Angela Bauer: Well, I'm actually a mechanical
engineer, so I did mechanical engineering

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when I was in petrochem, and when I
came here I switched over to electrical,

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and then I've been doing computers ever since.

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So I think for flight control really
the important thing is that you have

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to have a degree in science and math, so
it doesn't matter what your degree is.

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My fellow co-workers had physics degrees,
math degrees, all of the engineering degrees.

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So it really just matters that you're into
science and you're a critical thinker.

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>> Pat Ryan: Do you have the
excitement of space flight,

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being in charge of keeping the building running?

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>> Angela Bauer: It's very exciting.

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You would thing that you'd be a bit removed
since we're not always sitting in this room,

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except that within our group we do actually
have the ground controllers who sit in this room

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in the back of the room, and they control all of
the ground assets, all of the communication gear

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and they make sure that everything is working.

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And so not only do we have their
involvement and their excitement, but also,

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we have to work around the Mission whenever
we're making changes in the facility,

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so we're constantly aware of what's going on
on orbit to make sure that we don't do anything

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that could compromise any
sort of critical phase.

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>> Pat Ryan: I appreciate the fact that all
this stuff works, and everyone else does, too.

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Thank you.

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Angela Bauer is the lead of the
Facility Operations and Maintenance Group