1
00:00:00,546 --> 00:00:02,226
[Josh Byerly] Hi everybody.

2
00:00:02,226 --> 00:00:04,856
Josh Byerly here at NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston.

3
00:00:04,856 --> 00:00:06,746
We're standing inside what we call the dome.

4
00:00:06,746 --> 00:00:08,826
This is the facility that the astronauts train

5
00:00:08,936 --> 00:00:13,096
in to do all kinds a robotics operations while
they're onboard the International Space Station

6
00:00:13,416 --> 00:00:17,276
and any time a visiting vehicle is coming up
there this is actually where they practice.

7
00:00:17,276 --> 00:00:20,706
Now we've got the SpaceX Dragon flight
coming up here in just a few short days.

8
00:00:21,096 --> 00:00:23,166
The crews trained inside this very facility.

9
00:00:23,166 --> 00:00:26,006
We've actually got two of the
trainers here who trained those crews.

10
00:00:26,006 --> 00:00:26,706
We've got Jeff.

11
00:00:27,236 --> 00:00:28,686
Good to see you and we've got Graham.

12
00:00:29,006 --> 00:00:31,016
Now Jeff you train the crews on what

13
00:00:31,016 --> 00:00:33,806
to do whenever Dragon actually
gets up to the capture point.

14
00:00:34,186 --> 00:00:36,956
And Graham you train them on how to
actually go get it and latch onto it

15
00:00:36,956 --> 00:00:38,036
and bring it into the station, right?

16
00:00:38,456 --> 00:00:41,316
Talk a bit about what you guys have done
with the crews to get ready for Dragon.

17
00:00:41,556 --> 00:00:41,646
[Jeff Tuxhorn] Okay.

18
00:00:41,786 --> 00:00:44,736
Well for the rendezvous Dragon
approaches station from below

19
00:00:45,226 --> 00:00:49,376
and the crew will start monitoring it from here
in the cupola at a range of about one kilometer.

20
00:00:49,866 --> 00:00:53,206
And they'll be positioned here at the robotic
workstation where we have three monitors

21
00:00:53,206 --> 00:00:55,976
which with they can look at
video from the station cameras.

22
00:00:56,606 --> 00:01:00,636
And on top of that video we'll overlay some
telemetry data that we're receiving from Dragon

23
00:01:00,706 --> 00:01:04,676
to show them things like range, range
rate, vehicle mode and so forth.

24
00:01:05,186 --> 00:01:08,816
But it also depicts graphically the
approach corridor that Dragon has to remain

25
00:01:08,816 --> 00:01:10,586
within as it's coming up to space station.

26
00:01:10,586 --> 00:01:12,166
[Josh] Basically, the box
that it has to fly within.

27
00:01:12,166 --> 00:01:12,516
[Jeff] That's right.

28
00:01:12,986 --> 00:01:17,656
And so they'll compare the video image to
the limits that is based on the telemetry

29
00:01:17,836 --> 00:01:20,706
and make sure all that lines as
is expected during the approach.

30
00:01:21,116 --> 00:01:22,626
[Josh] So once it gets up
there and everything is checked

31
00:01:22,626 --> 00:01:25,626
out they'll actually go use the
station's arm which has been critical

32
00:01:25,626 --> 00:01:28,046
in assembling the station to
reach out and grab onto it.

33
00:01:28,046 --> 00:01:29,746
Talk about how you train them to do that.

34
00:01:29,946 --> 00:01:32,836
[Graeme Newman] Yeah, so Dragon's final
position will be capture point hold

35
00:01:33,216 --> 00:01:38,416
and the SSRMS end effector will be about five
meters away from the grapple fixture on Dragon.

36
00:01:39,126 --> 00:01:42,646
The arm operator will go into
manual control mode, actually fly in

37
00:01:42,946 --> 00:01:46,736
and track any misalignments that
Dragon has to go in for grapple.

38
00:01:46,736 --> 00:01:48,736
[Josh] So you talked about
the manual control mode.

39
00:01:48,736 --> 00:01:51,056
You can actually program the
arm to do different things.

40
00:01:51,116 --> 00:01:54,496
But Don Pettit is actually going to be actually
flying this thing himself while he's looking

41
00:01:54,496 --> 00:01:55,436
at those monitors, right?

42
00:01:55,666 --> 00:01:57,146
[Graeme] Yeah, absolutely and you're right.

43
00:01:57,146 --> 00:01:59,436
We can program the arm and do ground control.

44
00:01:59,726 --> 00:02:02,946
But the free flyer captures
like this are so time critical

45
00:02:03,546 --> 00:02:08,286
and because we're not really exactly sure the
final position of Dragon or how it's going

46
00:02:08,286 --> 00:02:10,586
to move after we send it to free drift.

47
00:02:11,326 --> 00:02:15,836
Then we kind of need to put a human in the loop
to make sure that the arm stays well aligned

48
00:02:15,836 --> 00:02:17,396
and we can go in and grapple it successfully.

49
00:02:17,766 --> 00:02:19,246
[Josh] Now Don Pettit is going
to be the one doing this.

50
00:02:19,276 --> 00:02:23,566
Dan Burbank also practiced this quite a bit
'cause it was going to be him doing this.

51
00:02:23,566 --> 00:02:25,466
He's going to be home by
the time this thing arrives.

52
00:02:25,976 --> 00:02:28,576
So talk a bit about, you know, how do you
train the crew both here on the ground

53
00:02:28,576 --> 00:02:30,596
and then once they get up
there to kind of take on a task

54
00:02:30,686 --> 00:02:32,836
that maybe they didn't think
that we're going to have to do.

55
00:02:32,946 --> 00:02:35,856
[Graeme] Right, well Don knew that he
was going to be involved in the capture,

56
00:02:35,886 --> 00:02:39,786
but more from the helper perspective for Dan.

57
00:02:39,986 --> 00:02:44,686
But Don did definitely get some
training in that role that Dan was in.

58
00:02:44,756 --> 00:02:47,466
And we're actually doing a little
bit of training right now onboard.

59
00:02:48,046 --> 00:02:52,316
We have a simulator on space station,
as well as flying the real arm,

60
00:02:52,536 --> 00:02:55,856
so that Don can get comfortable in
that new role for him and Dragon.

61
00:02:56,456 --> 00:02:57,496
[Josh] Now I think a lot
of people don't realize,

62
00:02:57,496 --> 00:02:59,256
there's actually two robotics workstations.

63
00:02:59,256 --> 00:03:00,936
There's one in Destiny which they've used a lot.

64
00:03:01,266 --> 00:03:03,126
There's one inside the cupola
which they love to use

65
00:03:03,126 --> 00:03:04,726
because of obviously the
windows back behind you.

66
00:03:04,726 --> 00:03:06,956
That's actually where they're going
to be, right, inside the cupola?

67
00:03:06,956 --> 00:03:08,416
But they've been practicing inside Destiny.

68
00:03:09,426 --> 00:03:10,146
Are they the same?

69
00:03:10,286 --> 00:03:11,206
Are they the same layout?

70
00:03:11,206 --> 00:03:11,636
Or what are they?

71
00:03:12,096 --> 00:03:14,606
[Graeme] Well, they're actually;
they're a slightly different layout.

72
00:03:14,606 --> 00:03:16,476
You can tell the cupola is
a little bit more cramped.

73
00:03:16,786 --> 00:03:20,256
And they do have the window views which the
crew likes a lot, especially for the rendezvous

74
00:03:20,306 --> 00:03:22,546
so they can see the vehicle coming up.

75
00:03:23,066 --> 00:03:25,876
And actually we've been doing a little
bit of onboard training for the crew

76
00:03:25,876 --> 00:03:28,296
in the cupola these past couple of weeks.

77
00:03:28,296 --> 00:03:31,716
So they've actually got a lot of practice,
you know, working through their coordination

78
00:03:31,716 --> 00:03:35,516
and figuring out how they want to layout the
cupola so they have a successful capture day.

79
00:03:36,206 --> 00:03:40,636
[Josh] So this looks, back behind you guys, like
the world's fanciest video game in space, right?

80
00:03:40,726 --> 00:03:43,736
So let's turnaround and let's see
actually what the crew's going

81
00:03:43,736 --> 00:03:47,106
to be doing whenever they actually
pilot this thing and grab on to Dragon.

82
00:03:48,186 --> 00:03:50,936
[Graeme] Okay, so now we've
got Dragon at the capture point

83
00:03:51,386 --> 00:03:53,526
and the arm is about five meters away.

84
00:03:53,526 --> 00:03:55,496
So I'm going to start maneuvering the arm in

85
00:03:55,626 --> 00:03:58,006
and maintaining alignment with
Dragon in this center view.

86
00:03:58,006 --> 00:04:03,326
And once I'm over the grapple fixture pin I'll
pull the trigger which will grapple Dragon.

87
00:04:03,736 --> 00:04:05,036
So I'm going to start moving in closer.

88
00:04:05,036 --> 00:04:07,106
[Josh] Now the crew's actually
going to be seeing live views.

89
00:04:07,106 --> 00:04:08,186
They're not going to see an animation of it.

90
00:04:08,186 --> 00:04:09,706
It's actually going to be the real deal, right?

91
00:04:09,916 --> 00:04:12,206
[Graeme] Absolutely, these
would all be real camera views.

92
00:04:12,296 --> 00:04:14,756
So we have some external
camera views on station.

93
00:04:15,126 --> 00:04:17,336
We also have some camera
views on the arm itself.

94
00:04:17,996 --> 00:04:21,286
So this particular camera is
actually looking from the end effector

95
00:04:21,286 --> 00:04:22,686
of the arm straight out at Dragon.

96
00:04:23,556 --> 00:04:25,556
[Josh] Is there a target that
they're trying to line up with?

97
00:04:25,556 --> 00:04:26,406
Or how do they know?

98
00:04:26,976 --> 00:04:30,506
[Graeme] There's actually an
overlay target on this camera view,

99
00:04:30,686 --> 00:04:33,356
as well as a target on the
grapple fixture itself.

100
00:04:33,436 --> 00:04:37,916
So once those two line up then the crew
is in tolerance to actually do a grapple.

101
00:04:37,916 --> 00:04:46,616
So, moving in a little closer here.

102
00:04:48,496 --> 00:04:50,716
I'm about two meters away from Dragon right now.

103
00:04:51,386 --> 00:04:55,986
[Josh] So the readouts you're looking
at tell you how far away you are

104
00:04:56,046 --> 00:04:57,506
from it, how fast you're approaching it?

105
00:04:58,006 --> 00:04:58,156
[Graeme] Yep.

106
00:04:58,316 --> 00:05:01,476
There's a lot of telemetry on here that
the crew is monitoring to make sure

107
00:05:01,476 --> 00:05:02,826
that they have a successful capture.

108
00:05:03,146 --> 00:05:05,176
[Josh] How do you know when
you've gotten close enough.

109
00:05:05,176 --> 00:05:06,176
Does it give you an alert?

110
00:05:06,176 --> 00:05:07,156
Or what does it do?

111
00:05:07,476 --> 00:05:10,266
[Graeme] Well, basically if you
can tell, there's a white line

112
00:05:10,266 --> 00:05:12,346
on this target here that's coming into view.

113
00:05:12,646 --> 00:05:16,256
Once it goes between the two red
lines on either side then you know

114
00:05:16,256 --> 00:05:18,066
that you're close enough to
actually pull the trigger.

115
00:05:18,066 --> 00:05:18,286
[Josh] Okay.

116
00:05:19,116 --> 00:05:29,066
[Graeme] So right now I'm about half a meter
away; a little closer; on over the pin.

117
00:05:29,066 --> 00:05:32,716
And then I'm in tolerance now, so I'll trigger.

118
00:05:32,716 --> 00:05:36,906
And then the crew will start watching
telemetry on this overlay here.

119
00:05:37,516 --> 00:05:41,676
They can find that the snares have now closed
around the grapple fixture pin on the LEE.

120
00:05:42,106 --> 00:05:46,976
And the entire structure is kind of
rigidizing back to secure Dragon and make sure

121
00:05:46,976 --> 00:05:48,346
that we've got a good firm hold on it.

122
00:05:48,816 --> 00:05:49,956
And that's just finished.

123
00:05:50,496 --> 00:05:52,406
So that would be considered
a successful capture.

124
00:05:52,826 --> 00:05:53,386
[Josh] Just like that.

125
00:05:53,706 --> 00:05:53,856
[Graeme] Mmm-hmm.

126
00:05:54,936 --> 00:05:56,046
[Josh] So talk about the snares.

127
00:05:56,046 --> 00:05:57,956
A lot of people, you know,
don't understand that the end

128
00:05:57,956 --> 00:06:02,216
of the robotic arm actually has three sort of
wires that are shaped kind of like a triangle.

129
00:06:02,616 --> 00:06:06,276
And they just kind of, you know, tighten
down on whatever the target is, right?

130
00:06:06,456 --> 00:06:09,906
[Graeme] Absolutely, when the
operator pulls the trigger

131
00:06:09,906 --> 00:06:12,246
on the arm it will actually exercise the snares.

132
00:06:12,536 --> 00:06:13,306
There's three of them.

133
00:06:13,666 --> 00:06:17,666
And they'll basically wrap around the
grapple fixture pin to get a good hold on it.

134
00:06:17,956 --> 00:06:20,066
And then the entire structure
will start to pull back.

135
00:06:20,066 --> 00:06:24,406
And that will put tension on those snares and
also bring Dragon flush with the end effector.

136
00:06:24,406 --> 00:06:27,466
[Josh] And then once that's done, they
just maneuver it back up and put it

137
00:06:27,466 --> 00:06:30,216
on the bottom side of the Harmony
node and that's, that's it, right?

138
00:06:30,396 --> 00:06:30,556
[Graeme] Yep.

139
00:06:30,596 --> 00:06:31,406
That's basically it.

140
00:06:31,626 --> 00:06:33,706
[Josh] It sounds so easy.

141
00:06:33,816 --> 00:06:36,256
You know, but I mean these guys
train for hours to do this.

142
00:06:36,256 --> 00:06:40,536
Talk about on a difficulty scale, you know,
is it something that's challenging for them?

143
00:06:40,536 --> 00:06:42,276
Or what are the hardest parts of it?

144
00:06:42,746 --> 00:06:44,666
[Graeme] The hardest part is
probably the grapple itself,

145
00:06:44,666 --> 00:06:48,036
I would say because the Dragon
is moving so you actually have

146
00:06:48,036 --> 00:06:50,366
to track a moving target as you go in.

147
00:06:50,556 --> 00:06:53,736
And then from there you would do
a couple of maneuvers to take it

148
00:06:53,736 --> 00:06:56,356
down to right above Node two nadir.

149
00:06:56,626 --> 00:06:58,646
And then you would do a maneuver to berth it in.

150
00:06:59,086 --> 00:07:01,816
So they do get a lot of training to make
sure that we can do it successfully.

151
00:07:01,816 --> 00:07:05,036
[Josh] Now they're going to be watching it
very closely, whenever it comes up that kind

152
00:07:05,036 --> 00:07:06,696
of approach corridor for lack of a better word.

153
00:07:07,226 --> 00:07:10,046
If there is anything out of position or,

154
00:07:10,176 --> 00:07:13,556
can they still grapple it even though
it may be turned the wrong way,

155
00:07:13,556 --> 00:07:14,776
or if anything like that happens?

156
00:07:14,776 --> 00:07:16,776
I mean is that; is that something
they can still do?

157
00:07:17,996 --> 00:07:19,846
[Jeff] Well during the approach
they'll definitely watch

158
00:07:19,846 --> 00:07:21,076
and make sure it's at the right place.

159
00:07:21,326 --> 00:07:24,216
They do have opportunities to
send commands to the vehicle

160
00:07:24,216 --> 00:07:27,676
if they do see something before
reaching the capture point.

161
00:07:27,676 --> 00:07:30,776
So they have some ways to deal with those
situations, and of course they'll be talking

162
00:07:30,776 --> 00:07:32,826
with the ground about what
they're observing onboard.

163
00:07:33,366 --> 00:07:36,466
But in terms of the actual capture
it's a little more difficult than that.

164
00:07:36,466 --> 00:07:40,486
[Graeme] Yeah, the arm has a lot, the
particular configuration for the arm has a lot

165
00:07:40,486 --> 00:07:43,626
of analysis behind it to make
sure that we can support capture

166
00:07:43,626 --> 00:07:45,756
because it's a kind of stressful
thing for the arm.

167
00:07:45,756 --> 00:07:47,486
We're going to putting a lot of loads on it.

168
00:07:47,716 --> 00:07:50,456
Basically, you've got this big vehicle
out there with a lot of inertia

169
00:07:50,456 --> 00:07:52,746
that you have to bring to a stop.

170
00:07:53,006 --> 00:07:55,756
And so we need to have a good arm
config to be able to support that.

171
00:07:56,476 --> 00:07:59,776
[Josh] Talk a bit about, you know, how exciting
is it that you guys are training these crews

172
00:07:59,776 --> 00:08:02,516
for a brand new vehicle that has
never been up to the space station,

173
00:08:02,726 --> 00:08:04,246
you know, it's a pretty historic flight.

174
00:08:04,486 --> 00:08:06,456
And you guys are a key part of that.

175
00:08:06,456 --> 00:08:07,416
Is it cool?

176
00:08:08,436 --> 00:08:08,896
[Jeff] Absolutely.

177
00:08:08,986 --> 00:08:09,226
[Graeme] It's an honor.

178
00:08:09,226 --> 00:08:14,056
[Jeff] It's been great working with the SpaceX
folks as they've been continuing the development

179
00:08:14,056 --> 00:08:16,636
of their vehicle and kind of relaying
the new things that we've learned

180
00:08:16,636 --> 00:08:18,436
about it and changes to the crew.

181
00:08:18,436 --> 00:08:19,306
So they're ready to go.

182
00:08:19,816 --> 00:08:21,176
So it's definitely been a unique experience.

183
00:08:22,046 --> 00:08:23,196
[Graeme] It's a complete honor.

184
00:08:23,196 --> 00:08:25,276
And working with the crew,
of course, is always fun too.