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>> Josh: This is Mission
Control to Houston.

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We are going to go down to
NASA's Marshall Space Flight

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Center now in Huntsville Alabama
where Laurie Megs is standing

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by at the Payload
Operation Integration Center.

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Laurie, we hear that the
team there is getting ready

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to mark a big milestone.

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>> Laurie: That's right, Josh,

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12 years of continuous
24/7 operations here

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at the Payload Operations
and Integration Center.

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If you are not familiar
with the team,

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let me tell you what they do.

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This team of flight
controllers plans,

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coordinates all science
activities on the space station

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and leading that team is
someone called a Payload

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Operations Director.

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Joining me now is Katie Presson

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and she is the Payload
Operations Director here

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at Marshall.

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Katie, first of all tell,
us what you guys do here.

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>> Katie: Well, as a
Payloads Operations Director,

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we are responsible for
managing all the science

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on the International
Space Station.

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We coordinate with
the Flight Director

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for any NASA science
activities that we have.

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And so pretty much all
science activities,

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NASA science activities
go through us.

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>> Laurie: And that's
no easy job.

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About how many hours a week
are we talking about right now?

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>> Katie: Well right now
we have been averaging

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around 35 hours a week, but
sometimes they get up to 40

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or 50 hours a week
so we have a lot

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of science going on right now.

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And those are only
crew-tended operations.

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We also have a lot
of science going

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on that the crew is not
necessarily operating for us,

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so we can control a lot of our
experiments from the ground

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which means 24/7 operations.

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>> Laurie: You say they are
like your hands and your feet

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out there too right
there, the crew is.

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You build a relationship
with them.

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>> Katie: Right.

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Because we work with the
crew for around six months

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and because we train them
and gotten them ready

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to operate our experiments, we
develop relationships with them.

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So we have a lot of fun
with them often times,

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and because we can't always see
what they are doing they are our

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hands and feet and they --

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we try to help them as
much as we can but we rely

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on their expertise because we
can't be up there with them.

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>> Laurie: And I know
you guys are gearing

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up for a big anniversary as we
mentioned, the 12th anniversary

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of operations here but
you are not celebrating

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with a typical cake and party.

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You guys are actually going out
into the community and talking

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to schools about what you do
and inspiring those students.

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Tell us about that.

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>> Katie: Yes, well, we were
trying to think of a way

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to commemorate our anniversary
and we thought what better way

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than to try to get students
excited about what we do here?

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One day they'll be doing
our jobs, and so we want

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to give them an opportunity
to learn about what we do

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and get them excited about
all the student activities

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that we have.

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And so for one of our activities
we will be having a live

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event here.

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The room we are standing
in will have about seven

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of our cadre members,
and they will be in here

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and they'll be talking about
their careers, we will talk

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about some of the
different science experiments

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that we have, and we will try
to relate some of the benefits

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of the science experiments
in a way

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that the students can understand

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and also always the fun
question and answer session.

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So that should be a lot of fun.

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>> Laurie: That's going out
to a lot of schools, right,

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this digital learning
network programme

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that you are talking about?

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>> Katie: Right.

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We will have a few that
will actually be live

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but it will be broadcast
on the web so schools

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around the country can view it.

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And we hope to also
have follow-on events,

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so maybe this will not be
the only one that we do.

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And in addition to that,
we will also be going

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out into the schools.

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You know, not every school
has the equipment to be able

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to support that kind of
activity, so we also want to get

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out into the schools, have
more one on one experience

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with the students and show
them some different experiments

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and relate that to what we
do on the space station,

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and talk about how we
got to be where we are.

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>> Laurie: What's the number one
thing that you can tell students

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to inspire them about the
work that you do here?

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>> Katie: I think the
most important thing is

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to get them excited
about science,

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technology, engineering
and math.

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There are a lot of things
we do at a space station

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that they may not know about;

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they may not understand the
benefits of those experiments.

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And we want to get them
excited because they are going

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to be doing our jobs one day.

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>> Laurie: That's right.

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And a good job that
you do, Katie.

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Thank you so much
for sharing with us.

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And as you mentioned, there
are lots of ways that students

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and educators can get involved
in space station experiments.

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For example, the SPHERES
Zero-Robotics competition.

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Now SPHERES stands for the
Synchronised Position Hold,

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Engage, Reorient, Experimental
Satellites experiment.

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The SPHERES Zero-Robotics
investigation opens

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up the space station for
high school students to use,

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providing them with
the opportunity to act

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as ground controllers for
research in space using spheres

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which are bowling ball-size
spherical satellites.

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They're used inside
the space station

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to test autonomous rendezvous
and docking manoeuvres.

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As part of the Zero-Robotics
competition,

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students write algorithms
and design software

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for the satellites to accomplish
complex tasks in space

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such as docking, assembling
and formation flight.

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The algorithms are
tested by the SPHERES team

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at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology,

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and the best designs are
selected for the competition

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to operate the SPHERE
satellites on board the station.

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SPHERES Zero-Robotics provides a
unique and valuable opportunity

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to maintain student interest in
science, technology, engineering

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and mathematics careers.

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And many other educational
opportunities have already taken

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place to date: 49
countries, 25,000 schools,

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2.8 million teachers and more

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than 43 million students have
participated in experiments

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on board the space station.

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Now, if you or your school
would like to participate in any

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of these activities, you
can go to nasa.gov/station,

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and on the right side there
you will see a space station

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for kids and space
station for educators,

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and you can learn more about
how you can get involved.

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And that will do it for us

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from the Payload Operation
Integration Center here

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in Huntsville.