The content of this post is an adaptation of an original text written by Guy Laliberté.
Before I describe my day, let me briefly explain to you the procedure that precedes a simulation exercise. First, we report back to the members of the commission in the big room where the simulator is located. (Today, there were a lot of people.) First, we salute our instructors, then the hank-ranking officials (called the Big Bananas by the people here!). According to protocol, the three of us must remain standing, facing a table on which lay our flag and several envelopes. One of the crew members must choose an envelope, which all three of us sign and then hand back to one of the officials. This envelope contains a “surprise” exam that is added to our work plan, to test how well we do when faced with an unusual situation. Let’s just hope we won’t be ejected from the building one day!
Today, our simulation exercise in the ISS started out slowly but surely. We dealt with a few communication problems, some of our equipment broke down and we had to extinguish a fire (no less!). All we needed to top it all off was a battle with Darth Vader!
Usually, when we have simulation days such as this one, we get together afterwards for lunch with the backup team, and we use this time to continue our preparations for the afternoon. At lunchtime today, though, the backup team didn’t show up—we found out they hadn’t finished their simulation exercise in the Soyuz. Needless to say, we were quite puzzled!
And so, to get back to the procedure, the officials watch us all day and, at the end, they give us their comments. This is sometimes followed by some debating, since we’re allowed to explain the reasons behind our decisions. Today, we were given a perfect mark: 5 out of 5!
Once this was over, we went to see what was going on with the backup team, who were in the Soyuz while we were in the ISS. They were in the process of receiving their marks. This was interesting for us since they made a few mistakes that would certainly be useful for us the next day…
In the evening, I had interviews, meetings and videos to prepare for the mission log. I still had a good night’s sleep and was feeling well rested the next morning.