Preflight Interview: Jeffrey Ashby

The STS-100 Crew Interviews with Jeffrey Ashby, Pilot.

Q: Jeff, first off, tell me a little bit about yourself. Why did you want to become an astronaut?

A. I grew up in the 50s and 60s at the very start of the space program and remember very vividly the images coming across on the TV. I think it became a real part of me at that time. And I also grew up in the mountains where we would always go off exploring in the woods and across the ridges and valleys behind our house. I think there's things that make up a personality that wants to do something like that and those things came together in me and gave me the dream and eventually the goal of becoming an astronaut.

You had the dream; now tell me about the education and career path that got you to where you are.

When I decided that I wanted to try and be an astronaut I looked at the program and chose the path of a military test pilot to try and reach the goal of working for NASA. And I received a Navy scholarship out of high school. I went to college at the University of Idaho, received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. Went on from there to a fairly long career in the Navy flying off the carriers and gradually worked my work up to become a test pilot and received more education so that I was competitive to apply for the astronaut program.

Were there any particular folks who inspired or helped point you the way to become an astronaut?

Well, there are many people along the course of a lifetime that shape you and influence you and motivate you. And none of mine are particularly famous people. My father, of course, was a strong influence-both my parents. And many other just normal, everyday people. Teachers had a big influence. I had a wrestling coach named Art Madrid who taught me a very important lesson about when you lose or fail you need to get up and train just a little bit harder for the next opportunity. And, I think that lesson is probably the one that has most obviously affected my career.

Let's talk about this flight you're on. What are the goals of STS-100? What is the significance of the new robot arm you and your crewmates are taking to the station?

Well, the primary goal of STS-100 is to deliver the space station robotic arm and install it and activate it on board space station. We have a secondary goal of delivering some other equipment, among which is the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which we will attach and transfer then science equipment into the space station.

Why is it so important that this flight succeed? How does it affect the rest of the flights that follow?

Well, one interesting thing about STS-100 and many of the flights that are occurring now is that each one of them builds on the other, so that each of those missions has to be successful in order for the assembly process to continue. In the case of our flight, the space station robotic arm is crucial for the remaining assembly because, as the station grows larger, the space shuttle arm is incapable of reaching the areas that need to be reached to install equipment. Therefore, the space station arm has to be in place and has to be active for all of the following assembly flights after ours.

Before you do this important hookup work, you have to rendezvous and dock with the space station. Talk me through the process of rendezvous and docking. And, as the Pilot, describe what you'll be doing.

Well, as the Pilot, I work with the Commander to achieve the rendezvous and docking. In fact, we work as a team on the flight deck - all of us working together. During the rendezvous, I will be sitting up in the front seat and I will execute…I will target and execute some of the final burns that fine-tune our solution so that we can get to a point where the Commander can take over and begin flying manually. Once those burns are complete and he begins the manual phase, I become the person who oversees the timeline and oversees the cockpit. And I ensure that we are making all of the steps and activating the equipment at the proper times. And I also take care of the orbiter systems in the event of any failures during that period.

What's the approach to the station like this time?

We are approaching…on this flight we are coming up actually underneath the station to a range of about 550 feet. And then, we will fly around the space station to what's called the V-bar or the velocity vector of the space station. At that point, we will stop. We are tail to Earth. And we will move slowly in from ahead of the space station backwards to docking at PMA-2 on the Lab.

Now, after you finally get hooked up, you're all docked with the station, what happens those hours just after docking?

Well, just after docking is going to be a very busy time. We, of course, have to reconfigure the cockpit to begin the docked operations. We will also pressurize the vestibule and open the hatches, temporarily, to transfer some immediate equipment into space station.

Now, you're going to be the first shuttle crew to visit the Expedition Two up on orbit. Are you going to [be] bringing them anything special?

Yes. Well, of course, we'll be bringing them food and clothes, which are very important to them. The biggest thing we'll be taking them is equipment to do science with, as the science capabilities of the space station continue to expand and develop. We have a few little personal items for them. We're trying to think of things that would make their lives a little bit better and uplift their spirits. When we arrive, things like oranges that smell very good. And I'm sure we'll have some little things that they've asked for as well-personal items.

The day after docking, the shuttle's robot arm is used to install another robot arm on the space station. And the first space walk of the flight also begins. Talk me through the steps of what happens during that day and also let me know what you'll be doing.

Well, flight day 4, the day after docking, is a very, very crucial one. And it's the biggest, most complex day for me personally. On that day two major events have to happen. One is the installation of the space station arm, on its pallet…we have to install it on the Laboratory of the space station. The second thing is the EVA - EVA-1 - in which Scott and Chris will apply electrical power to that arm. The space station arm is housed on a pallet in the shuttle cargo bay. And shortly after we wake on that morning, I will activate the space shuttle robotic arm and grapple the pallet on which the station arm rests. I'll bring that pallet out of the bay and in a fairly complex maneuver bring it around the U.S. Laboratory to a position overhead the cockpit of the shuttle. And then with the help of Umberto, I will then install it on a device on the U.S. Laboratory-the International Space Station U.S. Lab- in a position that it can be activated later on in the EVA. Once that's complete, I will then support the EVA during its entirety using the arm to actually move Chris Hadfield around the space station to different positions for the tasks that he must do.

Operating this arm is not something we normally think of a Pilot doing. What do you think about this task? What are your feelings about it?

Being assigned as a robotics operator for this flight was a huge, huge task for me. I had no prior experience on the robotic arm. But it's been wonderful. It's a very difficult thing to master. But it's been a real challenge for me. And it's very rewarding to be able to have such an important task to accomplish. Later on, on future missions, I'll be much more prepared to operate as a mission Commander because of my experience with the robotic arm.

Now, this station arm. Is it going to be fully functional at the end of that first space walk?

No, it will not be. At the end of the first space walk, the space station arm is activated and has power. And it is able to move. But, only so far as to move itself off of the pallet and reach out and grapple the U.S. Laboratory. It takes a second space walk to complete the functionality for that system.

And, once it's fully functional, what's that arm going to be capable of doing?

Well, the space station arm is crucial to the remaining assembly process of the space station because it can reach all the areas on the growing space station that the shuttle arm cannot. And, beginning with the flight after ours, with airlock installation, it is a required piece of hardware to complete the tasking for that future assembly.

The crew will also be installing a UHF antenna on the International Space Station. What's this new communications capability going to do for the station's residents?

Well, the UHF antenna will be installed on EVA-1. And it's done with a combination of the shuttle arm and the EVA crewmembers. Once installed, that UHF antenna will give us two things. It will give us the capability to communicate between the shuttle and the space station as we approach for rendezvous and docking and as we separate. And, secondly, it will give us the capability to communicate with the EVA crewmembers from the International Space Station.

Now, the next day after the first space walk, the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module is lifted up out of the cargo bay and attached to the space station. What exactly is this MPLM and what are you bringing up on this flight?

Well, this Logistics Module is an Italian-built module. It's one of three. This is the second of three. And it is really the cargo carrier for the future operations for the International Space Station. This Logistics Module is housed in the payload bay. It's pressurized. We lift it out and install it on the space station. And once the vestibule area between is pressurized, the International Space Station crew is able to access that module like a great storage closet, and remove all of the science racks and science equipment that they need and supplies to continue to operate. And then they can turn around and take the equipment that they have on board the space station that's destined to go back to Earth and reload it in this module so that we can then place the module back in the cargo bay and return it with us.

What's the process of installing this Logistics Module? How does that happen?

The Logistics Module is installed with the shuttle robotic arm. And it's a process where we have to bring it very carefully out of the payload bay and lift it up and install it on a mechanical mechanism that attaches it very tightly to a Node of the International Space Station.

How are you involved in making that happen?

I am simply operating in a support role for the MPLM install, and I will be a backup robotics operator if needed to assist with that movement.

Now, the next day Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski go back outside for another space walk. What happens while they're outside? What kind of work are they going to be doing?

The second space walk for STS-100 will have the two EVA crewmembers remove the temporary power from the space station arm and apply permanent power through the grapple fixture on the Lab. This will bring full functionality to the space station arm. Once they're complete with that, we have some other cleanup tasks to do installing panels. There is a large spare electrical component in Endeavour's payload bay that will be lifted out using a combination of the EV crewmember and the shuttle's robotic arm. We will lift that piece up and place it on a carrier on the Laboratory where it will exist for future use in maintenance and repair.

The day after the second space walk is complete, some more work goes on with that station robot arm. What's happening that day? What kind of work is occurring?

After the second space walk is complete and the space station arm is functional, that arm will then release the pallet that it was installed on when it came up. And, it will bring that pallet back around the Laboratory and stop in a hover position overhead the payload bay. A position from which Chris Hadfield can reach up with the shuttle robotic arm and receive it for later berthing in the payload bay.

Your crew timeline also has a tentative third space walk. What would happen on that third tentative walk if it did actually happen?

The third walk is reserved right now for contingencies. And also things that might happen between now and the flight. Things that, tasks that might come up as a result of failures or as a result of possibly incomplete work from other shuttle missions. And so we've reserved a block of time to execute any contingencies that we might have to execute at that time - completion of our tasks or any tasks that had not [been] completed up to that point.

What happens with that day if you don't need a third space walk?

That day - should we not perform a third space walk - that day will be absorbed in assisting with the transfer of several thousand pounds of equipment from both the space shuttle to space station and the Logistics Module to space station. We have a complement of four scientific payloads in the shuttle middeck that require power, continuous power or near-continuous. And, those payloads must be very carefully detached from the shuttle and with a very short time span very carefully maneuvered in and placed in the space station and connected with power. So, that will be a prime task to occur during the transfer operations.

The day before you undock from the space station, the Logistics Module has to be returned to the shuttle's payload bay. How does that happen and what other work needs to occur before you do undock from the International Space Station?

Scott will be the shuttle arm operator for return of the MPLM to the shuttle payload bay. It's very much the reverse of the installation process. And it's a very tight work. Very tricky bringing it very accurately down into the payload bay because the clearances are so tight. Once that's installed in the payload bay and properly grappled down, we have some cleanup things to do before undocking. Among them is preparing, of course, the docking system for separation and depressurizing and whatnot. But all those tasks will be completed prior to pushing the button to undock.

Once those systems are prepared, you've said goodbye to the Expedition Two crew, and you will be undocking. Tell me about that process. How does that happen and what will you be doing as the Pilot?

Well, this is one of the more interesting tasks that I have to do. And, the more challenging as Pilot. I will be manually flying the undock, separation and the maneuver around the International Space Station after undock. As the shuttle separates from the International Space Station, I will manually fly directly out from the docking port to a distance of about 400 feet. And then I will fly an arc around the space station to a point where we are looking directly down upon the top of the space station at a distance of about 400 feet. At that point we intend to execute a maneuver which places the nose of the shuttle to the Earth. And, as we drift around behind the space station, we are hoping to catch a moment where we can take a short IMAX scene of the space station as it passes through the horizon of the Earth. It's a spectacular view. And we're very anxious to try and capture this for all of our support team on the ground.

This is your second space mission. And you've had an international crew on each of them so far - lots of folks from lots of different countries. Tell me about that experience and give me your thoughts about space exploration as it becomes more and more of an international venture.

One of the great joys of working in the Astronaut Office these days and working on the International Space Station is our opportunity to work with people from all over the planet. Sixteen different countries. We work daily with people from all over the world. And we learn a lot from them. The diversity that they bring to the astronaut corps is invaluable. And, it's also a very interesting cultural experience for us. So their participation is very much valued. And they operate very much as we do. Just as equal crewmembers on these flights.