posted 09-16-2006 02:35 PM               

Prior to Atlantis' launch, NASA managers referred to the STS-115 mission as the most challenging to date for the shuttle/station program, though they acknowledged that future flights are expected to only increase in complexity.

I therefore asked Cmdr. Brent Jett if their mission thus far was as challenging as expected, if the challenge was in their training or if their extended preparation made it as easy as they made it appear over the past few days. Here is his reply:

quote:

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Well, that's a good question. I think I have said before all the rest of the assembly missions will be very challenging. I think what's unique about all of them is that its not just the crews on-orbit that make these missions happen.

The mission control teams have played a huge role in what happened. If you've been watching the last few days, you've seen many of the issues that have arisen and the teams on the ground have sorted out problems very efficiently [and] they have executed numerous pages of procedures.

So, I think the additional training time has helped. We are very familiar with the team on the ground. I think they are very familiar and comfortable with us. I think that has helped us a lot.

And as Joe [Tanner] mentioned, we have similar payloads flying in the future, so we're off to a good start on assembly and I think we can pass along a lot of the lesson to future crews.

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posted 09-17-2006 09:59 AM               

I heard the question while watching NASA TV live. I thought it was a very good question. It asked the question and praised the crew at the same time for the great job they did.