A visitor reports – Part II

Editor’s note: Ronja Pawellek is a recent high school graduate from Darmstadt, Germany. In November this year, she had the opportunity to spend two weeks as an intern at ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle Control Centre (ATV-CC) in Toulouse. The second part of her serialised report appears below; the first part, “ATV Control Centre team – a visitor reports,” was published earlier.

The simulated ATV is launched ...

A few days later, I entered Kris’ office. Following the routine that had installed itself, I took off my jacket, placed my laptop on the little table and opened my notebook – the familiar smell of aftershave and the running water boiler told me that Kris was back from the Netherlands where he had accepted one of ESA’s new ‘ISS Awards’ for his work on the ATV mission operations team.

The team was invited to a little reunion to celebrate the receiving of the Award and there it was once again that I recognized the casual atmosphere.

... and now it is essential to watch it. The team works in shifts to make sure that they never loose sight of it.

The team, through Kris, had just received an award for the incredible work they have done and yet there was no bombast; they were just men and women, enthusiastic about their project, who know their talents, but who also know to respect task sharing. They were proud, for sure and with good reason, but never arrogant.

Having walked the corridors of ATV-CC for a few days now, I was becoming more established. Colleagues insisted that I be on first-name terms with them, they stopped by the office just to ask how I was doing, and – I, for my part – had learnt their names and their functions.

Despite the shortness of my stay and my lack of technical knowledge, the team made an effort to ensure that my internship would be as interesting as possible.

This requires high concentration...

Kris took time to sit down with me and – with the aid of Power Point presentations – explained ATV and its mission. He made it possible for me to see the control rooms, attend international meetings, meet the simulation team and witness a simulated launch.

Everyone took time to explain their roles and activities, and they were incredibly caring. At least I do not suppose it is usual for a trainee to be walked home the first evening so she will not get lost or driven home after a casual evening with the crew out in the city?

... which doesn't mean you are not allowed to enjoy the team work!

And when I attended simulations in the Main Control Room, they always made sure I had headphones so I could follow the voice loop and would not miss out on anything. When simulation week was approaching, I was even briefed, in strict confidence, on the planned failures that were going to be injected into the scenario – and which I did not reveal to anyone (after a little chaos, the teams handled all the failures just fine).

It was slightly weird. On one hand, I felt like a part of the team; on the other, I didn’t. I remained aware of the differing level of knowledge – the years and years of hard work, the achievements and experience – between myself, a young observer, and the ATV engineers.

I decided it was, in fact, impossible to feel ‘like’ one of them – perhaps one day in the future?

Sarkozy speaking at CNES.

One particular highlight took place on 22 November, while I was observing the team in the Main Control Room. French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy entered the room, followed by a whole army of politicians, journalists and others.

This event starkly underscored the two opposites that I felt. There ‘we’ were with the high-profile visitors; yet I somehow didn’t feel like a visitor, but neither did I feel like an engineer on the team.

Of course, everybody in the room kept doing their work – in fact, it was amazing how unaffected the team was. No noise whatsoever distracted them; no matter how many people were staring at them at one moment, they just kept working on their mission. Again, I was impressed by their dedication.

I think to be able to work in such an environment, you have to be dedicated like that. Just after the visit, I talked about this experience with one of my new colleagues: It is true, he confirmed, that there is no pressure to perform from above. The fact is, the pressure to excel comes from within – and from the mission. As an engineer, you want to give your best. You don’t want to be responsible for an ATV crashing into the ISS due to some calculation failure, do you?