Freddy Khan - April 17, 2002: Making contact - Final week in South Africa
My final week in South Africa was spent in intensive contact with IMAX in Cape Town, establishing ways of ensuring that we obtain the IMAX version of ISS at a coincidental time as Mark’s launch or his stay on the ISS. We are also investigating using the IMAX theatre for a live screening of the launch in Baikonur on the 25th April…..watch this space for details. I then began preparations for my return to Houston, were I needed to start discussions with NASA with regard to Mark’s communications requirements.
From Houston to Star City
After a week in Houston, gleaning an understanding of what Mark’s days would entail, and what his requirements would be from a communications perspective, I travelled to Star City. The objective of this trip was to establish a modus operandi with Dale, for daily updates to Mark, as well as the general coordination of all activities related to the stay on the ISS. After some planning work, Dale Mark and myself had established a plan, which included a method for getting Mark’s daily schedule to him for his PDA. Dale and I also performed some basic simulation of what we would do in different situations, under mission conditions. A day was also spent at TsUP, meeting with Alec, who was finalising the daily schedule.
I also met some members of the team in Russia for the first time, and was moved by the strength of the camaraderie I discovered. Dale, Nicolette, Peter, Polina, Zhanna and myself have had some nice experiences in Moscow, as is evidenced by the amazing photos that Peter has placed in the gallery. It was also great to meet Karen and Dr. Barry for the first time.
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