Nerdy April

Wow.

This weekend was...historical. ISS has received her first crew Dragon (with crew of 1 anthropomorphic test device, ie "dummy" and 1 "lil Earth" plush). As many of you know, I'm quite the hopeless nostalgic type - especially when it comes to rockets and launchpads and gahhhh, feelings!



As I walked out of the special ISS Mission Management Team meeting Saturday evening, I couldn't help but look upon my work at NASA with fresh eyes. All my life I have dreamed of a job working with rockets and astronauts and peace - advancing human exploration with science and striving for peace through international teamwork. I can't say all of my jobs fulfilled these yearnings - a couple were quite the opposite. Which makes me even more thankful to get to work in this medium, with amazing humans, technologically rich equipment and common goals.

I took a mental picture of these moments, of these decisions, of my surroundings, of these feelings. I tried to soak in the g…

It's a dreary day here in Houston. And somehow the dreariness has spread and infected my sweet little Zara with a virus - this morning she had a fever and just wasn't her normal, extremely perky self. Chris graciously offered to stay home with her since this is a busy week at NASA for me. 
Around 10:30 Chris called and gave me the update post-doctor visit - just a virus, no pink eye, get rest, etc. (thank goodness!). And then he said, "we're on our way to come get you - Zara has been talking non stop about 'seeing a rocket' since you left this morning." 
"What?!" I said, a little surprised - apparently Zara's inner rocket scientist comes out when she's sick. "Ok, let me know when you're close," I replied. 
My next meeting started at 11:30, so I had just a few minutes to jump in the car and head down the road to "Rocket Park". Maybe she knew I needed this tiny mental break, and that hearing her squeaky three year o…

Hi world!

I'm peeking my head above the waves today - its been a busy couple weeks at work. Which means I only get a couple precious hours at home with those adorbs babeez of mine, which also means this blog gets 0% of said, limited time.

But I'm here - at least for the next 10 minutes as I type out a few words on life lately.

I'm over halfway done with my stint as ADCO Increment 58 Lead - only about 3 weeks left if the next Soyuz launches as planned. Honestly, even though it's busy, the experience is second to none. I have been able to spread my wings and learn more about the International Space Station as a whole system instead of just the bits and pieces that relate to the attitude control portion. My eyes have been opened to the jobs that sound simple on the surface but start to get really complicated when you dive into the nuts and bolts. For instance, scheduling the astronaut's days is an immense task, coordinating the stowage location of spare equipment for …

If you're new here,  or just new to space exploration,  take a quick seat. 
This time of year is tough in the crewed spaceflight industry.  We are faced with the anniversaries of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.  Reminders that exploration is perilous. 


Hoof. Sometimes things get heavy over here. And they should.  Because this is heavy stuff.  It's important stuff. 
The exploration we continue to do on Earth, in space, on Mars, beyond the solar system...all of it...it's what we are made to do. The 'essence' of being human. 
They knew it. We know it.  The next generation will learn it. Take it to heart. Wrestle with it. Pass it on.
Don't let it perish. Ever.

Dawn. It's the 39th day of Increment 58.

This morning I had an early morning meeting and was scrambling to get the kids' stuff ready before I had to run out the door. As Chris came out to the kitchen he grabbed little Zara and walked out the back door. Of course I was curious.

When I got to the door I realized he was showing her the pretty pinks and oranges of the morning sunrise painting the clouds. He handed her off to me and scurried in to get the baby ready. In the meantime Zara was excitedly pointing at the clouds and exclaimed the most simple and beautiful phrase that made my heart melt, "Mom!! The clouds are so beautiful! You match them!"

Oh my gosh. These are the moments people. 
It's Monday. It's Mission Control Monday! In true Mission Control style I thought I would give you my current (personal) Go/No-Go list, in no particular order:

GO: Cloudy days with mild temperatures and a playground within walking distance.

No-Go: Baby drool is gettin' f…

Last night was chilly. I put an extra blanket on the bed and snuggled in next to Chris, Wiener von Braun was nestled behind my knees. Don't worry - we keep the temperature warm upstairs for the babies ;-)

It was one of those nights that I prayed the baby would sleep all night and my blood sugar wouldn't go low. One of those prayers was answered - the baby slept all night.

I turned over in a sleepy stupor to check on the vibrations coming from my insulin pump - ugh, low blood sugar. But wait!! The insulin delivery had already been suspended thanks to that trusty built-in-pump-elf, Basal IQ. He had saved me from a frigid run across the house, a frantic frig search, and a hurried ingestion of way-too-many carbs to recover from this low (because "dangit, the more carbs I eat the better I will feel sooner, right?!"...low blood sugar brain).

I snuggled back under the covers with confidence in the Basal IQ system - first, that it would continue to suspend insulin delivery u…