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 Student Materials
Overview of Teams
Life Support Team
Task Control Team
Special Operations Team
Communications Team

Overview of Teams

The Scenario
The space shuttle Endeavour  is on a mission to rescue a communications satellite. The satellite is called the Intelsat VI. This satellite will send and receive telephone calls, telegrams, and television programming for more than 180 countries, territories, and dependencies when it works.

Unfortunately, the satellite doesn’t work right now. Its orbit is off. There was a malfunction during its launch, so it never reached the correct orbit. The shuttle crew wants to rescue the satellite then relaunch it into a geosynchronous orbit. In that kind of orbit, the satellite travels the same speed as Earth does. That keeps the satellite fixed over the same spot on Earth. When someone on Earth tries to find the satellite, it always appears in the same position.

Astronauts Sonia Perez and Bob Vaughn have tried eight times the last two days to recover the satellite and reposition it. Each time the Intelsat VI began to wobble uncontrollably, and Sonia and Bob could not stabilize it.

The Mission
The crew is now going to try a three-person extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk. This will be the first time three people have taken a spacewalk at the same time.

As your mission begins, Sonia, Bob, and the third astronaut, Ilya Chetirkin, are suiting up for the EVA. While Sonia, Bob, and IIya are at work, NASA needs you and your class to act as life support specialists, task control specialists, special operations experts, and communication officers. You’ll monitor the astronauts’ vital signs and help them solve problems throughout this challenging mission. 

Overview of Teams
To accomplish this important mission, your class will be divided into four teams that work together to solve problems, give recommendations, and monitor the astronauts’ vital health signs:

Life Support Team

  • Monitors and calculates vital signs of astronauts using online Macromedia® Flash® tools, proportions, and cross-multiplication.

  • Reports astronaut vital signs and makes recommendations to the mission commander.

  • Sends respiration rate data to the task control team.

  • Graphs heart rate and respiration rate data and makes predictions about astronaut performance.

Task Control Team

  • Organizes and coordinates astronaut task timeline.

  • Calculates the amount of oxygen needed for the next five minutes of the mission using respiration rate data from the life support team, proportions, and cross-multiplication.

  • Makes predictions about the amount of oxygen that will be used in the next five minutes of the mission.

  • Reports to the mission commander on predictions.

  • Confirms or corrects predictions and graphs the amount of oxygen left in astronaut tanks, using an online tool.

Special Operations Team

  • Uses basic geometry and proportions to solve problems during the EVA.

  • Consults with teammates about solutions.

  • Reports recommendations to the mission commander.

  • Reports to task control team as each problem is completed.

Communications Team

  • Communicates between teams and the mission commander verbally and through the chat window.

  • Organizes communication flow between life support team, task control team, and mission control.

  • Represents the special operations team and communicates directly with the mission commander to deliver recommendations.

The success of this important mission depends on you!
Good luck!

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