NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Anyone who has worked at Johnson Space Center in Houston for a day -- an hour, even -- knows that the place has its own language. Acronyms are tossed around endlessly in meetings and hallways; the alphabet soup is so thick that a JSC Web site contains an "Acronym Central" feature to look up unknown terms.

But even those fluent in NASA-ese might have trouble deciphering a crew training schedule.

Image to left: STS-114 astronauts Soichi Noguchi (left) and Stephen K. Robinson prepare for training at Johnson Space Center's Space Vehicle Mockup Facility. Credit: NASA

Wednesday of last week, for instance, had the STS-114 Return to Flight crew scheduled for "DST2 MSS/EVA2 SUPT5 SOLO," "DSO 206" and "VR LAB SAFER PRF" -- all at the same time.

There is a method to the madness. This particular dialect of the NASA language is spoken and lived by the crews and their training managers and teams.

"It’s not a science; it’s definitely an art," said Frank Beck of United Space Alliance (USA), Manager of Training Operations and Planning.

The art of putting together a training schedule involves striking the right balance of facility availability, task prioritization and team coordination. Beck said that the process usually begins with booking time in the major training facilities, such as the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL). This is because several crews are often training at once, and each crew needs time in these facilities.

The next items to be penciled in are often the integrated simulations -- those that involve not only the crew, but the simulation instructors, Mission Control and other teams.

"The integrated sims take tremendous resources in both people and facilities, so it is important to get those scheduled early," Beck said. Other training items, like mockups, standalone training and classroom instruction, then "fall into place," he said.

"There is a long-range plan and then a detailed hour-by-hour training plan for each crew's training flow -- from every sim and lesson to medical appointments," said Pete Beauregard, Spaceflight Training Division Chief.

Image to left: The STS-114 crewmembers walk to the nearby flight line of the T-38 trainer jets at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center (JSC). Credit: NASA

A typical training week contains a wide variety of activities such as mockup training in Building 9, simulations, T-38 flights, medical evaluations and media interviews. The training schedules are constantly updated to reflect the latest task priorities.

There is a lot to learn in the year that most Space Shuttle crews train together. But in the midst of hectic mission preparation, it is important that crewmembers retain their personal lives and keep their stress levels down.

"They’re astronauts, but they're people too," Beck said. "It might be their day to go pick up the kids, and we take that into account. We juggle and prioritize to keep them sane."

Beauregard said that training managers monitor crews' workload on a weekly basis and readjust if things are getting too chaotic.

"We want to make sure that we never launch a tired crew," Beauregard said.

"We want to ensure the utmost safety of the crew," Beck said in agreement. "We’re all doing what it takes to make sure we're safe and successful."

The delicate balancing act of spaceflight training and scheduling pays off when a mission launches and the crewmembers apply the lessons they learned at JSC, said both Beck and Beauregard.

"Nothing is more satisfying than getting the crew through the training and prepared to go fly," Beauregard said. "That’s what it's all about: making sure we do the job right and that they're safe to go fly."

+ Read more about integrated simulations
+ Read more about the NBL
+ View STS-114 training photos