How to Plan a Mission to the International Space Station
NASA
And you thought your team was organized.
Are you a planner? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants?
For the crew members aboard the International Space Station, their days are meticulously planned to the minute at least six months in advance before they're even in orbit.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is in charge of this planning, specifically focusing on the scientific research conducted aboard the ISS.
The planning team puts together an On Orbit Operations Summary, or OOS, of the entire mission and has to collaborate with other space agencies across the world, including ESA and JAXA.
"Everybody has something that has to go into this 6-month plan," said Will Kirby, an ISS planner.
But what if everything doesn't go according to plan?
"That's one of the things we come across is—things break," Kirby said. "There's replanning that goes on."
To learn more, check out the video below from NASA: