CHAPTER 20 DAY IN THE LIFE: WHEN MAJOR ANOMALIES OCCUR 354 Expedition 38 astronaut Rick Mastracchio participates in the second of two spacewalks needed to change out a faulty ammonia pump on the International Space Station exterior. Blockbuster movie themes often tell a story about a major obstacle that must be overcome, with several exciting plot twists and difficulties that make tackling the challenge even more interesting. Experts from many fields come together to solve a problem, with basic needs such as sleeping and eating all but forgotten in their efforts to accomplish a perilous undertaking. When the issue is solved at the end of the movie, the audience breathes a collective sigh of relief, and everyone feels an enormous sense of joy and pride in a job well done. Well, working in Mission Control sometimes feels like that! Along with the added bonus of occasional cheering and clapping. One dramatic human spaceflight example of this occurred when Mission Control saved the lives of the Apollo 13 crew. However, many extraordinary feats in the face of adversity have also occurred throughout the International Space Station (ISS) Program. Imagine sitting in Mission Control, performing normal tasks and looking at data when something unexpected happens. The displays do not look like they usually do. Warning messages in yellow and red splash across the screens, indicating issues with various systems. All the simulations come to mind, except this is not a simulation. This is really happening. The adrenaline kicks in. Time to figure out what happened and what can be done about it. At least one failure of some kind usually happens during each shift in Mission Control—sometimes many failures. Typically, these failures are relatively minor. For instance, a laptop computer might lock up and the team might have to try a few things to get it working again. Other