CHAPTER 2 DAY IN THE LIFE: LIVING AND WORKING IN SPACE AND ON THE GROUND 28 have been pieced, and art has been made on board the ISS. See Figure 8. Figure 8. Examples of free time for the space station crews. Top: Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, plays a guitar in the US Laboratory on December 16, 2011. Bottom: Expedition 45 crew members watch an advance screening of the movie The Martian in the Unity Node 1. Clockwise from left: Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, Flight Engineer Sergei Volkov, Commander Scott Kelly, and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko. The crew schedules conferences every week with various folks on the ground, for work and for personal contact. Private video conferences for each crew member with their family are scheduled every weekend. Each week, every crew member has a one- on-one video conference with his or her flight surgeon who monitors that crew member’s health. Periodically, the ISS Program manager and chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office schedule conferences with each crew member to check in with them directly. Each crew member can also organize a few special conferences with whomever he or she chooses while on board the ISS. Crew members can make phone calls via laptop—i.e., “voice-over internet protocol” (see Chapter 13)— and through that means can contact family, friends, and colleagues any time the ISS has the right kind of communications link to the ground. There is nothing quite like the surprise of that first phone call from space, and it provides a huge morale boost to both the crew and the flight control team to be able to have such a direct line of communication. At the end of each working week, NASA’s lead flight director and the lead Russian shift flight director hold their own conferences with the crew. These are often “working discussions” where the ground teams fill the crew in on any developments regarding upcoming launches, program decisions, or new activities, and can answer questions about any issues being tracked or worked for the increment. It also is a time for the crew and ground to relax and unwind with some good-natured kibitzing. In addition, since the flight directors often act as advocates for the crew with the rest of the ground teams, these conferences are one way for them to stay in sync with each other on issues or concerns. It can also be a good chance for team building. When a complicated maintenance activity is coming up, for example, the flight director might invite the Operations Support Officer or the hardware owner (or both) to come talk to the crew members in case they have questions about the procedures. When crew members from other international partner agencies are on board, those teams will hold a weekly conference with their crew members, as well. Finally, special working conferences will be scheduled to help the crew prepare for some complex operations, such as complicated maintenance procedures, EVAs, or visiting vehicle operations.