>> Humphries: Today we have here with us a special guest here
in Mission Control, and this is Alicia Simpson
who is an Expedition 34/35 Training Integrator.
Welcome to the console, Alicia.
>> Simpson: Thank you.
Thank you.
Pleasure to be here.
>> Humphries: Really nice to have you here.
>> Simpson: Thank you.
>> Humphries: And we're very interested
in what an integrator for training does.
>> Simpson: Well, the increment integrator is the one
that we take all of the pieces of the puzzle
and we put it together.
The crew is assigned, and we have to send them
to different parts of the world to train, and so my job is
to make sure that I have allocated enough time for them
to train in Russia, in the U.S., in Japan, Canada, ISA,
and so that's the integrating part of my job.
>> Humphries: And that takes place over how long of a period?
>> Simpson: It's two and a half years as a training flow.
So I actually get started prior to the two
and a half years building the training plan,
working with the international partners,
making sure that we've allotted enough time in each country
to get the crew trained and ready to go.
>> Humphries: Okay, well the travel part
of that must be a lot of fun to get that all planned out.
>> Simpson: Yes.
Yes.
>> Humphries: So what did you do to prepare this crew
for their upcoming launch?
>> Simpson: I coordinated a lot of international,
with the partners with regards
to how long are you going to be in Russia?
What do you need them to do?
What do they need to know as far as Japan is concerned
and Jack's experiments and things like that?
So I was able to do that, negotiate the time
because you have to go back and forth negotiating because some
of these launches don't move if you don't finish the training.
So you have to make sure that you have enough time
to get training in, and so that's what I did for this crew.
>> Humphries: Okay.
Well, are you excited about the upcoming mission?
>> Simpson: I am very excited because I have worked
with these gentlemen for almost 3 years.
We've gone through a lot of things of trying
to make sure everything is ready.
They're comfortable.
They're very excited, and so I am very, very excited.
>> Humphries: And were they good students?
>> Simpson: They were very good students.
>> Humphries: Okay.
Good.
>> Simpson: Cream of the crop.
>> Humphries: [Laughter]
And what's the most challenging part of your job?
>> Simpson: It is making sure that the crew is comfortable
and you've given them all that you think that they need.
You know, you want...
you get the requirements from the program, and you say,
"These are the things you need to train to do,"
but you also want to make sure that they're comfortable,
and that if they feel, you know, "Hey,
I think I need a little brush up on this,"
or "I'd like to see this one more time," to make sure
that you've allotted for time in the schedule
so that they can get those warm fuzzies and just make sure
that they're comfortable and ready to go as well.
>> Humphries: I imagine that you're really happy
when they call down during the mission and say,
"This is just like the training."
>> Simpson: Yes.
>> Humphries: Okay.
>> Simpson: Yes.
Yes. Very happy
>> Humphries: What's the favorite part of your job?
>> Simpson: Watching them on the launch pad
because that means that they're done.
They have gone through the training.
They are very comfortable.
They are always very excited.
They are always smiling, and so that makes me feel like,
"Yes I have done everything that I was supposed to do
to make sure that they are in their happy place
and they're on the launch pad."
Love it.
>> Humphries: Great.
Well tell me what...
you work for a different company.
You don't directly work for NASA.
Who do you work for?
>> Simpson: I work for the United Space Alliance
as a contractor, and I've been
with the company since March of '99.
So I'm coming up on 14 years.
>> Humphries: Wow.
Congratulations on that.
>> Simpson: Thank you.
>> Humphries: And how long...
So you've been working there 14 years.
Is that your first experience with working with NASA?
>> Simpson: Yes.
Yes, and I've worked, you know,
this is not my first job with NASA.
So I've worked shuttle flights as well as station flights.
So it's very exciting.
>> Humphries: Well, and tell me what got you
into the space business.
Where are you from?
Where did you go to school?
>> Simpson: [Laughter] That's a really funny story
because I went to school at the University of Minnesota,
and my degree is actually in criminology.
So it's...
Yeah, I know.
It's not something I hope to ever use here, but it does help
with negotiating skills and tactics and being able
to put the puzzle together
because that's what criminologists do.
You know, you're always trying to figure
out how this happened, and so it was...
it actually was very good training to be able
to be an integrator and put the pieces together.
>> Humphries: Wow.
That's something I wouldn't have expected,
and so obviously you've learned how to apply that,
and being in Minnesota,
you probably know a little bit what the crew's going
through out there in those record cold temperatures today.
>> Simpson: Oh, yeah.
I know exactly what it's like being out there in the cold,
and frankly I don't miss it, and...
but, as I said, for them, like I said, they're so happy,
they're so excited that they probably don't even feel
the cold.
That's how I would be when I was at a football game.
I just tuned it out because I was so excited to be there, but,
yes, it is very, very cold.
I can only imagine.
I think it's maybe minus 30 in [inaudible] sun right now.
So I remember those days well.
>> Humphries: Right.
All right.
Well, is there anything else that we haven't talked
about that we ought to, Alicia?
>> Simpson: No, just, you know, what we do is so unique,
and I just really want everyone to know that this experience is
so humbling when you're watching them in space
and they're doing things that are going to help all of us,
and it is just such a wonderful, vibrant place to work
that I could not have dreamed being anywhere else.
I love it.
>> Humphries: Well, thank you so much for being with us today,
Alicia Simpson, Training Integrator for Expedition 34/35,
and we're all pulling for your crew
to have a smooth launch and docking and...
>> Simpson: Thank you.
>> Humphries: Looking forward to all those activities as they...
and those smiles on their faces when we see them on Wednesday.
>> Simpson: They'll be big.
>> Humphries: Thanks a bunch.
>> Simpson: Uh-uh.
Thank you.