We're a very tight knit crew, more so than the Air Force in that
the Air Force is bigger and we change crews a lot, which can be hard.
You know, you train with one weapons system operator,
you get very in tune with and suddenly you flip someone else.
It's not quite the same as here with such a small team
that we're all very in tune with each other.
We have two pilots and three launch engineers.
The launch engineers sit up in the back monitors.
They're essentially like a mini mission control.
The program is developed at Cosmic Girl can operate autonomously
that if we are cut off from mission control,
we've got everything we need to conduct the mission.
And that's everything from the launch engineers have all the information
that they committed decision to vent the rocket, to stop the mission or
pressurize stuff more.
And that authority lies with the pilot in command.
We're ultimately getting the rocket to the right place, the right time
to manage the mission.
Behind that, though, in a nominal mission, we're connected through essentially
wi fi to mission control.
And so for every parameter of the rocket, there is someone there
monitoring it; thermal, structural, launch director, launch conductor,
chief engineers.
So it's funny, sometimes, you know, your very test
mindset like in the Air Force where you might be the one guy in the cockpit,
there is a team of guys on the ground that are monitoring the data.
The challenges come when the mission control might be having discussions
on things and fixes or solutions, but we're in our own bubble up there.
And then for them to communicate what it was,
what it is they want from us can be quite difficult at times,
or it can be very easy to forget that we haven't been in the full conversation.
For me as a pilot, it's really important that the aeroplane maintains the ability
and we have confidence in each other that without mission control
we can do this safely. That's a big thing for me.
And even when they're making decisions on the ground,
you know, we in the cockpit saying, what's our decision?
What are we thinking
now? It's very unlikely mission control
would say something that contradicts what we want. But we're on the aeroplane.
We've got to make decisions.
That's very similar to the Air Force.
It's having those conversations that if they say something different,
that was different to us.
Why is it you're saying that? Okay, got it. Okay.
We'll go down that route. But a lot of communication.