Orion Aims for Early Test Fight with SpSt Alum on Testing Crew

Deborah Dooley, Space Studies alum (2009) is one of the lucky people who will be temporarily transferred to Florida next year (2013) for the first unmanned test flight of the ORION multi-purpose crew vehicle.  Dooley will be working assembly, test, and launch operations, affectionately known as “ATLO”.   She considers this an opportunity of a life time – to work on the actual spacecraft, and the actual launch vehicle, at the actual PAD, that will launch into space.

Dooley is a delegate of the Spacecraft Certified Principle Engineers, which means she will have sign-off authority for certain aspects of vehicle assembly and test.  Dooley states “Sign-off authority means that I will sign my name to a form certifying that parts of the spaceship are built correctly, and function correctly, and are ready for flight.  This is an awesome responsibility, and one I do not take lightly, because it is probably the singularly most important thing that I will ever do in my life!”

Dooley is expecting to work in electrical integration, ensuring that the vehicle is wired up properly, and that when the button is pressed for the Reaction Control System Pitch Up Thruster, that the Reaction Control System Pitch Up Thruster actually does what it’s supposed to, versus something  unintended happening, such as blowing a pyrotechnic device and inadvertently jettisoning a panel.  This involves electrical, electro-mechanical, mechanisms, explosives, communications, and software integration, plus a multitude of other things like timing, data handling, and telemetry.

Read all about it here.