x mission proceeding along. This perspective provides little insight into what a controller or the flight director actually does while “on console.” Only when the movie Apollo 13—a film starring Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell, and one that NASA shows its newest team members as part of their training— was fresh in people’s minds could NASA point to something and say to the general public, “See, that is what we do.” For the control room to appear so serene, a great deal of work (some of it admittedly boring) has preceded those efforts. The flight director is always there and takes the operational lead—from training each controller to training the crew, while overseeing the implementation of the plan, developing procedures, writing rules to guide the mission as directed by the ISS Program, and coordinating with the Engineering team. This includes the training team itself i.e., the clever, if not diabolical, people who try to find the potholes in the mission and, more importantly, come up with failure scenarios that, even if not probable, get the team thinking about how to deal with the unexpected. In fact, this sort of training had prepared the team to think about using the lunar module as a lifeboat during the Apollo 13 mission. This book will discuss how the flight directors and their teams make it all happen. With a foundation built during Project Mercury, the focus will be on the ISS and the unique challenges that the project has presented over its many years. Various aspects of operations— This emblem was originally developed during the Apollo program to recognize the mission control team’s unique contribution to manned space flight since the Mercury program. The sigma (S) represents the total mission team, including flight controllers, instructors, flight design, mission planning and production specialists, facility development and support teams. The launch vector and plume represent the dynamic elements of space, the initial escape from our environment, and the thrust to explore the universe. The orbiting star symbolizes a permanent human presence in space, conducting research, developing materials and leading the expanding utilization of the space environment. A single star is positioned over Houston, the home of the United States human spaceflight operations. At the top of the emblem, the Moon and Mars represent NASA’s mission to lead the nation’s permanent journey out of low Earth orbit. The Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Shuttle and ISS programs are represented in the legacy ring on the bottom border, commemorating programs for which we have operated in space. On the upper border is the wording “Res Gesta Per Excellentiam” — “Achieve through Excellence” — which is the standard for our work. It represents an individual’s commitment to a belief, to craftsmanship, and to perseverance, qualities required to continue the exploration of space and the quest for the stars. The white stars in the background represent the four original principles of the Mission Operations team: discipline, morale, toughness, and competence. The comet represents those individuals who have given their lives for space exploration, while the seventeen blue stars represent our fallen astronauts, to whom the flight controllers dedicate their commitment to excellence. These symbols serve as a reminder of the real human cost and risks inherent to space flight and the ultimate responsibility the Mission Operations team bears in facing those risks. Figure 1. The current Flight Operations Directorate emblem with an explanation as to its meaning.