Orientation

I work in the Auxiliary Power Units (APU) group and we handle processing for the APUs for the three orbiters, and the HPUs (Hydraulic Power Units) which are on each of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) as well as maintaining the Ground Service Equipment (GSE).

To kick this off I started my co-op 27 Aug 2007. I met with the other co-ops and new hires at the off-site facility in Cape Canaveral before we started the processing to begin work and to get my company identification badge. The very first thing to be taken care of was ELSA (Emergency Life Support Apparatus) Training. This is a annual procedure and in my opinion, when the first thing you do on the very first day is emergency breathing apparatus training, you know you are in for something big. Next, we moved on to filling out the paperwork and setting up employee profiles and began the preliminary training on the computer systems and some general rules. From there we broke up and moved out to the work site(s). Not before picking up yet another ID badge, this one for Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS).

I had specific direction to follow as there were only a couple gates open for entrance to Kennedy Space Center because of the strike that was going on. At this point I am driving north on State Road 3 toward the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) which is one of the largest buildings in the world (525 feet tall, 716 feet long, 518 feet wide, covers 8 acres, and encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet) and this thing seems to get infinitely bigger and bigger as I get closer and closer.



I had (and still have) trouble believing that any of this is happening. I have gotten passed the security gate (which was something I've wanted to do since my first trip to the Space Center when I was really young. I am staring at the infamous 209 x 110 foot American Flag along the side and what is known as the NASA 'Meatball' and I'm just in complete awe.

I make it to the security gate on site (which is just outside the VAB, by the way) to get my access badges and move on to the training building. At the training building I met up with the coordinator and because I was the only co-op for the department, I was the only one in this building to watch what could have been the most boring videos I have ever seen. Everything from Flight Hardware handling to the emergency procedures from almost EVERY FREAKIN BUILDING ON SITE. Sweet God, I do not think there was a point in my life where time was down to a crawl and I wanted to rip my hair out....I did this for the next day and a half....

By Wednesday the 29th I was deemed ready to move on to the office. My manager came to collect me and walk me over. The office I work in was at first sight, the epiiome of the corporate office world. I could't help but think of Office Space and the Terry Tate: Office Linebacker commercials



But it was pretty much anything but. The environment is really casual and the people I work with are cool and really down to Earth. They were all very welcoming and I felt at home. It probably helps that two of the people I work with also went to my school.

All-in-all, not a bad experience. So far I have been there a little over a month and there isn't a day that goes by where I dread going to work.