Photo By Jason Cutshaw | Maj. Derrick V. Gough, left, a Functional Area 40 space operations officer at the Army...... read more read more
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HOUSTON – A U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command space operations officer leads support for astronaut missions.
Maj. Derrick V. Gough, a Functional Area 40 space operations officer at the Army NASA detachment in Houston supporting Army astronauts, recently served as Vehicle Integration Test Office’s mission lead for Crew-8 as well as supporting other manned space missions.
“The mission lead also becomes the ‘Ramp Boss’ for the recovery team, or the person in charge of all airport operations and the coordination that occurs to transfer the crew from SpaceX’s recovery boat to the airport,” Gough said. “The mission lead is the prime Flight Operations Directorate integrator responsible for the recovery of the crew and manages the operations at the airport to retrieve the crew, conducts medical checks, coordinates initial scientific experiments, and returns the crew to Johnson Space Center.”
Gough said the mission lead ensures astronauts on a specific mission are ready for launch and takes the cognitive load off the flight crew so they can focus on their mission. The lead also ensures the FOD is always prepared to execute the safe return of the flight crew, should an emergency deorbit be necessary.
He added that other offices within NASA have important roles to prepare the crew for their mission, and the mission lead assists these efforts by integrating their competing requirements with the crew’s limited time.
“Essentially, the mission lead performs nearly every staff function for the crew, so they can focus on the tasks only astronauts can do, while the mission lead helps ensure everything else happens,” Gough said.
When the flight crew is training, the mission lead acts as their advocate and safety engineer with the commercial partner.
“The coordination and integration of operations with NASA, commercial partners, international partners, Department of Defense rescue forces and other stakeholders increases until the mission lead is the flight crew’s primary coordinator and the mission lead, with the VITO chief, a current astronaut, is fully in charge of the flight crew’s activities for the three-plus weeks leading up to launch,” Gough said. “During the crew’s time in space, the mission lead is the deputy, or executive officer, for the emergency crew recovery team, and leads the team’s planning and logistics to respond globally to an emergency de-orbit.”
He said the VITO chief and deputy chief assign the mission lead approximately one year prior to the crew’s launch date, adding they serve as mission lead from that point and through launch, the crew’s time in space, and recovery.
“The FA40s are generally only assigned to the U.S. Army’s NASA Detachment long enough for one opportunity,” Gough said. “I spent close to 20 months as the mission lead for Crew 8. While I performed other roles within the organization, the VITO purposefully rotates personnel so that a single mission lead does not need to cover multiple crews at once.”
Gough said VITO supports every human spaceflight mission, so there are always multiple missions in the queue. He said that currently, there is a separate VITO mission lead for the Artemis II, Boeing and SpaceX 10 and 11 crews.
“The VITO traces its roots back to the Gemini program, where Astronaut Office engineers represented the Astronaut Office in space vehicle testing, championed Astronaut Office equities, certified the resolution of flight crew issues, and ensured the safe and effective human-to-machine system interfaces,” Gough said.
Gough said in addition to Commercial Crew Program and International Space Station program support, the VITO supports all Moon-to-Mars programs and the Extravehicular Vehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program.
He said as NASA and its commercial and international partners progress through technology development, VITO serves as a key test integrator, bringing both astronaut perspective and lessons learned from testing across decades of different NASA programs, collaborating with stakeholders across all NASA and international space agency centers, and bringing operationally relevant, system-level concerns or considerations back to the Astronaut Office.
“I do not have the words to properly describe how exciting or amazing it is,” Gough said. “Don’t get me wrong, it is a lot of work to be a mission lead, but the mission makes everyone involved incredibly positive, aspirational and focused on success, and the mood is highly infectious. This has been one of the most rewarding roles to be a part of, and I never thought I could directly enable a human spaceflight mission.”
Gough thanked his immediate FA40 predecessors: retired Lt. Col. John Vos, Lt. Col. William Koch, Lt. Col. Karoline Hood and Lt. Col. Nicholas Holtz for creating this opportunity for the Army NASA Detachment to have such a direct and impactful role supporting human spaceflight.
“I cannot say enough great things about working within FOD and VITO,” Gough said. “The breadth of support that VITO provides to human spaceflight is truly impressive and the impact that VITO has on the safe execution of human spaceflight is immense. None of this would be possible without the amazing group of people in VITO who have been performing this incredible work for decades.”
Brig. Gen. John L. Dawber, USASMDC deputy commanding general for operations, talked about the role Gough and Army FA40s play in support of the command’s NASA Detachment.
“Maj. Gough’s support to NASA’s human spaceflight highlights the skill and versatility of our FA40s,” Dawber said. “He stands as the latest non-astronaut example of the Army’s support to NASA. Kudos to the Army Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence for recruiting and training officers of Maj. Gough’s caliber into the FA40 career field. Our space operations officers truly are a special breed.”
| Date Taken: | 12.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.16.2024 12:13 |
| Story ID: | 487495 |
| Location: | HOUSTON, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 110 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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