Happy Dorkus

So even though I look like a total dorkus when I'm working Station console, I don't think there's anything else (within reason at this time) that could make me happier, job-wise.

Between the glasses and the headset, I really am a dork.

But I'm OK with being a dork. I was the kid in high school who enjoyed math and science. I have a degree in Physics. Those definitely qualify me as a dork.

But I'm a happy dork. An ecstatic dork. A blessed dork.

The following are pictures I've taken either yesterday or today while working on console.

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano holding a live public affairs

event from the International Space Station. During this event, he

answered questions from the ground, from scientists and those tuned in,

in Germany, Italy, France, and Israel.

I took this on my way in to the console building, which is called the HOSC

(Huntsville Operations Support Center). 

Different views of the Earth from external Station cameras.

These are from today:

Today astronaut Mike Hopkins is testing a space suit for leaks, so there aren't

anymore situations like what happened a few months back to Luca.

Front shot of the suit! Bonus astronaut legs in the background on the left.

Although the photo is funny, you can easily see astronaut Karen Nyberg working

on a payload experiment in the low center.

This is the view of the console room where we work real-time 

operations with astronauts, scientists in Houston (at Mission Control),

ESA (the European Space Agency in Germany), and JAXA (The

Japanese Space Agency), as well as other scientists around the world.

A photo of the desk where I sit. All of these monitors are packed with the

tools that allow me to control and command to the Station systems onboard, 

making sure of the safe reception of data on the ground.

If I were a person who used hashtags in a non-ironic way, I'd say: #winning #blessed #Ilovemyjob