[All] Greetings from ASIA-AQ in U-Tapao!

Sat Mar 23 21:48:54 PDT 2024

This is great … just great.

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From: Czech, Erin P. (ARC-SGP) via All <all at espo.nasa.gov>
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2024 8:21:17 PM
To: ESPO ALL <all at espo.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: [All] Greetings from ASIA-AQ in U-Tapao!

I forgot to attach our band photo…

[cid:image001.jpg at 01DA7DD4.DFD30BE0]

From: Czech, Erin P. (ARC-SGP) via All <all at espo.nasa.gov>
Date: Sunday, March 24, 2024 at 9:38 AM
To: ESPO ALL <all at espo.nasa.gov>
Subject: [All] Greetings from ASIA-AQ in U-Tapao!

Hey all,

I’ve been on the road for 3 weeks at this point but it feels a little like a blur. There has been a lot of activity and long days with pre-planning prior to transit, Media Day, and getting flight operations going (and smoothing them out), but we are in a good rhythm now (with only 4 days remaining lol).

The deployment to U-Tapao began with Jhony and Sam arriving early for meetings with the Embassy and other pre-coordination. The team found out quickly that coordination with the airport authorities could not occur until the approval to conduct the mission was sent to NASA. We did not know exactly what office space we could occupy, badges could not be requested from the airport, internet details were not known, etc.

On the week of March 4 when I arrived to Thailand, the approval was granted and things had to happen real fast since the aircraft would be here on March 13, ready or not. We found out that the office space we were assigned did not have air conditioning, so we needed the airport to fix that. We learned that there was a 1:5 escort ratio for anyone going on the flight line, which seemed unsolvable. The FBO also realized that this was a numerical impossibility given their limited staff and promptly reissued everyone unescorted badges. Because the sea shipment was badly delayed, we sourced ultra-high purity nitrogen and zero air, and luckily had all the necessary adapters for the seemingly random bottle fittings.

The first access day was also Media Day, which gave us zero days to practice all of the intricacies of flight line access and transportation before supporting what was easily the busiest day of the entire Thailand deployment. It is safe to say that operations started off a little rocky, but things quickly improved as we all learned the processes at the airport.

The DC8 had their third local Thailand flight shortened by another engine issue. ESPO was integral in the decision to hand carry the required part for repair instead of shipping it which would have certainly been a huge problem and likely would have ended the DC8 field campaign.

To date, the DC8 has completed three local flights out of U-Tapao and 14 total for the campaign. The G-III has completed eight local flights out of U-Tapao and 33 total for the campaign.

Overall, I am super proud of the ESPO team out here. I think everyone has faced a chaotic and unpredictable situation with professionalism, composure, agility, adaptability, and a sense of humor. We talk a lot about how these qualities are critical to doing our jobs while deployed, so it is really cool to again see it in practice during the most challenging ESPO deployment that I can recall.

Cheers, Erin
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