Yeah, she mixed up her words several times like you pointed out.... but I will say there is one big thing she did well. When the astronauts were talking on the air to ground loop, she STOPPED TALKING. Anybody with even the fuzziest idea of runway length knows she didn't mean the aimpoint was 24,000 feet down the runway. But no matter how deep your understanding of the shuttle is you can never, ever go back and hear what was covered over by the PAO talking during air to ground transmissions. I'll gladly put up with a lot of "bad day at the office mixups" as long as the PAO lets us listen to the mission as it takes place rather than insisting on telling us about it to the extent we miss out on the event itself.
I think Brandi Dean was the PAO for yesterday's landing, and you have to feel sorry for her. She just did not have a good day at the office! I lost count of the number of times she mixed up her feet and miles e.g. "Atlantis now 131,000 MILES above the coast of Florida" and also "Atlantis expected to land 24,000 feet down the runway." To be fair, she corrected herself almost immediately (should have been 2400 feet) but I still laughed. That would have been one heck of an over-shoot!
I guess all you can really say is that she's human.
True, and I'd give definite benefit of the doubt if it was *a* bad day at the office, but every EVERY time she is on, her commentary sounds as if her attention is diverted elsewhere, thus choppy words, inaccuracies in units (and not even realizing it thus repeating it again and again), or just plain erroneous commentary. Yes, she is the same that thinks the station is flying around 250 feet above earth (duck!). IMO the PAO is the embodiment and voice of all of NASA to the general public. The unprofessionalism that she repeatedly conveys just isn't something that should be tolerated. I would think that someone else in PAO is listening to what is on the air so that she should at least be coached.
So, human, yes. In need of some coaching or replacement, YES.
I am not sure, but I think, she has the whole communications in the fcc on here headphones on the pao desk?!. For me (as a single-brained-man ;-)) it would be impossible, to listen to the chatter in the room, to note that their is air-to-ground comm, to read my pre-formulated phrases placed somewhere on my chaotic desk and to speak in pao style without making a total fool out of me. So, I agree, she is everytime fun to listen (say four times "sensor-system") when she is mixing up, but I am sure, I can't do better.
When will MRM-1 arrive in KSC for Atlantis' next STS-132 mission?
When will MRM-1 arrive in KSC for Atlantis' next STS-132 mission?
The latest info, which I saw in media reports, was December.
That's the first time I've seen it...very cool!