scope:

Description of Driving Event:

During the 1 A/R and 2A ISS assembly missions there were a number of occasions where funnies and/or problems were discovered, and the solution of some of these required input from the Russian operations or engineering teams. This information was requested via Mission Action Requests, otherwise known as "Chits". Those chits requiring information from Russia were transmitted from the Houston Mission Control Center to the Moscow Mission Control Center via the Houston Support Group (HSG), a group of JSC employees located within the Moscow Mission Control Center complex. The HSG is primarily operations-oriented and is staffed accordingly and with an operations mindset. Obtaining timely responses to Chits has proven to be an issue.

Root cause: It has been observed that the Russians are reluctant to provide American requests for information without considerable encouragement via direct contact. The lack of an American/JSC engineering presence within Moscow Mission Control Center complex inhibits the direct and continuing contacts with the Russian engineers.