Perspective on space flight training
Click
here to skip all the boring wordage below and see
some pictures and movies about space flight training.
I
was a backup crewmember for two Space Shuttle flights in 1997, STS-83 and
STS-94, the Microgravity
Science Laboratory missions (was supposed to be one mission, but wound up
being 2 because the first one ended after 4 days due to a Shuttle fuel cell
problem.) The official NASA job
title for my position was ÒAlternate Payload Specialist.Ó I was a backup to both primary Payload Specialists,
Roger Crouch and Greg Linteris; if either one had been unable to fly I would have
flown in their place. As the
Alternate Payload Specialist I needed to be ready to fly, so I went through all
of the same training as the primary crew, meaning I spent more than a year
commuting between the NASA Johnson Space
Center in Houston (where the mission was controlled), the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida (where
the Shuttle launches and lands), the NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama (where the science
aspects of the mission were controlled), the NASA
Glenn Research Center in Cleveland (where many of the experiments on the
mission originated), along with various university laboratories of the
Principal Investigators, to Pensacola, Florida, for water survival training at
the naval base there, to an air force base in Texas for centrifuge (high-g)
training, etc.
I
got involved in this experience because I was the Principal Investigator of one
the experiments on the mission, namely the Structure
Of Flame Balls At Low Lewis-number (SOFBALL) experiment. I had accidentally discovered flame
balls in 1984 while doing experiments at the NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research
CenterÕs 2.2 second drop tower. In
1991 the experiment was selected for space flight and assigned to the MSL
mission. In 1995 it was decided
that since there were several other combustion experiments on the mission as
well, a combustion Payload Specialist would be selected to fly on the
mission. To make a long story
short I was selected as the backup to both Roger (a materials scientist) and
Greg (the combustion scientist).
These two people would fly along with 5 NASA career astronauts, 2 Pilots
and 3 Mission Specialists. NASA
doesnÕt normally assign backups to their Pilots and Mission Specialist
astronauts, but often there are backups for astronauts from ÒoutsideÓ like
Roger and Greg. By the way, while
one gets a VERY thorough medical screening before being selected for space
flight training, the standards for passing are not that high Ð one definitely
does NOT have to be a superhuman athlete with x-ray vision to fly in space, and
NASAÕs medical board knows that.
By the way,
there are 3 types of U.S. astronauts.
First, there are Pilots, who are (obviously) responsible for launch,
landing and on-orbit operation of Space Shuttle. Pilots are chosen by the NASA Astronaut selection
board. Typically 5 - 10 are
selected every 2 years. Almost all of them are military pilots. (All military applicants, even for
non-pilot astronaut positions, must apply through their military branch). I went through the interview/selection
process (not to be a Pilot, but rather a Mission Specialist as discussed next;
obviously I wasnÕt selected) in 1989.
I would describe the process as being like a fraternity or sorority
rush. Yes your technical
qualifications are important, but everyone who gets to the interview stage has
the necessary qualifications, so they evaluation is based more on personality
and ability to fit in with the astronaut corps than it is on showing youÕre the
smartest or fastest or strongest person there. The second type of astronaut is the Mission
Specialists. They are responsible
for payload operations - science experiments, spacewalks, etc., whatever the
mission requires. Like the Pilots,
they live and work in Houston, and are present on every flight and are hosen by
NASA Astronaut selection board.
Typically 10 - 20 are selected every 2 years. Some are military personnel and some are civilians who apply
directly to NASA (see http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/astronauts/
for more on the application process.)
The third type of astronaut is the Payload Specialist, such as
myself. Payload specialists are
career scientists or engineers selected by their employer or country for their
expertise in conducting a specific experiment or commercial venture on a space
shuttle mission because of need for a particular scientific / engineering /
political expertise not available in regular astronaut corps. They are chosen (in the case of our
mission) by the scientists with experiments on flight, or (on other flights) by
political will (e.g. John Glenn.)
Of course all such selections have to be approved by NASA. Payload specialists are not present on
most missions and itÕs not clear if any will be chosen in the future. I suppose to be complete one should
mention a fourth category, namely the Educator Mission Specialist, but none of
these few people have flown yet (except of course for Christa McAuliffeÕs on
the ill-fated Challenger mission in 1986.)
There are 2 types of space flight training. One is ÒOrbiterÓ training related to launch & entry, using the orange suits, emergency procedures, living in space (eating, sleeping, medications, going to the bathroom, etc.), photography, videography, etc. The other is ÒPayloadÓ training. Since our mission was mostly science experiments, the payload training consisted of learning about science background on the experiments, the experiment procedures and schedules, how to perform the experiments, what to look for while the experiments were running, how to fix them when they donÕt work, etc.
If
I had to use one word to describe the experience, I would use the word
ÒSTRAIGHTFORWARD.Ó Space flight
training is not like movie ÒThe Right StuffÓ or ÒApollo 13Ó any more. After years of training astronauts,
things run pretty smoothly and in my opinion almost anyone with reasonable
physical and mental skills could fly in space successfully. For me, by far the toughest part of the
whole experience was all the travel Ð one day in Houston, two days in
Huntsville, one day at the Cape, É
Normally I donÕt mind traveling but it really got to me after a while!
On
the other hand, the best parts of the space flight experience (for Roger,
anyway, this is what he relayed to me) were
1. Pushing the button and starting an experiment for the first time. A group of people have spend years studying some scientific phenomenon, another group has spent years building an apparatus to conduct the experiment, the crew has spent a year training on how to do the experiment in space. But still, until you push the button, you really donÕt know what will happen. (And in the case of my experiment, SOFBALL, boy were we surprised by what happened!)
2. Looking out the window. We had all seen lots of pictures of the earth from space, but, as Roger said, itÕs like the first time you peer over the rim of the Grand Canyon or turn the corner into Yosemite Valley. No matter how many pictures youÕve seen, it doesnÕt prepare you for The Real Thing.
Some useful
links include:
Astronaut hopefuls
home page (a Yahoo discussion group and mailing list)
Pictures of earth taken from space by
astronauts (some really cool pics!)