To help prepare astronauts for working in a zero G environment they train here on Earth in the Weightless Environment Training Facility (WETF). The WETF is a huge water tank that contains a mockup of the payload bay section of an orbiter. While training in the WETF astronauts where neutrally buoyant spacesuits that neither rise nor sink. By wearing these suits in the WETF it reduces the sensation of gravity, which helps to prepare them for operation in outer space.
Several full size mockups are used in the training of the astronauts. They are the full fuselage trainer made inside a full-sized plywood orbiter with an non functional mid-deck and flight deck. Included in the plywood mockup is a full sized payload bay. While in side this mockup astronauts practice meal preparation, equipment stowage, trash management, camera use, and experiment familiarization. They also practice the emergency exit training procedure after the Shuttle landing.
The crew compartment trainer is a mockup of the forward section of the crew station, without a payload bay, that can be tilted vertically. The station is used for on orbit habitability maneuvers and also bailout operations. The setup of all the stations are basicly the same.
The mission specialists use the manipulator development facility to train for a mission operations in the payload bay. This facility is equipped with a full-scale hydraulically operated RMS.
Pilots receive more extensive instruction on orbiter approach and landing in the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA). The STA is a four Gulfstream II business jets modified to perform like an orbiter during a landing. The orbiter comes in at a very steep angle (17-20 degrees) and at a high speed over 300 miles per hour. The STA approached the landing site with its engines in reverse thrust and the landing gear down to increase drag and duplicate the unique glide characteristics of an orbiter. Pilots receive about 100 hours of STA flight training prior to flight. When the astronauts aren't training they keep up to date on payloads, study flight data file procedures, participate in mission related-technical meetings, and they take part in test and checkout activities at the NASA KSC in Florida.
NASA accepts applications for the Astronaut Candidate Program on a continuous basis. Candidates are selected when needed (normally ever two years) for pilots and mission specialist. Both civilian and military personnel are observed for the program. Civilians can apply at any time any military personnel must apply through their parent service and be nominated by their service to NASA.
The program was designed to select highly qualified individuals for humaned space flight. The education and experience requirements to be a pilot or mission specialist is at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics. Three years of related, progressively responsible professional experience that must fallow the degree. An advanced degree is alluring and may be submitted for all or part of the experience requirement (i.e., master's degree is 1 year of work experience, doctoral degree = 3 years of experience).
To be an astronaut pilot you must meet the following requirements prior to submitting an application.
- At least 1,000 hours pilot in command time in jet aircraft; flight test experience is highly desirable.
- Ability to pass a NASA Class I space physical, which is similar to a military or civilian Class I flight physical, and includes the following specific standards for vision: distance visual acuity-20/50 or better uncorrected, correctable to 20/20, each eye.
- Height between 64 and 76 inched.
The requirements for mission specialist are very similar, except the qualifying physical is a Class II space physical, which is similar to a military or civilian Class II Flight physical and includes the following specific standards for vision: distance acuity - 20/150 or better correctable to 20/20, each eye.
The application package may be obtained by writing to the Astronaut Selection Office, Mail Code AHX, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058-3696.
Payload specialists are people other than NASA astronauts (including foreign nations) who have specialized onboard duties; payload specialists are add to the crew if they have unique requirements and more than the minimum crew is needed.
Payload specialists can be selected by NASA the foreign sponsor, or they can be selected by the designated payload sponsor. To be a payload specialist you must have the appropriate education and training related to the payload or experiment.
For information about opportunities in this field, write to NASA Headquarters, Attn: Code OST-5, Washington, DC 20546. If you are not a citizen of the U.S., you may want to contact the appropriate government agency within your country.
The candidates receive training at the JSC near Houston, Texas. Here the candidates will take classes on Shuttle systems, in basic science and technology: mathematics, geology, meteorology, guidance and navigation, oceanography, orbital dynamics, astronomy, physics, and materials processing are among the subjects that the candidates will cover. They also have to training in parachute jumping, land and sea survival training, scuba diving, and space suits.
To help prepare the candidates to space flight, they are flown up in a modified KC-135 jet aircraft. The jet will fly to an altitude of 35,000 feet and then dive to an altitude of 24,000 feet. During the dive the astronauts will be weightless for 20 seconds. This sequence will be repeated up to forty times a day.
The next step in astronaut training is the single systems trainer (SST). The astronauts are accompanied by an instructor who will assist them in the learning process of each and every subsection of orbiter controls and features. The astronauts run drills in the SST, in the drills the astronauts must find and fix malfunction that are interfering with the orbiter.
Other drills are fun in the Shuttle Mission Simulators (SMSs). While in this simulator the astronauts practice prelaunch, ascent, orbit operation, landing, and re-entry. The orbit training includes payload operation, payload deployment and retrieval, maneuvers, and docking. Astronauts start their training in the SMS, which uses a generic training software, they use it till they are assigned to a mission. Then after the astronauts are assigned their mission, they train in a flight simulator. The astronauts will train here until the actual flight-specific training software is delivered about 11 weeks before the flight.
During the 11 weeks the astronauts will train with the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center (MCC). The SMS and the MCC are linked the same way, the Shuttle and the MCC are linked during an actual flight. This helps the astronauts and MCC members to work hand in hand to solve a problem, when the and if the time comes.
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