Fall 2003

So you want to be an astronaut?

By Randall Chambers, Ph.D., DABFM, DABPS, BCETS

From 1959-1972, while serving as a NASA aerospace engineer and a Department of Defense civilian scientist, I was assigned to serve as project director, engineer and/or scientist in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. The space program has continued to expand since then.  Once mostly consisting of military pilots, today astronauts often include civilians. And as the scope for space exploration and interplanetary travel broaden, interest in how to become an astronaut increases.

NASA Johnson Space Center is primarily responsible for training U.S. astronauts and some international candidates. Candidates may be selected as needed, and as pilot astronauts, mission specialists, or a variety of other engineering, research and technical categories. Civilians may apply at any time. Military personnel must apply through their parent service and be nominated by their military service.

Applicants are evaluated by discipline panels who review for academic and intellectual criteria, medical and psychological functioning, flight training and/or technical performance capabilities, behavioral and moral suitability, linguistic ability, training in aeronautics and astronautics, and piloting and/or professional specialty experience. The Astronaut Selection Board recommends candidates who are then assigned to the Astronaut Training Office at the Johnson Space Center for two years. Upon completion of the JSC training and evaluation program, civilian candidates are expected to remain with NASA for at least five years. Military candidates are detailed to NASA for a specified tour of duty. For international and professional astronauts, there may be criteria for the Multilateral Coordination Board, and the ISS Multilateral Crew Operations Panel.

Astronaut training is provided through the JSC Astronaut Training Office and NASA’s associated training programs, such as the Mission Control Center, NASA Kennedy Space Center, and the Payload Operations Center at Marshall Space Flight Center. Candidates attend classes in science and technology, mathematics, geology, astronomy, navigation, oceanography, orbital dynamics, physics, interstellar research and development, materials and spacecraft systems. Also, they receive training in land and sea survival training, SCUBA diving, spacesuits, life support systems and procedures, and extravehicular activity.

They are trained in a wide variety of flight simulators and exposed to hypobaric and hyperbaric atmospheric pressures. In addition, using a modified KC-135 jet aircraft, candidates are given many exposures to weightlessness. They maintain their flying proficiency and build up jet aircraft hours in T-38 jets, and also practice Orbiter landings in the Shuttle training aircraft and propulsion control systems.

Training is provided in Single Systems Trainers  for the operation of Orbiter subsystems and mission checklists.  Training is also provided in the Shuttle Mission Simulator for shuttle vehicle operations and systems tasks associated  with the major flight phases of relaunch, ascent, orbit operations, entry and landing, payload operations, retrieval and rendezvous.

Centrifuges and other motion simulators, and fixed-base simulators, are used in training for flight phases and specific payload operations, and digital image generation for out-the- window scenes and missions.  The motion base simulated crew stations are used to train pilots and commanders in the mission phases of launch, descent and landing.  Motion systems sometimes provide 6-degree-of-freedom motion cues which also allow the flight deck to simulate lift-off and ascent.

Astronauts receive training in the Shuttle Mission Simulators (SMS) using generic training software. When assigned to a flight mission, they train on a flight simulator with flight-specific software. They also train with flight controllers in the Mission Control Center (MCC). SMS and MCC are linked by computer in the same way the Orbiter and MCC are linked during an actual mission.  The astronauts and flight controllers learn teamwork, solving problems and working nominal and contingency mission time lines.

Part-task trainers are also used. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) provides controller neutral buoyancy operations in the facility water tank to simulate the zero-g or weightless condition. The facility provides important pre-flight training in becoming familiar with planned crew activities and dynamics of body motion under weightlessness.

There are also several full-scale mockups. They are used for onboard systems orientation and habitability training in which astronauts practice meal preparation, equipment stowage, trash management, use of cameras, experiment familiarization, emergency egress training, emergency pad egress and bailout operations. The manipulator development facility is a full-scale mockup of the payload bay with full-scale hydraulically operated RNS, the mechanical arm on the Orbiter, which is used to move payloads in and out of the payload bay and to practice deploying and reberthing of payloads into the Orbiter.

Pilots training for a specific mission receive intensive instruction in Orbiter approach and landing in Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) which are Gulfstream business jets modified to perform like the Orbiter during landing.  Assigned pilots receive abut 100 hours of STA training prior to a flight.  In between training sessions, crews keep up-to-date on the status of the spacecraft and payloads for their assigned mission. Also, they study flight rules and flight data file procedures, and participate in mission-related technical meetings. They also participate in test and checkout activities at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, train in their assigned space flights and add to their space flight knowledge base.

Astronauts who participate in the Russian Space Station MIR program receive Russian language training before transferring to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center for 13 months, then return to JSC to train for the final preparation.

For an application package write to the Astronaut Selection Office, Mail Code AHX, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX  77058-3696