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For fifty years, NASA has subjected its trainee astronauts to a gauntlet of horrors to prepare them for space. From strapping them in centrifuges and spinning them until they fainted from the effects of extreme gravitational forces, or letting them plummet 24,000 feet in the “vomit comet” to experience weightlessness, to repairing dummy space shuttle parts under water for eight hours in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at JSC. Only an exceptional person can become an astronaut.
NASA is hugely selective about who it sends in to space. Since the Mercury Seven were selected in 1959, over 41,000 people have applied to become an astronaut, yet only 321 have been chosen. Luckily for modern day candidates, the training programme has changed a lot over fifty years. No longer is it a prerequisite that you are a male aged 25-40, less than 5’11” tall, college educated, and a USAF test pilot with three years experience. Today women are also able to apply and civilians including teachers and scientists line up alongside military-trained applicants.
The use of centrifuges has long since been abandoned with the advance of materials science. Highly adapted space suits have reduced the g-force side effects of vomiting, fainting and burst blood vessels that accompanied launch and re-entry training.
The Astronaut Candidates or ASCANs can train daily for up to a decade before they fulfil their ambitions. They must complete one and a half to two years basic training to become an astronaut, covering roughly 230 subjects with almost 1,600 hours of instruction. ASCANs train in jets, simulators, swimming pools and the classroom for their initial preparation.
NASA is hugely selective about who it sends in to space. Since the Mercury Seven were selected in 1959, over 41,000 people have applied to become an astronaut, yet only 321 have been chosen. Luckily for modern day candidates, the training programme has changed a lot over fifty years. No longer is it a prerequisite that you are a male aged 25-40, less than 5’11” tall, college educated, and a USAF test pilot with three years experience. Today women are also able to apply and civilians including teachers and scientists line up alongside military-trained applicants.
The use of centrifuges has long since been abandoned with the advance of materials science. Highly adapted space suits have reduced the g-force side effects of vomiting, fainting and burst blood vessels that accompanied launch and re-entry training.
The Astronaut Candidates or ASCANs can train daily for up to a decade before they fulfil their ambitions. They must complete one and a half to two years basic training to become an astronaut, covering roughly 230 subjects with almost 1,600 hours of instruction. ASCANs train in jets, simulators, swimming pools and the classroom for their initial preparation.
