A beautiful sight – a rocket rising into the sky. An astronaut spins MnM’s in weightless during some mission down time. The makings of scientific discoveries aboard the International Space Station with hundreds of experiments by the crew on board.
What the public doesn’t see is the incredible wealth of human knowledge and effort that fuels the start and finish of every mission.
I share with you an article by EADS Astrium this past 2011 spring with insight into the role of the Astronaut Instructor (http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/articles/astronaut-instructor-reaching-for-the-stars.html). Credit: Luise Weber-Steinhaus
Having had the opportunity to learn and work this role at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany as a small part of this incredible team, I wish to share with you its significant impact.
Imagine your classroom – desks, chairs, chalkboard (yes, dating myself here), students and a teacher. We are taught, we learn, we practice, we develop. Regardless if you are a highschool student figuring out where to go in life, or today’s astronauts aboard the ISS – the principle remains the same.
Astronauts too go to class. They learn, they practice, they test, they progress. The instructor is responsible to communicate an enormous wealth of information from various disciplines and departments into sizeable relevant manageable chunks to pass onto crew.
Presenting Columbus Thermal Control System lesson dry-run to European astronauts Frank de Winne and Tim Peake. Credit: Aki Rahikainen
2 years, 5 countries weeks at a time, several modes of training, multiple languages. PR, office, family…balance is an incredible feat for an astronaut even with as much planning as is required. So ensuring that essential information is communicated appropriately so that it is well retained and *useful* is a challenge for an instructor.
I am going to try and provide you perspective on just how much knowledge there is… in a 3 posts.
My training focused on the Thermal Control System of the Columbus Module – the European science sector of the ISS.
TO BE CONTINUED (Part 2)….post Space Shuttle launch of STS-135 and Atlantis. Follow me for posts!
(Subscribe for latest updates!)
Terra++ 