Page 76 - BBC Sky at Night - September 2017 UK

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The 12 contestants will be
evaluated for their fitness,
skills and quick thinking

eing an astronaut takes a Have What It Takes? The contestants
certain kind of person. Ever face the challenges that await real ABOUT THE WRITER
since the selection of the trainee astronauts, tasks that will test Dr Elizabeth Pearson
is BBC Sky at Night
Boriginal Mercury Seven, space all aspects of their fitness, skill, quick
Magazine’s news
agencies have tried to find people with thinking and team work. editor. She gained
‘the right stuff’ to be an astronaut – the At all times they will be watched by an her PhD in from
perfect blend of personality, knowledge, expert panel of judges: Canadian astronaut Cardiff University.
intellect and physical capability to travel and former International Space Station Astronauts: Do You
BBC/JAMES CHEADLE X 3, GCTC find someone with just that potential Dr Iya Whiteley and space medicine expert Have What It Takes?
commander Chris Hadfield, psychologist
to space and thrive there.
This year, BBC Two will attempt to
Dr Kevin Fong. Every week, the judges
will be broadcast
by putting a dozen men and women
will send contestants home if they don’t
on 20 August at
meet the cut as they try to decide who
through six weeks of astronaut training
9pm on BBC Two.
might make the grade.
in a new TV show Astronauts: Do You
The contestant
Jackie Bell is originally from Liverpool, where she gained her
PhD in theoretical particle physics, and currently works as a
guide at the Science Museum in London

What was it like to be on the show? underwater spacewalk training. Even
From the first day, it was exciting. We though we didn’t know it was guaranteed,
went into a hangar and Canadian that was on all our minds. There was
astronaut Chris Hadfield turned up in something I wasn’t looking forward to,
a helicopter and told us, “You’re going though. I was training all through the
to fly one of these things right now.” selection process, but it was only when
We got a 10-minute briefing and then I was chosen that I realised, oh god, this
we got put in the cockpit to hover the is real… and I can’t really swim.
helicopter for as long as we could. There was a real panic the three weeks
That was the first challenge. before the show as I tried to learn to swim.
Every day a task was announced I was
What were you most looking dreading it. Please don’t make me swim,
forward to? please don’t put me under water.
I’ve known since I was a kid that
astronauts train in a centrifuge, What was the selection process like?
they do parabolic flights and I have always wanted to be an astronaut,

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