Page 77 - BBC Sky at Night - September 2017 UK

ASTRONAUT TRAINING SEPTEMBER 77

and this was probably the closest I am I applied was that I have always felt very there. But if you don’t perform, then you
going to get. I had to apply. Once we different to the people around me. So to go. It was always on your mind.
were shortlisted we had interviews and be put with people who are very similar,
were given group tasks to see how we for me that was really rare. Was being an astronaut trainee
coped under pressure, but I think the a tough experience?
medical and psychological assessments Was it hard to see the other Yes. Not only do you have to be very
were the most nerve-wracking, because contestants go home? skilled, but if it were real you’d then have
it’s out of your hands. That was the hardest thing for me, to actually get into a spacecraft on top of
All the candidates who made it personally, knowing that not everyone a rocket and launch, which is terrifying.
through to the final selection had a similar was going to get a chance to do all of the But if they turned around tomorrow and
personality to real astronauts in that tasks. Everyone wanted everyone else asked me to be an astronaut I would say
we’re all quite selfless. One of the reasons to do well. Everyone deserved to be yes. Definitely, 100 per cent.

The judge

Kevin Fong is a consultant anaesthesiologist who has worked
ZLWK!1$6$"V!KXPDQ!DGDSWDWLRQ!DQG!FRXQWHUPHDVXUHV!RI#FH$!!
He served as one of the judges on the show, helping to
decide who would get sent home

What tasks did you set the pressure, has some operational experience
candidates? in the real world.
It was a very enviable set of tasks. We But it’s not just a test of skill. #ere is
had them in the Dunker, a box that no unique personality type that makes
simulates an aircra! cabin, which is someone an astronaut. In some ways,
thrown in a swimming pool and they you don’t know what you’re looking for
have to escape from. We spun them up until you %nd it.
to a few G in a centrifuge, had them do
simulated spacecra! dockings on the real How did you choose who to
Soyuz simulation that astronauts train send home?
with, sent them diving in the Aquarius You have to study them carefully,
subaquatic habitat and doing parabolic looking for something to di&erentiate
"ights. #ese were actual astronaut them. I wasn’t just studying how they
training facilities, or close representatives. accomplished an end task, but their
Any single one of them would have been attitude towards it.
an incredible experience. We all had our own way of looking at
On the one hand, I was very envious, them. Iya, because she’s a psychologist on paper aren’t always good in a %eld
but on the other it was so hard to be who has worked on astronaut selection environment under pressure. Chris had
under the microscope. Everything before, was really looking at their the advantage of being a veteran astronaut.
was a test and they felt that. behaviours. I was much more operational He knew what astronauts look like.
in my approach – people who look good #ese weren’t random eliminations.
What were you looking We watched them evolve
for in the candidates? throughout the process and
We put them through their as the tasks went on, we took
paces in these tasks to try and what we already knew about
work out who was and wasn’t them into consideration.
suited to being an astronaut. #ere was always some
It’s di$cult actually. With di&erent aspect of their
astronaut selection, there’s no capability that was revealed
single character type or set each time. By the end
of skills that makes you an I think we were making
astronaut. It’s a cross section some informed decisions.
of the normal population, Every single one of them
albeit a high-performing one. The contestants all the way through looked
You’re looking for the things used the actual like they might have been
Soyuz training
that anyone will ask for in an capable of applying to be
facility that real
astronaut: good at working in a real astronaut. Anyone
astronauts use
a team, good at working under could have succeeded.>
skyatnightmagazine.com 2017