Astronaut Training

"For every pass I caught in a game, I caught a thousand in practice."

-Don Hutson

Entry Requirements

In the future, the United States with its international partners Japan, Canada, Russia and the European Space Agency, will continue their journeys in space exploration to the Moon and Mars and beyond.  As these plans become reality, the need for qualified space flight professionals will increase.

NASA accepts applications for the Astronaut Candidate Program on a continuous basis. Candidates are selected as needed, normally every two years.  The astronaut candidate selection process was developed to select highly qualified individuals for human space programs. For mission specialists and pilot astronaut candidates, the education and experience requirements are at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics.  

T-38 jets in flight

Entry Requirements

The commander, the captain of the spacecraft, makes all the critical decisions on behalf of the crew and in coordination with the ground control team. The commander flies the Shuttle during approach and landing, and is trained and ready to take over from the computers and fly at all other times.

Mission specialists are responsible for coordinating all onboard operations. Mission specialists perform onboard experiments, spacewalks, and handle the payload. Payload specialists are professionals from the physical or life sciences field, or are highly skilled technicians who can operate the Shuttle payload equipment.

Payload specialists are chosen from outside NASA by the payload sponsor or customer. Training for a payload specialist may begin as much as two years ahead of the scheduled flight, depending on the task the specialist must perform.

Click here to find out more about how to become an astronaut.

Click here for NASA’s Astronaut Selection Home Page.

Course of Study

Astronauts U.S. Sen. John H. Glenn Jr., Pedro Duque, and Stephen K. Robinson in class

For the first year after you have been selected, you are considered an astronaut candidate. After one year of school and basic training, you graduate to become a full-fledged astronaut.

Basic astronaut candidate training includes aircraft safety, including instruction in ejection techniques, parachute use, and survival to prepare them in the event the Shuttle is disabled and they have to eject or make an emergency landing. 

Advanced training follows the basic training program. The advanced training program consists of 16 different courses covering all crew training requirements. Courses range from guidance, navigation, and control systems to payload deployment and retrieval systems. Advanced training continues even after a crew has been given a flight assignment.

Starting at about 10 weeks before the mission actually flies, the astronaut team begins to simulate the mission with the Mission Control Center flight control team who will assist them in the flight. These simulations, which are carefully developed scripts and scenarios for the mission, are designed to permit the crew and control team to practice operating as a closely integrated team.

Astronauts must study many different types of science that will be done onboard the Shuttle and space station.  This is because their primary role is to complete experiments designed by scientists on the Earth that will be done in space.  Science in a microgravity environment includes Earth observations (weather, geology, environmental degradation, etc.); materials and chemical processes (how things work in zero-g); protein crystal growth (medicine); telemedicine techniques (long-distance medicine); plant growth and animal studies; recycling techniques; human physiological adaptations to zero-g (neurovestibular and cardiovascular among others); combustion experiments (how fire reacts in zero-g); and many others.

Single-System Trainers (SSTs)

SSTs are the astronaut's first exposure to the spacecraft.  After studying orbital mechanics and basic Shuttle systems, the astronauts are put into small simple simulators that look and act just like the real thing.

Pilot astronauts work in the flight deck in the cockpit learning how to fly the Shuttle into and from space in a manner similar to the initial training given to airline pilots. Mission specialists learn the basics of these systems as well. Simulators contain computer models with software that allows students to interact with controls and displays like those of a Shuttle crew station. The astronauts work procedures and react to malfunctions in a Shuttle-like environment.

Each astronaut is assigned an instructor who helps him/her learn about the operations of each subsystem by using checklists similar to those found on a mission. The checklists contain information on normal system operations and corrective actions for malfunctions. The astronauts are trained in the SSTs to operate each system, to recognize malfunctions, and to perform corrective actions.

Mission specialists and payload specialists are given training in the aft deck SSTs as they learn how to operate the payload bay lights and cameras, to activate payload experiments and controls, and to use the robotic arm.

In addition, they learn about the switches that are in the aft flight deck that support the pilot's activities. The SMSs are composed of two types of Orbiter cockpits, the motion-based crew station (MBCS) and the fixed-base crew station (FBCS).

Each cockpit is equipped with the identical controls, displays, and consoles of an actual Shuttle. Although more complex, the simulators are similar to the trainers used for commercial airline pilots.

Fixed-Based Simulators

Fixed-based simulators are used to give the crews the feel of on-orbit operations and are the next step in simulator training.  These simulators do not move but operate in every other way exactly like the Space Shuttle. 

Astronaut Kenneth D. Cameron in the commander’s seat of the simulator

All on-orbit procedures are practiced hundreds of times in these simulators before an astronaut flies into space.  Crews spend entire days in these simulators, which are equipped with a full flight deck, a space bathroom trainer (the waste control system), and a middeck. Simulated views of the Earth, sky, and payload bay (and any docked satellites or the space station) are seen outside the windows so that the experience feels very close to the real thing. 

Astronauts often say that, after the long hard hours in the simulators, the real flights are easy. The simulator instructors (astronaut trainers) spend long hours providing crews with a variety of important malfunction scenarios to prepare them for any contingency situation. 

The motion-based simulators provide the crews with the experience of launch, ascent, and orbital entry as well as de-orbit, reentry, and landing. These simulated flight decks are mounted on hydraulics that enable the entire flight deck to be rotated backwards to assume the position of launch.  Sound, vibration, and accurate visuals allow the astronauts to experience many times what it is like to launch into space.  However, most astronauts say that, in this case, the real thing is much louder and more violent than in the simulator. 

Crews spend many hours practicing operations in these simulators that occur during the launch and entry phases of the mission. Up to three astronauts can sit behind the two pilots in a simulator and ride into virtual orbit.  The trainers work hard to give the crews many malfunctions during simulations, forcing, the crews to do each of the abort scenarios many times and to prepare for bailout as well as nominal (or normal) entry into orbit. Accurate visuals outside the windows give the pilots (and crew) the feel of the launch or de-orbit and entry back to the Earth. Shuttle landings are manually controlled by the commander and pilot. They use hand controllers and foot pedals, just like a regular airplane. The cockpit displays respond very accurately to these maneuvers.

Mock-ups

These mock-ups can also be rotated back into launch position.  Crews practice getting into and out of these mock-ups wearing their launch and entry suits as well as practicing the basic emergency egress procedures (i.e., if the Shuttle would land in the water, or if the crews need to bail out while the Shuttle is in flight). 

The mock-ups are used to train future crewmembers in Orbiter habitability, routine housekeeping and maintenance, waste management and stowage, television operations, and extravehicular activities.

Mission specialists (and even pilots) are given time to practice using the robotic arm to lift payloads in and out of the payload bay (these are giant inflatable pieces of the space station or satellites) or moving astronauts around on the arm (these are simulated by astronaut mannequins). 

The Shuttle training aircraft (STA) is a converted Grumman Gulfstream II aircraft that has had the entire left seat remodeled to look just like the Space Shuttle. In the STA, commanders and pilots practice landings of the Space Shuttle.  The airplane is flown by the regular pilot in the right seat to an altitude of 20,000 feet, then the plane is basically stalled and becomes a glider (no engines) that the Shuttle pilots must land correctly in one go. (The Shuttle does not have jet engines to allow a second try.) The STA is used extensively for landing practice, particularly at the Dryden Flight Research Facility (DFRF) in California and at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Click here for more information about the STA. 

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) training is used at the Johnson Space Center to allow astronauts to experience different parts of their mission without using a mock-up or simulator. Use of virtual-reality headsets and gloves are used to allows the astronauts to go out on a spacewalk and practice visualizing the payload bay, and the space station and its components (or a satellite like the Hubble Space Telescope) and to manipulate them.  Astronauts can practice using tools and lifting objects while seeing visual representations of the Shuttle, station, and moving Earth below them.  VR can also be used by astronauts who are in various locations around the globe (such as Russia, Japan, or Europe) without them being physically transported to one location.

  VR model of the Shuttle and Hubble Space Telescope

The C-9 airplane maneuvers by flying parabolas in the sky, first up steeply and then down.  When it is at the top of the curve (for about 25 seconds), everything inside of the plane is freefalling and, thus, weightlessness is experienced.  At the bottom of the curve, about 2 g's are felt and it is difficult to move around freely. 

All kinds of spaceflight hardware, software, experiments, and astronauts fly on the zero-g plane before they fly in space. 

Astronauts can practice eating and drinking and how to use different kinds of tools and equipment on the C-9. Training sessions in the C-9, which normally last from one to two hours, provide crews with an exciting introduction to the weightless experience of spaceflight. 

College students from around the country can now submit experiments to fly on the C-9. Click here for the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program for college students.

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory is one of the largest swimming pools in the world.  It contains over six million gallons of water, is 40 feet deep, and large enough for the entire Shuttle payload bay to fit inside of it.  It is used for astronauts to practice their spacewalks, called extravehicular activities or EVA's. 

Astronauts are suited up in space suits and released in the pool with certified safety divers to assist them.  The underwater environment allows astronauts to practice procedures in a scenario very similar to weightlessness. Although the safety divers ensure that the astronauts do not entangle their air hoses, they do not assist the astronauts in their actual tasks.

While in the NBL, the astronauts are weighted so that they do not sink to the bottom of the pool but become "neutrally buoyant" or float. Astronauts in the NBL are often part of an integrated simulation so that the onboard crew and ground control teams can get a feel for the length of time and events that will be occurring during the EVA portion of a mission. Constructing the International Space Station will require more EVA's than have ever been done before, and this time in the NBL is very valuable to the astronauts. Mission specialists are the ones who are specifically trained for EVA's; however, the pilots receive some backup emergency training as well.

Questions to think about:

• Imagine you are an astronaut trainer, what would be some of the most difficult malfunctions you could think of for the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and the robotic arm?
• If you were in a space suit inside the NBL swimming pool, how similar do you think it would be to actually going out on a spacewalk?  What would be the differences?
• What would you prefer to eat for breakfast on your last pre-mission day on Earth?
• If you dream of one day flying the Space Shuttle, what can you do to prepare yourself for application to the astronaut program?

In the next chapter, you will learn about the effects of microgravity on objects and living things and find out what it is like for the astronauts who are living in "zero-g."

Next... Life in Zero G (pg. 4 of 7)