The A4H News
ASTRONAUT TRAINING - EDUCATIONAL NAUSEA AND WILD RIDES by Amnon Govrin
On a spring week in March, A4H Associate Member Paul McCall and I went through two parts of the A4H as-
tronaut training program; sensorymotor human factors training at SIRIUS located at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, and high altitude and high-G training at the National AeroSpace Training and Research (NASTAR) center in Pennsylvania. A suborbital astronaut, differently from a suborbital tourist, needs to be a functioning member of a crew on suborbital flights. Knowing one’s susceptibility, adaptation and decay as well as one’s onset symptoms is crucial to being prepared and avoiding the provocations on a suborbital flight or any other situation. In an underground lab at Brandeis University, the legacy of Ashton Graybiel continues to push the limits of testing, modeling and looking for adaptation techniques to motion sickness, caused not due to motion itself but due to transition between states which changes the powers operating on the human body and vestibular system. A day and a half of demonstrations and experiences akin to amusement park rides stripped of their glamour, fancy names and proximity to fast food, combined with education around the vestibular system (inner ear mechanisms) showed Paul and I some of the phenomena to be expected on suborbital space flights and zero gravity. The beginning of these flights is nearing, with some vehicle providers powered test flights scheduled for the rest of this year. Paul and I attended the NASTAR Suborbital Scientist training with six other men and women varying in profession from scientists to news reporters. We went through high altitude training in an altitude chamber, going up to a virtual 25,000ft and observing each other’s onset of hypoxia symptoms, knowledge that would prove useful if we ever experience partial vehicle decompression. We also went on several “flights” on the NASTAR centrifuge, which accurately exposed us to the same G forces produced by a real suborbital flight, specifically the flight profile of SpaceShipTwo. We learned how to avoid losing consciousness (G-LOC) from high G on the Z-axis (from the head downward) and breathe successfully when exposed to high G on the X-axis (front to back through torso). This part of our training was a lot of fun but at the same time required understanding the physiological effect of high G and the techniques to counter those. Suborbital spaceflight is orders of magnitude cheaper than orbital. The price difference trickles down to training, requiring creativity and frugality both in time and training programs to reflect the different cost structure while not sacrificing the essence and substance of such training. Unlike NASA astronauts, who travel in T-38 jets, Paul and I drove from Boston (SIRIUS) to Philadelphia (NASTAR), enjoying the scenery and benefiting from space technology such as GPS, costing a lot less than flying in an airliner or training jet. Our week of training was an important step on the road to becoming suborbital astronauts, getting ready for the commencement of flights and as the need for commercial astronauts and scientists ramps up. Whether Virgin Galactic, XCOR or any other vehicle provider is ready in 2013 or beyond, Astronauts4Hire will continue to work hard towards creating training programs, partnerships with providers and produce the skilled workforce that will increase the success rate of science, experimentation and operations of suborbital flights. Left: A4H Associate Member Paul McCall. Right: A4H Flight Member Amnon Govrin.
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