The A4H News
THE A4H BEAT by Eduardo García-Llama
Dr. Erik Seedhouse’s book titled “Astronauts for Hire: The Emergence of the Commercial Astronaut Corps” is now available. As private companies build and operate launch new vehicles, a new breed of astronaut is coming into being: the commercial astronaut. A4H Flight Member and Training Officer, Dr. Erik Seedhouse, explores in this book how this new breed of astronaut will be selected and trained, providing a unique insight into the kinds of missions and tasks that commercial astronauts will perform.
T
he spaceflight industry is being revolutionized. It is no longer
companies are being encouraged to build and operate launch vehicles, and even spacecraft that can be hired on a contract basis, a new breed of astronauts is coming into being. Astronauts for Hire describes how this commercial astronaut corps will be selected and trained. It looks at the kind of missions and tasks that the astronauts will be involved in, from orbital science missions to commercial trips to low Earth orbit. The book also describes the new crop of commercial suborbital and orbital spaceships that are being developed: reusable rocket-propelled vehicles that will offer quick, routine, and affordable access to the edge of space. And perhaps beyond − to the possibility of private enterprise establishing interplanetary spaceports, lunar bases, and outposts on the surface of Mars.
ASTRONAUTS FOR HIRE
the sole preserve of professional astronauts working on
government-funded manned spaceflight programs. As private
ASTRONAUTS FOR HIRE The Emergence of the Commercial Astronaut Corps
Seedhouse
Erik Seedhouse
ISBN: 978-1-4614-0519-1 springer.com www.praxis-publishing.co.uk
A4H Members get SIRIUS Training. A4H members Amnon Govrin, Ben Corbin, Eduardo Garcia-Llama, Paul McCall, and Heather Panic completed their sensorymotor human factors training at the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory, now known as SIRIUS Astronaut Training. The day-and-a-half course provides a personal assessment of space motion sickness in disorienting environments to better optimize one’s performance in microgravity. Amnon, Paul, and Eduardo also completed training at the NASTAR Center to prepare for the stresses of launch and reentry. See Page 12 for more.
A4H Members earn their Private/Commercial Pilot Licenses. A4H Associate Member Kavya Manyapu has already accumulated 95 hours in the Cessna 152 and will soon be checked out in a Cessna 172. Her future plan is to get an introductory 10-hour course in aerobatic flight during the summer and eventually become a flight instructor. Similarly, A4H COO Jason Reimuller earned his Commercial Pilot license. A4H co-sponsors the 2012 Dust, Atmosphere and Plasma: Moon and Small Bodies Workshop. This workshop was supported by the NASA Lunar Science Institute, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and the Center for Integrated Plasma Studies of the University of Colorado. During the conference, new results from ongoing lunar missions were presented.
A4H is now a member of the NASA Human Health and Performance Center (NHHPC). The NHHPC is a global convener of government, industry, academic, and non-profit organizations that support the advancement of human health and performance innovations for space flight, commercial aviation, and challenging environments on Earth.
A4H members meet up in Houston. Houston based A4H associate members Kavya Manyapu, Karina Descartin, Gerry Manasca, Edwin Vasquez and Eduardo García-Llama, A4H flight members Brian Shiro and Jason Reimuller, and MEDgle CEO Ash Damle, met during the 4-day flight campaign that Vital Space and A4H completed to validate the cutting-edge FDA-approved vital sign monitoring system.
A4H Member Eduardo García-Llama presents two inventions at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Eduardo’s innovations on control and navigation for emergency atmospheric entries were selected for presentation at NASA/JSC’s Innovation Day. Eduardo’s innovation on control consists of two backup thrusters and a control law that can execute a safe entry from an arbitrary initial tumbling condition in the absence of nominal control capability. His innovation on navigation consists of an algorithm that can determine the spacecraft’s attitude during entry with the use of a 3-axis accelerometer, an instrument never devised for that purpose.
A4Hers meeting in Houston, TX.
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