will help us reshape how we teach and connect with folks going forward. It's the balance of self-reliance and teamwork that sells me on sailing every time I go out to sea. You have to have confidence in yourself, bur also be able to check and supplement that with full confidence in others and know when to balance the bigger picture. The adage of"ship, shipmate, self" always rings true to me, and is the core of all the skills we teach. Trainee Christina Koch said, "Many elements that are important in astronaut training-things like being part of an integrated crew, sharing a working and living space, self-sufficiency, and focus on technical performance while communicating effectively-are also important when working aboard a ship like the Elissa. It is interesting to me to think about how skills relevant to one of the world's earliest forms of exploration may be applicable to our current goals for space exploration." "We were excited and honored to host the NASA astronauts and flight director for training and hope this grows into more training opportunities and a lasting partnership," commented Galveston Historical Foundation's CEO Dwayne Jones. "I had never considered how similar the experience of Elissa's crews sailing across the oceans were with an astronaut's voyage into space. Once I gave it some thought, however, I realized it makes perfect sense to link the fascinating expeditions of our maritime past with those of the furure. GHF is thrilled to offer Elissa as a way to help make that connection across the centuries."
BERT ROGERS: After hearing from Mark, Dwayne, and Christina about this unique application of the sail training experience, I can only reflect about how surprised Elissa's builders would have been, as they laid her keel 140 years ago, if they had known that one day she would help men and women prepare themselves to explore the heavens! Throughout my nearly fourdecade career, I have always believed the true value of sailing ships in the modern world is not just their majesty under sail, or as links to our proud maritime heritage, or as a place to learn esoteric nautical skills. These are all wonderful and important values to be sure, but there is so much more. It is the personal discoveries one gains while 22
sailing a hard voyage with a good crew that are the real value these ships offer us . Stretching one's courage, confidence, competency, and ability to work together for a common goal are the values that sailing ships have offered since the days when green midshipmen shipped out as callow youths, eventually to return home as capable and seasoned adults. When we heed their call and meet their rigorous demands, sailing ships offer us passage from our old selves to our new and better ones. They have always done so, and they continue to do so today in the Tall Ships America membership. As NASA has so wisely observed, to produce the best possible person to do the best possible job, it is not enough to work at a lab bench. I thoroughly enjoyed my day aboard Elissa. Captain Sean Bercaw, chief mate
John Svenson, and the rest of the officers and crew handled the ship with skill and precision, racking and wearing ship like old salts and modern professionals. Indistinguishable from the regular volunteer crew, as they hauled lines and scurried aloft, were contemporary explorers who one day will be navigating a different kind of shipin outer space. It was deeply gratifying, though nor so very far-fetched, to consider that the personal skills they acquired aboard a nineteenth-century ship might help them bring their own craft safely home again in the twenty-first century. ,!, Bert Rogers is Executive Director at Tall Ships America: www.tallshipsamerica.org. Mark Scibinico is Port Captain for Texas Seaport Museum, Galveston Historical Foundation: www.galvestonhistory.org.
0
cean voyaging and space exploration have long been associated with one another. The spacecraft used in the shuttle program were all named for famous sailing ships involved in ocean exploration and scientific expeditions: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. The term "astronaut" comes from the Greek words meaning "space sailor." The term RV Atlantis has been maintained as the title for those selected to join the NASA corps of astronauts who make "space sailing" their career profession. 1 Although the US Space Shuttle program was retired after the final flight of Atlantis in 2011, American astronauts are still going to space to man the International Space Station (ISS), via Russian spacecraft. The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. Americans selected as candidates for the NASA astronaut program are assigned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for two years of training and evaluation. The intensive training program is designed to help candidates develop a wide range of expertise in fields and skills that will allow them to handle the rigors of space flight and the confines of living in a small space with other astronauts. In addition, astronaut candidates receive training to further develop scientific and technical expertise, medical proficiency, robotics skills, flight readiness, and even Russian language skills. While sail training might not be of much help in Russian language skills, it has a lot to offer in developing readiness for group tasks, communal living, operating in a moving and pitching environment, and even how to manage working while suffering from the effects of motion sickness. 1 NASA : www.nasa.gov/astronauts
SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017