Page 6 - Engineering the International Space Station - Building by Design
P. 6
Despite this extreme
BECOMING AN speed, they heard
ISS ASTRONAUT
only their radios and
Astronaut candidates must
have a college degree in the whirring of air
engineering, science, or
circulating in their space
math. They complete years
of tough physical and mental suits. The vivid blue and
preparation. Training includes green Earth rotated
water survival and aircraft
below them. The inky
flight skills. They must learn
Russian. Candidates learn blackness of deep
how to put on bulky space
space loomed above.
suits. Spacewalk practice
takes place in the Neutral Commander Whitson
Buoyancy Laboratory. It is the
used bolts to secure
world’s largest indoor pool.
Candidates wear suits that the new computer. On
keep them stable in the water. another part of the
The pool mimics conditions
in microgravity. Candidates ISS, Fischer installed
practice moving around and two antennae. The
doing repairs. After being
accepted, astronauts learn astronauts completed
specific mission skills. They their jobs. They
learn to repair equipment and
conduct experiments. returned to the airlock
and re-entered the ISS.
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