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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          ABD_BUIL_STAT_FPGS.indd   6                                                              9/29/17   3:00 PM
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