Post by elkchsr on Aug 28, 2004 13:57:10 GMT 12.75
Astronauts Practice Survival Skills
By SARA LEITCH, Associated Press Writer
BRUNSWICK, Maine - Astronauts spend years training before they can lift off into space. They learn to operate shuttles, perform experiments in zero-gravity, and eat bugs if they must.
Fortunately for the 14 astronaut candidates who finished four days at a Navy survival training school in the mountains of western Maine on Thursday, the raspberries were still in season.
"We were inviting them to eat bugs, but they didn't get hungry enough to do it," said George Zamka, one of the NASA officials who supervised the trainees.
The purpose of their trip was to teach the astronaut candidates, who in June began 18 months of training, how to survive in the wilderness if a practice flight goes out of control.
"They do a lot of practice flying in tactical trainers, and they could at some point have to eject," said Marine Corps Capt. Charlton Evans, who trains students at the survival school. "If they're back in the boonies, way back in the boonies somewhere, they may have to get along on their own for a while."
But the backwoods break also was designed to foster a sense of teamwork among the candidates, who after training will spend years at a NASA desk job before being chosen for a space mission.
The astronaut class, including three teachers, three pilots, two doctors and three Japanese astronauts, attended the Navy school for survival, evasion, resistance and escape on 12,400 acres near Rangeley Lake.
They learned about finding food and water and making their way in the woods, starting fires with flint and staying warm at night when the temperature dropped to 40 degrees.
Chris Cassidy, 34, said more than a decade as a Navy SEAL prepared him for the trip.
"The training was very much a team effort," he said. "Each of us brings in certain skills."
Cassidy, who grew up in York, served two tours of duty in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. His parents and brother met him at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, where the astronauts arrived in three minivans — one with the words "Moon or Bust" scrawled in the dust on its rear window.
Cassidy's mother said she wasn't worried about sending her son off to space.
"It just still seems so far in the future," Janice Cassidy said. "He's done far more dangerous things being a Navy SEAL. His first tour in Afghanistan was very difficult for us."
For Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, 29, a high school teacher in Vancouver, Wash., the trip's highlight came one night as the astronauts sat by a campfire on a cliff, pointing out constellations and looking at the moon.
"People have been there, and we're training to get there," she said. "It was definitely one of those surreal moments you treasure forever."
By SARA LEITCH, Associated Press Writer
BRUNSWICK, Maine - Astronauts spend years training before they can lift off into space. They learn to operate shuttles, perform experiments in zero-gravity, and eat bugs if they must.
Fortunately for the 14 astronaut candidates who finished four days at a Navy survival training school in the mountains of western Maine on Thursday, the raspberries were still in season.
"We were inviting them to eat bugs, but they didn't get hungry enough to do it," said George Zamka, one of the NASA officials who supervised the trainees.
The purpose of their trip was to teach the astronaut candidates, who in June began 18 months of training, how to survive in the wilderness if a practice flight goes out of control.
"They do a lot of practice flying in tactical trainers, and they could at some point have to eject," said Marine Corps Capt. Charlton Evans, who trains students at the survival school. "If they're back in the boonies, way back in the boonies somewhere, they may have to get along on their own for a while."
But the backwoods break also was designed to foster a sense of teamwork among the candidates, who after training will spend years at a NASA desk job before being chosen for a space mission.
The astronaut class, including three teachers, three pilots, two doctors and three Japanese astronauts, attended the Navy school for survival, evasion, resistance and escape on 12,400 acres near Rangeley Lake.
They learned about finding food and water and making their way in the woods, starting fires with flint and staying warm at night when the temperature dropped to 40 degrees.
Chris Cassidy, 34, said more than a decade as a Navy SEAL prepared him for the trip.
"The training was very much a team effort," he said. "Each of us brings in certain skills."
Cassidy, who grew up in York, served two tours of duty in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. His parents and brother met him at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, where the astronauts arrived in three minivans — one with the words "Moon or Bust" scrawled in the dust on its rear window.
Cassidy's mother said she wasn't worried about sending her son off to space.
"It just still seems so far in the future," Janice Cassidy said. "He's done far more dangerous things being a Navy SEAL. His first tour in Afghanistan was very difficult for us."
For Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, 29, a high school teacher in Vancouver, Wash., the trip's highlight came one night as the astronauts sat by a campfire on a cliff, pointing out constellations and looking at the moon.
"People have been there, and we're training to get there," she said. "It was definitely one of those surreal moments you treasure forever."