You’ve sent your astronaut application to NASA, and now all you can do is wait. Months
go by without a response. Then one day, you open your mailbox to find an envelope with the red,
white, and blue NASA logo on it. You rip it open and unfold the letter. As you skim
the typed words on the page, your heart stops. “Congratulations,” the letter says,
“you’ve been accepted into the astronaut training program.”
You shout in joy as you scramble to pack your bags and head to Johnson Space Center
in Houston, Texas. Although you know that astronaut training will be challenging,
you have no idea how brutal the next two years will actually be. Buckle up because
you’re about to learn everything you need to know to go to space.
Day 0 of space training.
You are on a flight to Houston as you read through the materials you submitted to NASA
in your application. You had to work incredibly hard just to get this far,
and even with all of the work you put in, your chances of actually being accepted were pretty
slim. In order to apply, you had to prove you were a U.S. citizen using your birth certificate,
social security card, or naturalization documents if you recently gained citizenship.
You have been in school for most of your life because the only way to even be considered
into the NASA astronaut training program is by having a master’s degree or higher in one of
the STEM fields. You know other candidates who applied had degrees in engineering,
biology, computer science, and mathematics. Your background is in physics and astronomy. It’s been
your dream to become an astronaut since you were a little child. You had those glow-in-the-dark
stars stuck to your bedroom ceiling as a child and still have them even as an adult.
You just graduated with your master’s in physics and started working at a research
institution where you put your degree to the test. Without at least two years of
related professional experience in your field, NASA would have thrown your application in the
trash. Your timing was perfect as NASA only opens the application process about every four years.
In 2013 NASA had more than 6,000 applicants, and only 8 were selected. In 2017,
more than 18,300 people applied to become astronauts, and only 11 made it through the
program. You have already beaten the odds, but the challenges aren’t over quite yet
The plane's wheels hit the tarmac; you are shaken back to the present.
Tomorrow will be your first day of astronaut training. However,
what the instructors have in store may mean your first day could also be your last.
Day 1 of space training.
You are put through a series of examinations to make sure that you meet all of the physical
requirements to be an astronaut. Some things are out of your control, but others you’ve
been preparing for for years to ensure you make it to the next round of tests. First,
the doctor takes your measurements and vitals. You fit into the appropriate height range of
between 62 and 75 inches. Spacecraft are not designed to accommodate anyone
who is extremely tall, and therefore NASA will reject candidates solely based on this factor.
You are told to stand on a black line and read the letters from a poster on the far wall. You
struggle to read the last line and are afraid that your time in the astronaut training programs has
come to a premature end. The doctor hands you a pair of glasses that modifies your eyesight,
giving you 20/20 vision. They take a note on their clipboard and send you to the next test. You must
have 20/20 vision to be an astronaut, but glasses are acceptable if needed to correct your eyesight.
Next, your blood pressure is taken. It read 120/80, which is normal for
an adult. As long as it is below 140/90, you are good to go. The doctors draw blood
to run further tests and check your other vitals. You appear to be in tip-top shape,
so they sign off on your physical and send you across the hall for your psych evaluation.
You are given a series of tests to see how well you cope with stress. Working in space
comes with all kinds of challenges, especially in the cramped confines
of a space capsule or space station. After the doctor is done with you,
they send you to another room where several other astronaut candidates are waiting. You
are asked to work together to solve a series of complex puzzles while NASA employees in
white labcoats observe your behavior and how well you collaborate with others.
They will generate a psychological profile for you which may play a part in deciding your role
in future missions. This is especially important as NASA plans the future of space exploration.
On longer missions back to the moon, it is important that astronauts can spend long
periods of time in cramped quarters with one another. But psych profiles will play an even
more critical role during long-haul missions to Mars that could last for months or even years.
The NASA scientists also take note of who has strong leadership and communication
skills. If you can’t work well with others, you will be asked to leave,
and your dream of becoming an astronaut will be over forever.
Day 2 of space training.
You sit in a room all day taking aptitude tests to ensure you are able to handle the course load
that will be coming your way. In fact, for the first several months of your space training,
you will be stuck in a classroom. This is not only mandatory but necessary as
there is a lot of knowledge that you need to learn to ensure you can handle
yourself in space and operate all of the machinery that will get you there.
Day 3 of space training.
You wake up early and head to the pool for a series of drills to make sure you have
the endurance to continue on in the program. You must complete several military training exercises
to show you are capable of surviving even in the most extreme circumstances. If you aren’t
already scuba certified, you will be required to get your certification. You will also need to
take survival courses, which will provide you with vitally important skills in dangerous situations.
But for right now, you are just being tested on your ability to swim and tread water. You
dive into the chilly pool and begin moving your arms and legs back and forth to keep
your head above water. You must do this for ten minutes to pass. Once that’s done,
you swim three lengths of the 25-meter pool without stopping. You can do all this with
your arms tied behind your back, but the hardest part is yet to come. You are told
to get out of the pool, where several people are waiting for you holding a flight suit.
You put on the uniform and zip it up. The instructor tells you to dive back in and swim
three more lengths of the pool wearing the baggy flight suit and tennis shoes. There is no time
limit for this test, but it is incredibly hard. You struggle to drag your body through the water;
it takes much longer than your initial three laps. By the end of it, you’re gasping for air.
You lay on the pool deck staring up at the metal ceiling. You’ll definitely sleep well tonight.
Day 4 of space training:
You are put through a series of other tests such as long-distance running,
weight lifting, and speed courses. Your results for each one are recorded and put
with your application. You are doing well so far, but you haven’t really started your
astronaut training yet. These tests were just to make sure NASA wasn’t wasting their time
on you. Once you are deemed physically and mentally fit, the real work begins.
Day 5 of space training:
You sit in a classroom with a handful of other cadets. Everyone in the room has an
advanced degree in their field. You were so used to always being the smartest person in the room,
but here you are only average. Over the next several months, this will be your home, and
the other candidates will be your family. You will take 16 different technical courses to familiarize
yourself with the equipment, procedures, and science that will allow you to go to space.
These courses will cover subjects like navigation, system control,
payload delivery, and a plethora of mathematics. On top of the technical courses are science and
engineering classes that you must pass. Each course is harder than the last,
and the teachers are tough but fair. They can’t allow anyone to move on who can’t grasp the
basics in the classroom. You are also required to take public speaking as you will need to have
clear communication skills when talking to flight control, the other crew members, and the public.
Other classes, such as introduction to cultures,
are also mandatory. It is here where you will learn basic information about
other countries that have people aboard the International Space Station. As an astronaut,
you will not just be working alongside other NASA personnel but with people from around the world.
Day 10 of space training. You have been in the classroom all day,
every day. Before you head home for the night, your instructor hands you a pile of manuals and
case studies. Along with your coursework, you are required to read and review these as well.
Day 20 of space training. You’re still in the classroom.
Day 90 of space training. Your back hurts from sitting through lectures for hours every day. Your
eyes will barely stay open as you study all night. But all this hard work is about to pay off. It is
time to begin training on basic simulators. It is not the most exciting part of astronaut training,
but it will definitely be nice to break up the monotonous routine of classwork every day.
You sit in front of a computer and run through simulations on propulsion and
docking. The program is a little clunky as it hasn’t been updated in a while. But then again,
NASA funding has been diminishing ever since the space race, so it is probably more important what
money they do have goes towards space exploration. You continue through a series of simulations based
on different scenarios. Sometimes everything goes according to plan, and other times,
you have to think fast to solve problems that could potentially be life-threatening.
As you sit staring at the computer screen, one of your instructors comes in with a VR
headset. “Try this,” they say. NASA is moving into the future and using virtual reality for
some of its training. You put on the visor and gloves. A virtual world appears in front
of you. It looks exactly like the cockpit of the space capsule you toured during your
first week at the Johnson Space Center. You reach out and touch the flight stick.
Although you can’t physically touch anything, it seems like you’re actually there. You run
through a series of programs with the ability to look around and see each
part of the cockpit. You fly the capsule out of the atmosphere and put it into
orbit around Earth. As you look out of the cockpit window, you marvel at the detail
that was put into the simulation. You were starting to get worn down from all the work,
but this renews your vigor. It just reaffirms that you want nothing more than to go to space.
Day 100 of space training. You are still in basic training but now things are starting
to get good. Today is the day you will meet your mentor. You didn’t get much sleep last
night as you thought about all of the incredible men and women who have been to space. They are
the best of the best, and you will be paired with one of them for the next several months.
Your mentor shows you the ropes in different simulators. They give you tips and help you
understand the systems in detail as you practice on exact replicas of the space
capsules. You sit in mock cockpits where you and your mentor run through checklist
after checklist to make sure you know exactly what every button and knob does.
Every training exercise is done over and over again until it becomes second nature to you. After
you get the basics, your mentor starts throwing you curveballs. As you run through the checklist,
they tell you that one of the sensors has stopped working, and you need to bypass it. You use all
of your skills and extensive knowledge gained through your coursework to solve each problem.
Day 150 of space training. You smile as you look up at the giant contraption in front
of you. You finally have gotten to the point where you will be able to control an actual
flight simulator. This movable contraption will put you in the cockpit of your space
capsule and allow you to run through different scenarios as if you were actually in space.
You start with prelaunch checklists. Everything is a go, and you begin your first simulated
launch. You look at the screen as your simulator clears the atmosphere. You run through the same
simulation over and over again. The instructors watch as you and your crew maneuver through the
different problems they throw at you. Sometimes there is a huge gust of wind that blows you off
course as you ascend; other times, there is a malfunction in one of the engines,
and you have to adjust. You crash a handful of times, but that is what the simulator is for. It
is most certainly better to crash in the simulator than to crash for real while strapped to a rocket.
Day 175 of space training. When you get to the Johnson Space Center today with the rest
of the astronaut recruits, your instructors are waiting for you with huge grins on their faces.
You look at your fellow classmates a little nervously. This can’t be good, you think.
You are loaded up onto a bus and driven towards the airfield not
too far from the space center. Waiting on the tarmac is a modified Boeing 727.
You had been both looking forward to and dreading this day since you started the
program. You are about to take your first ride aboard the vomit comet.
You climb aboard the plane and strap in. The whole fuselage has been covered in padding,
and there are only a few seats. Once up in the air, the 727 climbs at a steep angle
and then curves down, essentially freefalling towards the surface of the Earth. The plane then
pulls up and ascends again only to plummet back towards the ground once again after it
reaches the right altitude. This wavy flight path, also known as a series of parabolas,
causes you and the other astronaut cadets on board to become weightless.
The vomit comet got its name because this type of
flight path can be disorienting and can lead to vertigo and nausea. That
is why there are always barf bags handy. It is terrifying but also thrilling. Plus,
it is a good way to prepare you for what it will be like to be weightless in space.
Day 200 of space training. Today will be your first day doing a spacewalk underwater. Your
group of recruits has lost a few members over the past months for various reasons.
Some couldn’t keep up with the amount of work, while others decided this wasn’t the right path
for them. The select few that made it through the application process have now become even fewer.
Your team suits up in real spacesuits inside of The Sonny Carter Training
Facility. It is here where at the bottom of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory,
sits an exact replica of different sections of the space station and a
space capsule. You will be put underwater to simulate the zero-gravity of space by being
neutrally buoyant. It is not a perfect simulation, but it is pretty close.
This will allow you and your team to experience what it will feel like to be on a spacewalk and
make repairs. It is a slow and cumbersome process. The oxygen pumped into your suit smells stale,
and you will be working underwater for hours. There is a dive team to help you around, but once
you get to work, you’re on your own. You carry tools on your suit’s belt that you use to tighten
bolts and screws. You are responsible for swapping out old parts for new ones while also being
in constant communication with the rest of the crewmembers and the instructors at the surface.
Sometimes the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory needs to be outfitted with replicas of
other objects in orbit around our planet that need to be worked on. For example,
in 2009, the final of 5 missions to fix the Hubble Space Telescope was launched.
The astronauts had trained in the pool on an exact replica of the telescope so that
while in space, they could be as prepared as possible for what they would need to do.
Once you’ve completed all of the tasks at the bottom of the pool,
it is time to ascend. You slowly rise to the surface and are pulled out of
the pool. You’re tired, your muscles ache, and you really have to pee.
Day 200 of space training. Less of your days are now spent in the classroom,
and you are doing more work in the simulators. You are still required to take classes,
but the bulk of the coursework is now over. Every day is something new. You might be in the flight
simulator, but a different scenario is thrown at you to test your critical thinking skill.
There are a number of different simulators. Some are fixed-based and more like playing a video game
than anything else. Others are motioned-based and actually move. These are sometimes used for
payload operations and deployments. You practice different maneuvers to make sure that you can line
up the capsule with docking bays without knocking either yourself or the space station off course.
Everything done in space is a delicate process. For every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction; this includes any mistakes you make while in the unforgiving environment of space.
Day 365 of space training. You’ve made it through your first year of astronaut
training. Now you are ready to move into advanced training. This will
not necessarily be harder than what you already went through,
but it will be more focused on the specific duties and missions you might be assigned to.
Using the motion-based simulators, your training exercises now cover entire
missions from start to finish. You sit on a simulated Cape Canaveral launch pad. As
you look out the video screen windows, you see an animated bird fly by. The countdown begins,
and you launch towards space. You have to make minor adjustments by pushing a few buttons,
but everything goes according to plan.
The International Space Station appears on your viewport. You move the flight stick
slightly to align your capsule’s hatch with the docking bay. With each flick of your wrist,
the entire simulator moves slightly. Other than not being completely weightless,
you feel like you’re actually there. After successfully docking,
you unclamp and return to Earth. The capsule enters the atmosphere, the parachute deploys,
and you watch the screen as you slowly approach the computer-generated ocean. Mission complete.
Day 500 of space training. You have officially been assigned to go on a
mission to the International Space Station and conduct research. This means most of
your days are split between the flight simulator, the laboratory, and the replica
of the International Space Station. NASA has created an exact copy of the capsule you’ll
be working in so that you can plan out your experiments. But it is not all fun and games;
you are also practicing other important skills that we take for granted here on Earth.
Without gravity, things like meal prepping, equipment storage, and trash management become
much more difficult. Although you can’t practice these skills in zero-gravity,
being able to do them easily on Earth in a replica of a space capsule before
having to do them for real in space is extremely beneficial.
Another difficulty in space is that there is very little friction meaning that items
don’t experience drag. Once an object is put in motion, it will continue its motion
until it runs into something else. This can obviously be dangerous with things like metal
tools aboard a spacecraft. Therefore, you practice moving objects at the Precision
Air-Bearing Floor lab where NASA has created a space to simulate a frictionless environment.
The way it works at the JPL-designed facility is that compressed air is used to allow objects
to float just above the surface of the floor. This isn’t how it works in space,
but it does create a similar phenomenon. When you push an object in this lab, it keeps moving
as it would in zero-gravity. This allows you and the other recruits to practice passing things to
one another. There will be times tools and equipment will overshoot their destination
and stop at the edge of the frictionless floor, but that is what the training is for.
Day 600 of space training. Since you will be working aboard the International Space Station,
you are sent halfway around the world to meet and train with other astronauts who
will be joining you aboard the ISS. You go to Canada and Japan to conduct several training
exercises at facilities in those countries. You brush up on your Japanese and Russian as it is
always helpful to be able to communicate in multiple ways if something goes wrong.
Some of this work can be done through video chats, but it would be extremely dangerous to
send a bunch of people to the space station without having them meet first. Even if you
aren’t 100% compatible with everyone on the mission, you at least need to get to know
their quirks. Your training has prepared you for almost every situation imaginable,
but no amount of training is as good as being able to trust your crewmates.
Day 730 of space training. You’ve done it. About two
years after you received the letter of acceptance from NASA into the astronaut training program,
you finish your final coursework and all requirements to become an astronaut. The
only thing left to do is go to space. For the past two years, you have lived and breathed
NASA. You have barely seen your friends and family as the coursework and studying
consumed your life. But this was your dream, and now you are officially done with training.
In a few months, you will board a space capsule that sits on top of a rocket made by a privately
owned company. Luckily NASA is starting to move away from using Russian rockets to get
their astronauts to space and relying on American companies like SpaceX and Boeing. This means you
will likely be seated aboard a reusable rocket that will deliver you to space and return to
the landing pad to be used again. Your two years of space training has paid off as you
are about to become one of the select few that can proudly call themselves NASA astronauts.
Now watch “50 Insane Facts About International Space Station You
Didn't Know.” Or check out “What Would Happen To Your Body In Space?”