• Question: how long does it take to prepare for space

    Asked by Rowan to Andrea, Charlie 🚀, Col Op, Kirsty, Vinita on 15 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by Jude Norris, Pang, Angel.
    • Photo: Andrea Boyd

      Andrea Boyd answered on 15 Jun 2016:

      2.5years if it’s not your first flight.

      ISS has a set training schedule. After being selected as an astronaut you are only an astronaut candidate (this is the same in every country and space agency) and you have to sit classes and pass tests for about 2 years and only then you can enter into the astronaut selection pool.

      After mission selection you start specific training with the other 2 members of your Soyuz crew of 3. It takes 2.5years years of preflight training (42% in Moscow, 40% in Houston, 10% in Europe, 6% in Japan and 2% other places) where every week Monday to Thursday you sit classes with astronaut teachers to learn new things and every Friday you sit a test on the things you have learned. In the last year of training you learn and practice exactly what you will do in space on the training models of the experiments and sit practical tests. You also take lots of emergency practice drills and of course take lots of Spacewalk training in the pool. (We have life sized ISS modules for training and a 2nd set underwater in the EVA pools in Moscow, Houston and Cologne). And after all that you fly to Moscow for the final gruelling 6hour each Soyuz examinations and mega final astronaut exam (in Russian language). And then after you go into quarantine for 2 weeks in Kazakhstan. Then you launch on a Soyuz to the ISS for your 6 months mission. After landing back to Earth in your Soyuz you have about month medical recovery and post flight data collection etc and 6 months of post flight debriefs in USA, Europe, Russia and Japan.

      Then you can go back into the astronaut selection pool to be chosen for a new mission and when you are chosen the 2.5year training starts all over again 🙂 So the fastest you can get back to into space is 3years after your last trip.

      If you’re interested these are the basic astronaut candidate classes:
      Basic Training Fundamentals:
      Electrical Engineering
      Computer Engineering
      Spaceflight and Aerospace Engineering
      Life Science
      Material Science
      Fluid Science
      Earth Science
      Space Science

      Basic Training Special Skills:
      SCUBA Diving & Extra Vehicular Activities
      Human Behaviour and Performance
      Parabola Flight campaign
      Generic Robotics
      Russian Language
      Survival Skills
      Photo & Video Skills
      etc.

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