SPACE EXPLORATION:

BEYOND THE
IMAGINATION

By
SHREYA MANE
SPACE EXPLORATION: BEYOND THE
IMAGINATION By SHREYA MANE

©Shreya Mane & ESROMAGICA

SPACETECH PVT. LTD.
ESRO MAGICA Publication
"The most exciting phrase to hear
in science, the one that heralds
new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!'
but 'That's funny...'"
Isaac Asimov, science
fiction writer and biochemist.
Foreword:
Get Ready to Lift-off with Me! The increasing
demand of space fields for imaging, space
station operations, space missions, is golden
days and integral part of space era. Therefore,
I thought to explore about exploration of space.
Most of space enthusiastic young generation
wants to become an astronaut. But they don’t
know how to become an astronaut? Because, I
always see that, most of the students ask
common question that, “How to become an
astronaut?” It is a good thing that, they at least
think how to become an astronaut?
A journey to become an astronaut is not easy
but nothing impossible too. There are many
questions, misunderstandings related
becoming an astronaut, and this is the reason
why students get in their mind to becoming an
astronaut. This book covers all aspects related
to Becoming an Astronaut. Starting from space
exploration, space shuttles, astronauts, their
training programs, selection process,
requirements, and many more things. This
book surely helpful to the students who are
interested in space field and specially to
become an astronaut.
I tried to write as much as I can in simple and
in some technical language. Also, my small
suggestion to the students that, if you will start
reading book to imagine that you are an
astronaut, you can easily read and understand
it.
Contents
Space Exploration: .............................................. 8
First Flights........................................................ 19
Landing on Moon .............................................. 21
Space Shuttles .................................................... 24
Space Shuttle Columbia ...................................... 30
Space Shuttle Challenger ................................. 40
Space Shuttle Discovery ..................................... 44
Space Shuttle Atlantis ......................................... 46
Space Shuttle Endeavour ................................. 49
Space Shuttle Enterprise .................................. 51
Astronauts.......................................................... 54
Yuri Gagarin ....................................................... 54
Alen B. Shepard, Jr. ............................................ 57
Valentina Tereshkova ......................................... 60
Aleksei Leonov .................................................. 62
Neil Armstrong .................................................. 64
Rakesh Sharma.................................................... 67
Spacewalks.......................................................... 69
What is Spacewalk? ............................................ 70
Why do astronauts perform spacewalks? ............ 72
How do you train for a spacewalk?..................... 77
How spacesuits work?....................................... 128
The Extravehicular Activities (EVA) Spacesuits
.......................................................................... 131
Create Earth like-Conditions............................. 146
Develop rapid Brain and Behavioral Feedback 148
Space Exploration:
Space exploration is the study of the reaches of
the cosmos beyond Earth's atmosphere using
crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, with the goal
of advancing humankind's understanding of the
cosmos. The section Chronology of crewed
spaceflights has a comprehensive list of all
crewed spaceflights, together with information
on the accomplishments and crew of each
mission. People have always regarded the
heavens and pondered the nature of the
celestial bodies seen in the night sky. In the
20th century, technology advancements in
electronics, other fields, and the creation of
rockets made it possible to launch machines,
animals, and eventually humans into space.
Space exploration is the journey to discover the
mysteries of space. Humans have always been
curious about what lies beyond our planet and
have looked up at the stars in wonder. Over
time, we have developed the technology and
tools necessary to explore space and have sent
many spacecrafts to different parts of our solar
system and beyond.
In the early days of space exploration,
countries such as the Soviet Union and the
United States competed to be the first to reach
space and the moon. The Soviet Union was the
first to launch a spacecraft, called Sputnik, into
orbit around the Earth in 1957, followed by the
United States with the launch of its own
satellite, Explorer 1, a few months later.
In 1961, NASA was established and started to
launch many missions to explore the moon,
Mars, and other parts of the solar system. One
of the most famous missions was the Apollo
program, which sent astronauts to the moon
and allowed them to walk on its surface.

Today, space exploration continues with many

countries and private companies working
together to learn more about our universe.
Some of the current goals of space exploration
include studying the planets, searching for life
beyond Earth, and finding new ways to travel
in space.

Eagle Nebula
Humans have always looked up into the night
sky and dreamed about space.
Space exploration became a reality in the
second half of the 20th century thanks to the
development of rockets with the strength to
defy gravity and reach orbital velocity.
Nazi Germany recognized the potential for
utilizing long-range rockets as weapons in the
1930s and 1940s. Late in World War II, V-2
missiles with a 200-mile range targeted
London, arching 60 miles high over the English
Channel at a speed of more than 3,500 mph.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union
developed their own missile systems following
World War II. Sputnik 1, the first artificial
satellite, was launched into space by the Soviet
Union on October 4, 1957. Russian Lt. Yuri
Gagarin, in Vostok 1, became the first person
to orbit the Earth four years later, on April 12,
1961. Gagarin's 108-minute flight covered 327
kilometers, and he reached that altitude (about
202 miles).
On January 31, 1958, Explorer 1, the first
American satellite, entered orbit. Alan Shepard
was the first American to enter space in 1961.
John Glenn became the first American to orbit
the planet on February 20, 1962, thanks to a
historic flight. People have always regarded the
heavens and pondered the nature of the
celestial bodies seen in the night sky. In the
20th century, technology advancements in
electronics, other fields, and the creation of
rockets made it possible to launch machines,
animals, and eventually humans into space.
But even before technology made these
accomplishments possible, many people—
including scientists, writers, and artists—were
fascinated by the idea of exploring space. By
achieving spaceflight, humanity was able to
explore the solar system and the rest of the
cosmos, comprehend the numerous objects and
phenomena that are more easily viewed from
space, and take advantage of the resources and
characteristics of the space environment for
their own profit. Discovery, scientific
knowledge, and the use of that knowledge to
further human objectives are all aspects of
space exploration.
German scientists launched the first attempts to
launch a man-made object into space during
World War II while testing the V-2 rocket,
which on October 3, 1942, with the launch of
the A-4, became the first artificial object in
orbit. After the war, American initiatives for
both military and civilian research utilized
German experts and their confiscated rockets.
The cosmic radiation experiment, which the
United States launched aboard a V-2 rocket on
May 10, 1946, was the first scientific
expedition from space. Fruit flies were flown
into space for the first animal experiment in
1947, and the first photos of Earth were
obtained from orbit the following year. Both
experiments were carried out using American-
built modified V-2 rockets. Beginning in 1947,
the Soviet Union launched suborbital V-2
rockets and their own variation, the R-1, with
some missions incorporating radiation and
animal testing. They did this with the
assistance of German teams as well. The short
amount of time that these suborbital
experiments could spend in space limited their
applicability.
The significance of the first moon landing by
two American astronauts, which took place
forty years ago, has changed significantly from
its original meaning. Then, it was a blatant
example of how American technology
dominated the rest of the globe and a
representation of American identity. Twenty-
seven astronauts have seen planet Earth as a
small and fragile golf ball floating in the
universe, and as a result, they have helped
develop the understanding that our future can
only be global. Forty years later, the issue is not
the moon and the United States but rather
planet Earth and humanity.
We have seen two paradigm shifts since the
initial lunar landing. The first concerns the
goal, which has changed from space to Earth.
Long-term exploration is not warranted by the
strong human need to discover and explore.
Finding benefits of space exploration that may
inspire steadfast political and popular support,
which is necessary for space exploration to be
sustained over time, is necessary, at least in
Europe—it may be different in other
civilizations. Economic development,
technological advancement, scientific
knowledge, international cooperation, and
educational advancements—all of which can
aid in resolving issues on Earth—must all be
demonstrable benefits. The fate of Earth's
surface is a topic of exploration.
The process has changed from competition to
cooperation, which is the subject of the second
paradigm shift. One flag was placed on the
moon at first, followed by two for the Apollo-
Soyuz mission, four for Space Station
Freedom, and now five for the International
Space Station (ISS). Although the
collaborative process is significantly more
robust and long-lasting than the competitive
race, it is also lot slower.
Future space exploration must be global and
will need bringing together the nations that
have previously explored separately to do so
jointly in the future. This is challenging.
Although it will be the most challenging aspect
of exploration—much more challenging than
any essential technological advancement—it is
important. There isn't any other option.
Together, we'll have to create the future. We
must travel there in stages since it won't be
simple. To successfully use the ISS for
exploration, create plans for robotic
exploration, and specify a human exploration
scenario are the three main phases I envisage.
Space Exploration is the use of astronomy and
space technology to explore outer space. While the
exploration of space is carried out mainly by
astronomers with telescopes, its physical
exploration though is conducted both by unmanned
robotic space probes and human spaceflight.
Human Space exploration helps to address
fundamental questions about our place in the
Universe and the history of our solar system. The
purpose of space exploration is the intangible desire
to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we
know and where we have been has provided to our
society for centuries.
Space Exploration, the investigation, by means of
crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, of the reaches of
the universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere and the use
of the information so gained to increase knowledge
of the cosmos and benefit humanity.
Humans have always looked at the heavens and
wondered about the nature of the objects seen in the
night sky. With the developments of rockets and the
advances in electronics other technologies in the
20th century, it became possible to send machines
and animals and then people above Earth’s
atmosphere into outer space.
Well before technology made these achievements
possible, however, space exploration had already
captured the minds of many people, not only
aircraft pilots and scientists but also writers and
artists.
The strong hold that space travel has always had on
the imagination well explain why professional
astronauts and laypeople alike consent at their great
peril, in the words of Tom Wolfe in “The Right
Stuff” (1979), to sit, “on top of an enormous Roman
candle, such as Redstone, Atlas, Titan or Saturn
rocket, and wait for someone to light the fuse.” It
perhaps also explains why space exploration has
been a common and enduring theme in literature
and art. As centuries of speculative fiction in books
and more recently in films make clear, “One small
step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” was
taken by human spirit many times and in many
ways before Neil Armstrong stamped humankind’s
first footprint on the Moon.
Achieving spaceflight enabled humans to begin to
explore the solar system and the rest of the
universe, to understand the many objects and
phenomena that are better observed from a space
perspective, and to use for human benefit the
resources and attributes of the space environment.
All of these activities-discovery, scientific
understanding, and the application of that
understanding to serve human purposes-are
elements of space exploration.
First Flights
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched
its unmanned Sputnik 1 ("Satellite 1") mission
into space. The satellite was estimated to have
orbited Earth at a height of around 250 km,
weighing roughly 83 kg (183 lb) (160 mi). It
featured two radio transmitters (20 and 40
MHz), which sent out "beeps" that radios all
around the world could pick up. The
ionosphere's electron density was determined
by analysing radio waves, and temperature and
pressure information was stored in the time
between radio beeps. The findings showed that
a meteoroid did not cause the satellite to be
pierced. An R-7 rocket was used to launch
Sputnik 1. On January 3, 1958, it entered again
and caught fire.
The American space program expanded as a
result of this achievement, and two months
later an unsuccessful attempt was made to
place the Vanguard satellite into orbit. The
United States successfully orbited Explorer 1
on a Juno rocket on January 31, 1958. On 3
November 1957, the Soviet dog Laika made
history by becoming the first animal to orbit the
Earth.
Landing on Moon
President John F. Kennedy established the
national objective of "landing a man on the
moon and returning him safely to Earth within
a decade" in 1961. Astronaut Neil Armstrong
made "one huge leap for mankind" on July 20,
1969, when he set foot on the moon. Between
1969 and 1972, six Apollo missions were
launched to investigate the moon. Before men
ever landed on the moon, unmanned spacecraft
took pictures and conducted investigations
during the 1960s. The Mariner spacecraft was
orbiting Mars and mapping its surface by the
early 1970s, while orbiting communications
and navigation satellites were widely used. The
Voyager spacecraft had returned in-depth
pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, their rings, and
their moons by the end of the decade.
The Apollo Soyuz Test Project, the first
international crewed space mission (consisting
of Americans and Russians), and Skylab,
America's first space station, were two of the
greatest achievements in human spaceflight
during the 1970s. People could use their home
dish antennas to receive satellite signals as
television programming was carried over
satellites in the 1980s. Satellites have identified
an ozone hole over Antarctica, located forest
fires, and provided images of the 1986
Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. We
now have a new perspective on the galactic
core thanks to astronomical satellite
discoveries of new stars.
Once upon a time, there was a group of people
called astronauts. They worked for a company
called NASA, which stands for National
Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NASA had a big dream - to send people to the
moon! They worked hard for many years and
finally, in 1969, they were ready. They chose
two brave astronauts named Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin to go on this special mission.
The astronauts traveled to the moon in a
spaceship called Apollo 11. It was a long and
dangerous journey, but they finally made it to
the moon's surface.
When they stepped out of the spaceship, they
were the first human beings to ever set foot on
the moon! They took a walk, collected some
moon rocks, and even planted the American
flag. People all over the world watched this
historic moment on television and were
amazed at what the astronauts had
accomplished.
After their walk on the moon, the astronauts
returned safely to Earth. This was a huge
achievement for humanity and a giant leap for
mankind. From that day on, people have looked
up at the moon with wonder, knowing that
brave astronauts once walked on its surface.

Landing on the
moon: Apollo
12 launches for
second moon
landing Nov.
14, 1969.
Space Shuttles
After the launch of the space shuttle Columbia
in April 1981, the majority of commercial and
government space missions used the reusable
shuttle. Up to Jan. 28, 1986, when the space
shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds
after lift-off, 24 successful shuttle launches
satisfied numerous scientific and military
needs. Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New
Hampshire who would have been the first
civilian in space, was among the seven
members of the crew who perished in the
accident.
The second shuttle tragedy was the Columbia
calamity. All seven crew members were killed
when the shuttle disintegrated on February 1,
2003, as it was re-entering the Earth's
atmosphere. Only a few minutes before it was
supposed to land at the Kennedy Space Center,
a calamity occurred over Texas. According to
an examination, the accident was brought on by
a piece of foam insulation that detached from
the shuttle's propellant tank and harmed the left
wing's edge. In 113 shuttle flights, it was the
second time a shuttle had been lost. Space
shuttle flight operations were halted following
each disaster for a period of more than two
years.
On March 9, 2011, Discovery, the first of the
three operating space shuttles, completed its
final mission; Endeavour followed suit on June
1. Atlantis's landing on July 21, 2011, marked
the end of the 30-year space shuttle program
and the last shuttle mission.
The Gulf War demonstrated the usefulness of
satellites in contemporary warfare. The "high
ground" of space, which the allies held during
this conflict, allowed them to gain a definite
edge. Satellites were utilized for precise
navigation in the featureless desert
environment, early warning of hostile missile
assaults, and information on enemy force
formations and movements. Satellite
advantages allowed the coalition troops to end
the conflict fast, sparing many lives in the
process.
Homeland defense, weather monitoring,
communication, navigation, imaging, and
remote sensing for chemicals, fires, and other
disasters all depend more and more on space
systems. The American space shuttle was made
up of three main parts: a winged orbiter that
carried both crew and cargo, an external tank
storing liquid hydrogen (fuel) and liquid
oxygen (oxidizer) for the orbiter's three main
rocket engines, and two sizable strap-on
booster rockets with solid propellant. The
complete structure was 56 meters (184 feet) tall
and weighed 2 million kilograms (4.4 million
pounds) at lift-off. Together, the main engines
of the orbiter and the boosters produced about
31,000 kilonewtons (7 million pounds) of
thrust during launch. About two minutes after
take-off, the boosters were discarded and
parachuted back to Earth where they could be
reused. The propellants in the exterior tank
were used up by the time the orbiter reached 99
percent of its orbital velocity. The tank was
released, and as it re-entered the atmosphere, it
broke up. Although the orbiter took off
vertically like a disposable rocket launcher, it
performed a glider-like powered fall and
landing.
Satellites and other spacecraft might be
transported by the space shuttle and stored in
the orbiter's cargo compartment for launch into
orbit. In order to allow astronauts to maintain,
restock, board, or retrieve them for a return to
Earth, it may potentially rendezvous with
another spacecraft in orbit. The orbiter could
also be used as a platform in space for
experiments and observations of Earth and
celestial objects for up to two weeks. The
shuttle crew conducted biological and physical
research in the pressurized Spacelab, a
pressurized spacecraft built in Europe, on a few
of its missions.
The American space shuttle, which could have
been flown up to 100 more times, was initially
anticipated to lower the exorbitant cost of
flying into low Earth orbit. However, after the
system was put into use, it turned out that the
vehicle's running costs and the amount of time
required for maintenance in between flights
were far higher than anticipated. A series of
four orbiters—Columbia, the first spacecraft to
fly, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis—was
put into operation between 1981 and 1985.

On
January
28,
1986, the Challenger, which was carrying
seven astronauts, exploded shortly after take-
off, killing everyone on board, including
schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, a private
person. A joint seal in one of the solid rocket
boosters failed due to mechanical design
issues, which were made worse by the
abnormally chilly weather on the morning of
the launch, according to the presidential panel
charged with investigating the tragedy. The
explosion was brought on by hot gases that
eventually leaked through the joint and ignited
the fuel in the external tank of the shuttle. After
the incident, NASA grounded the shuttle fleet
until September 1988 so that it could make the
necessary administrative adjustments to the
shuttle program and fix the design problems.
Endeavour, an orbiter built to replace the
Challenger that was destroyed, completed its
first mission in 1992.
In order to gain experience operating space
stations prior to the creation of the modular
International Space Station, NASA launched a
series of shuttle missions to the orbiting
Russian space station Mir between 1995 and
1998. (ISS). The shuttle was heavily utilized to
launch ISS components into orbit for
construction as well as to transport astronaut
crews and supplies to and from the station
starting in 1998.
Space Shuttle Columbia

shuttle in space When Columbia was launched

from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on April
12, 1981, it became the first shuttle to reach
space. Over the following two decades,
Columbia launched dozens of men into space
and accomplished several firsts. As technology
developed, the shuttle also received
improvements.
shuttle in space the final mission of Columbia
was a failure. The shuttle and its seven-person
crew perished over Texas on February 1, 2003,
when Columbia caught fire during reentry.
NASA added additional safety tests in orbit for
all upcoming missions as a result of the loss of
Columbia.
When NASA was trying to decide what
projects would follow Apollo, discussions on
creating a reusable spacecraft got serious.
Budgetary restrictions prevented research from
moving forward for years even though NASA
was given the assignment, according to NASA
history archives (opens in new tab).
When the first moon landing (opens in new tab)
was almost around the corner in 1969, work
resumed more seriously. In order to examine
potential future space choices, then-President
Richard Nixon established the Space Task
Group (opens in new tab). In the years that
followed, NASA started issuing design
contracts for potential shuttle concepts.
NASA history documents, however, state that
it became evident that the Nixon administration
and Congress would not finance the creation of
a space station and space shuttle (opens in new
tab) at the same time when NASA submitted its
September 1970 budget to the White House.
NASA was consequently compelled to
revaluate its goals and make certain
adjustments to cut expenses.
On June 4, 1974, work on a prototype started.
The name of that spacecraft was Enterprise
(opens in new tab). Orbit shuttle Enterprise was
only ever used for test flights and landings; it
never entered space. On March 27, 1975, work
on the space shuttle Columbia got under way.

According to NASA, the space shuttle

Columbia was given the name of the Apollo 11
command module and the first American ship
to circumnavigate the globe (opens in new tab).
After successfully completing its initial
mission, Columbia made many further test
flights between 1981 and 1982. This includes
STS-3's landing, which was arguably the most
dramatic of the shuttle program. Prior to
landing on STS-3, an "Autoland" system
malfunctioned; the crew regained control (as
planned) right before landing, but the shuttle
impacted the runway more quickly than usual.
According to captain Jack Lousma's NASA
oral history, Columbia's nose pitched up
suddenly during landing as a result of a
software issue (opens in new tab).
According to NASA, STS-5, the first
operational voyage of the space shuttle
Columbia, launched on November 11, 1982,
deployed two commercial communications
satellites. STS-5, which took place in
November 1982, was Columbia's first
operational flight. The subsequent three
missions were carried out by NASA's shuttle
Challenger, until Columbia made its final flight
in November 1983 (STS-9) and carried the first
astronaut for the European Space Agency, Ulf
Merbold of Germany, as well as the Spacelab
experiment module for the first time.
Before making just one flight in 1986,
Columbia was put on hold for significant
upgrades (including the addition of heads-up
displays). On that voyage, Democrat Bill
Nelson (opens in new tab) was one of the
astronauts. (After leaving the Senate, Nelson
would go on to become NASA Administrator.)
The Challenger incident involving the space
shuttle in January 1986 forced a halt to shuttle
operations. Columbia wouldn't take to the skies
once more until 1989.
In its career, the Columbia completed 28 flights
and spent more than 300 days in space.
Initially, it helped with the maintenance and
installation of satellites and telescopes, but
when NASA's emphasis shifted to science in
the 1990s and 2000s, Columbia conducted a
number of successful science missions.
It carried out a number of microgravity
research missions over the years, and on
February 22, 1996, it launched on STS-75 with
an experiment involving a tethered satellite
system. According to ESA, the mission was
intended to launch the Tethered Satellite
System Refight (TSS-1R) into orbit before
releasing it from a tether (opens in new tab).
ESA claims that the link broke before it
traveled the intended distance of 20.7
kilometers (12.9 miles).
However, Columbia changed its focus back to
telescope operations in 1999 and 2002. On July
20, 1999, STS-93 was planned to launch in
order to launch the Chandra X-Ray
Observatory into orbit (opens in new tab).
Only seven seconds before take-off, NASA
claimed that a hydrogen issue cancelled the
initial launch (opens in new tab), but after
additional investigation, NASA found that the
high readings were erroneous.
On July 23, 1999, Columbia launched as part
of the Chandra X-ray Observatory mission
(STS-93), but due to a slightly earlier main
engine cut-off, NASA reports that its orbit was
seven miles shallower than intended. To get
Columbia to the right height, orbital
modifications were required. Chandra was
successfully deployed by the crew during the
mission. Shuttle in space When Columbia took
off on March 1, 2002, STS-109, a mission to
service the Hubble Space Telescope, was the
spacecraft's final successful mission.
Five spacewalks were part of the Hubble Space
Telescope mission on the Columbia spacecraft.
During these spacewalks, astronauts upgraded
science instruments, replaced an outdated
power control unit, and removed and installed
solar arrays. According to NASA, service time
reached a record-breaking 35 hours and 55
minutes at the moment, shattering the previous
record of 35 hours and 28 minutes set by
Hubble's first servicing mission STS-61.
Although nobody realized it at the time, this
would be the second-to-last mission for
Columbia in orbit.
The STS-107 mission, a nearly 16-day research
mission with a concentration on scientific
study, was the space shuttle Columbia's final
flight. Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut,
and Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-born
woman in space, were both members of the
STS-107 crew (opens in new tab).
NASA lost touch with the Space Shuttle
Columbia on February 1, 2003, as it was
making its final ascent over Texas. While the
families of the astronauts waited at the
anticipated landing site at the Kennedy Space
Center, controllers attempted to hail the shuttle
for several minutes.
It became obvious that the crew had perished
when the communications blackout grew
longer and video footage of a massive flying
object shattering into pieces (opens in new tab)
surfaced.
The crew most likely survived the first breakup
but immediately went unconscious as the cabin
lost pressure, according to a crew survival
report (opens in new tab) published by NASA
in 2008. As the shuttle disintegrated around
them, they perished. Their remains were
recovered from the ground and identified using
DNA and dental records, according to the crew
survival report.
In order to determine what caused the
breakdown and to ensure that it doesn't happen
again, the Columbia Accident Investigation
Board (opens in new tab) was established. The
board was presided by Harold W. Gehman Jr.,
a former commander-in-chief of the US Joint
Forces Command. Twelve persons took part in
it, including NASA representatives and former
astronaut Sally Ride, who was also involved in
the Challenger probe. The board came to the
conclusion that a foam fragment from
Columbia's external tank struck the shuttle
during launch and fatally damaged its wing.
Before the launch of the Columbia, this "foam
debris" issue was well-known and well-
documented, but NASA eventually came to
accept it as a normal aspect of space travel. The
board suggested that this issue be resolved.
Both the external tank and new safety protocols
for shuttle missions were modified by NASA.
The crew was required to spend many hours on
each space journey inspecting the shuttle's
bottom for cracked tiles. On an annual Day of
Remembrance (opens in new tab) in January,
NASA continues to honor the crew of the
Space Shuttle Columbia as well as other
astronauts who perished while exploring space.
The crew has also received a number of
monuments. The seven crew members of STS-
107, for instance, were honored with the
naming of seven asteroids (opens in new tab)
that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
The Kennedy Space Centre’s "Forever
Remembered" exhibit, which debuted in 2015,
allows visitors to see wreckage from both the
Challenger and Columbia missions. At the
tourist center, the wreckage is on display and
includes personal items from the astronauts as
well as window frames from the Columbia.
The astronauts' families worked together to
make the exhibit. In the interim, some of the
experiments from Columbia's final flight
produced insightful information. Among them
were a group of roundworms (Caenorhabditis
elegans) that survived reentry and produced
offspring (opens in new tab). In May 2011, the
space shuttle Endeavour carried some of the
descendants into space.
Space Shuttle Challenger
NASA holds memorial services for its fallen
astronauts each January to commemorate the
loss of the Apollo 1 spacecraft, as well as the
space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. The
NASA shuttle program needed a test vehicle,
therefore the space shuttle Challenger, first
known as STA-099, was created. It was given
the name HMS Challenger in honor of a British
Navy research ship that traveled the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans in the 1870s. Challenger
was also the name of the lunar module used on
Apollo 17.
NASA gave Rockwell a contract to transform
STA-099 into OV-099, a space-rated orbiter, in
the beginning of 1979. After construction and
a year of rigorous vibration and temperature
testing, it was finished and delivered in 1982,
much like all of its sister ships. It was the
second operational orbiter in the space program
and had a bright future as an important
workhorse for launching astronauts and other
items into space.
Challenger blasted off on her first flight on the
STS-6 mission on April 4, 1983. The first
spacewalk of the space shuttle program
happened at that time. Astronauts Donald
Peterson and Story Musgrave completed an
Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) that lasted
little over four hours. The mission also saw the
launch of the first satellite in the constellation
of the Tracking and Data Relay System
(TDRS). These satellites were created for
interplanetary communication.
Sally Ride, the first American woman in space,
was sent into orbit by the Challenger space
shuttle during STS-7, the following numerical
space shuttle mission (but not in chronological
order). The first orbiter to launch and land at
night was Challenger, which did so for the
STS-8 flight, which actually happened before
STS-7. Later, on mission STS 41-G, it was the
first to transport two American women
astronauts. Additionally, it completed mission
STS 41-B by performing the first space shuttle
landing at Kennedy Space Center. On missions
STS 51-F and STS 51-B, as well as STS 61-A,
Spacelabs 2 and 3 as well as the first German-
dedicated Spacelab all took off from the ship.
On January 28, 1986, the Challenger launched
for its tenth and final successful mission, STS-
51L, carrying seven men. They were Michael
J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ellison
Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald McNair,
and Gregory Jarvis. McAuliffe was chosen
from a pool of educators from around the
United States to become the first educator in
space. She had prepared a number of classes
that will be delivered in space and broadcast to
children around the country.

The
Challenger
detonated
seventy-three
seconds into
the mission,
killing the
entire crew. The loss of the shuttle Columbia in
2002 followed the first disaster of the space
shuttle program. NASA came to the conclusion
after a protracted study that the shuttle was
obliterated when an O-ring on a solid rocket
booster failed. Due to exceptionally cold
conditions in Florida right before launch, the
flawed seal design was exacerbated worse.
Flames from booster rockets entered the
external fuel tank through the broken seal and
destroyed it. As a result, one of the supports
holding the booster to the tank's side was
broken off. When the booster came loose, it
struck the tank and pierced one of its sides.
Fuels from the tank and booster that included
liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen combined
and caught fire, destroying Challenger.
Immediately after the disintegration, pieces of
the shuttle, including the crew cabin, crashed
into the water. It was one of the space
program's most graphic and widely seen
tragedies, and NASA and onlookers captured it
on camera from a variety of perspectives. With
the help of a fleet of submersibles and Coast
Guard cutters, the space agency launched
rescue operations almost immediately. The
crew's remains and all of the orbiter's parts took
months to recover. Following the catastrophe,
NASA immediately put an end to all launches.
Flight bans were in place for two years while
the "Rogers Commission" looked into every
element of the catastrophe. Such thorough
investigations are a part of a spacecraft
disaster; therefore, it was crucial for the agency
to comprehend exactly what happened and take
action to ensure that such an accident didn't
happen again.

Space Shuttle Discovery

Discovery has conducted more than 30
successful missions since its first launch, which
is more than any other orbiter in NASA's fleet.
It has undergone some significant alterations
over time, just like all of the orbiters. The most
recent was the first to be done at Kennedy,
starting in 2002. It offered 88 unique tests, 99
enhancements, and new modifications to make
flying safer. The honor of being selected twice
as the Return to Flight orbiter belongs to
Discovery. the STS-114 crew on NASA's
Return to Flight mission to the International
Space Station in July 2005, and the STS-26
crew in 1988.
The name "Discovery" continued a trend
started by some famous, Earth-bound
exploration ships in the past. Henry Hudson
used one of these early sailing ships to explore
Hudson Bay and look for a northwest route
from the Atlantic to the Pacific in the early
1600s.
James Cook, a British explorer who discovered
the Hawaiian Islands in the 1770s while on
expeditions in the South Pacific, utilized
another vessel of this type. Additionally, the
name "Discovery" was used for two British
Royal Geographical Society vessels that
traveled on excursions to the North Pole and
the Antarctic.
It was only natural that NASA's Discovery,
which was built to explore the skies rather than
the oceans, launched the Hubble Space
Telescope into orbit on mission STS-31 in
April 1990 and performed both the second and
third Hubble servicing missions (STS-82 in
February 1997 and STS-103 in December
1999).
Discovery has made a number of successful
journeys to orbit during which it has launched
satellites, transported modules and personnel to
the International Space Station, and put up
several scientific experiments.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

The two-masted yacht that served as the main
research vessel for the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from
1930 until 1966 is the inspiration for NASA's
fourth space-rated space shuttle, OV-104
"Atlantis." Up to five scientists may board the
vessel, which featured a 17-person crew and
two onboard laboratories where they could
study water samples and marine species. The
crew also made a map of the ocean floor using
the first electronic sounding instruments.
On March 3, 1980, work on the Atlantis orbiter
began. Atlantis was built in roughly half the
time in man-hours spent on Columbia thanks to
the lessons discovered through the building and
testing of the orbiters Enterprise, Columbia,
and Challenger. This is partly attributable to
the orbiter's employment of substantial thermal
protection blankets on its upper body rather
than more delicate individual tiles.
Atlantis was almost 3.5 tons lighter than
Columbia when it rolled out of the assembly
plant in Palmdale, California, weighing
151,315 pounds. On April 9, 1985, the brand-
new orbiter was delivered to NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida, where it spent the
following seven months getting ready for its
first mission.
The orbiter Atlantis continued the spirit of
discovery with a number of significant
missions of her own, much like her seagoing
predecessor. Atlantis launched on her maiden
space mission, STS 51-J, on October 3, 1985,
carrying a secret payload for the U.S.
Department of Defense. Later missions carried
four more DOD payloads on the same
spacecraft.
Numerous notable spacecraft were also
launched from Atlantis, including the Compton
Gamma Ray Observatory and the planetary
probes Magellan and Galileo. Most missions
included a significant number of onboard
science experiments to further space research
in low Earth orbit.
Atlantis was the first Shuttle-Mir mission,
flying the first seven Shuttle-Mir flights to
dock with the Russian space station beginning
with STS-71. The largest spacecraft in orbit at
the time was created when Atlantis and Mir
were connected. The first on-orbit American
crew exchanges, which are now frequent on the
International Space Station, happened during
the trips to Mir. After spending a record-
breaking 188 days in orbit aboard Mir,
astronaut Shannon Lucid was transported down
to Earth by Atlantis on STS-79, the fourth
docking mission.
The U.S. laboratory module, Destiny, as well
as the Joint Airlock Quest and other pieces of
the Integrated Truss structure that serves as the
station's backbone were all brought to the
International Space Station by Atlantis in
recent years.

Space Shuttle Endeavour

The greatest disaster of the space shuttle
program led to the development of Endeavour,
the fifth and last space shuttle to be completed.
Congress gave NASA permission to replace
Challenger, which broke up in 1986 just after
launch. To build the new orbiter, NASA used
leftover components from its shuttle fleet.
Endeavour made 25 space flights. Their
members completed the first Hubble Space
Telescope servicing mission, among other
career high points. Additionally, Endeavour
made four trips to the International Space
Station and one to the Mir space station.
NASA held a contest for American
schoolchildren to come up with names for the
next shuttle, possibly recognizing an
opportunity to garner some favourable
coverage. A total of 6,000 schools entered the
competition, which had a number of guidelines
for the name. The shuttle had to be called after
6) an "exploratory or research sea craft,"
among other requirements, and it also required
to be simple to understand from orbit.
Endeavour was chosen by about one-third of
the competing schools. It was a British ship,
and James Cook served as its captain on its
maiden trip (1769–1771). Cook took
Endeavour to Tahiti during that voyage so they
could see Venus cross the sun.
Horizon and North Star were also contender
ideas; according to NASA, President George
H.W. Bush decided on the winning name after
consulting the NASA administrator. Based on
their submissions, two schools—Senatobia
Middle School in Mississippi and Tallulah
Falls School in Georgia—were selected as the
winners.
In order to build Endeavour, spare parts from
Discovery and Atlantis were used. The shuttle's
final construction was completed in July 1990,
and it was transported from its assembly
facility in Palmdale, California, to the Kennedy
Space Center in May 1991.

Space Shuttle Enterprise

Enterprise, the first space shuttle, was never
able to reach space. In actuality, the lack of
engines and a heat shield throughout
construction rendered Enterprise ineligible for
space travel. Nevertheless, it was a crucial test
vehicle for the space shuttle program and
contributed significantly to its popularity.
After the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster,
Enterprise also acted as a source for
replacement parts. (Enterprise's components
were utilized to verify the idea that Columbia's
wing had been harmed by falling foam during
launch.) In 2012, shortly after being relocated
to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in
New York City, Enterprise also weathered
Hurricane Sandy. Despite the storm damaging
the shuttle and its pavilion, the exhibit
reopened in 2013 when a new pavilion was
constructed.
The result of years of "lifting bodies" research
was Enterprise. The Air Force and NASA
investigated ways to fly winged spacecraft
back to Earth and land them like aircraft
between 1963 and 1975. Six separate
prototypes were created and put through 223
glide tests, yielding data that was utilized to
design the shuttle and other NASA-developed
related concepts.
"Astronauts are not superhuman. They
lead ordinary lives and have varied
personalities. What is different is their
perspective. It's hard to think of another
group of people who've had this one
experience - of seeing the world from
outside our planet."
- Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut.
Astronauts
The word "astronaut," which is derived from
the Greek words for "star" and "sailor," is
frequently used to refer to someone who has
traveled through space. A person who has
undergone specific training to travel to space is
known as an astronaut. The duties of an
astronaut aboard a spaceship can vary. Usually,
a pilot and a commander work together to lead
the mission. Other positions could be science
pilot, mission expert, payload commander, and
flight engineer. Before they may take part in a
spaceflight, astronauts must complete rigorous
training and testing. They must demonstrate
that they can withstand the physical demands
of weightlessness in orbit and high gravity
during launch. Additionally, they need to be
skilled technically and able to handle any
difficult conditions that may happen while on
the assignment.

Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin, or Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin,
was a Soviet cosmonaut who made history in
1961 when he became the first man to journey
into space. He was born on March 9, 1934,
close to Gzhatsk, Russia, U.S.S.R., and died on
March 27, 1968, close to Moscow. Gagarin, a
collective farm worker's son, earned his molder
diploma from a vocational school close to
Moscow in 1951. He took a flying training
while continuing his studies at the Saratov
Industrial College. He enrolled in the Soviet
Air Force cadet school in Orenburg after
completing this course, and he graduated in
1957. On April 12, 1961, at 9:07 AM Moscow
time, Gagarin launched his 4-ton Vostok 1
spacecraft into orbit. It completed one round of
the planet in 1 hour and 29 minutes, reaching a
maximum altitude of 187 miles (301 km), and
it landed at 10:55 AM in the Soviet Union. His
spaceflight immediately made him famous all
over the world. He received the Order of Lenin,
the honorific titles of Soviet Union Hero and
Pilot Cosmonaut, and the Order of Lenin. All
around the Soviet Union, memorials honouring
him were built, and streets were given new
names in his honor.
Yuri Gagarin
Gagarin never returned to space but actively
assisted in the training of subsequent
cosmonauts. Following his historic flight, he
made several trips abroad and began serving as
a delegate to the Supreme Soviet in 1962.
Gagarin and another pilot perished in the crash
of a two-seat jet while performing what was
thought to be a routine training trip. His
cremated remains were buried in a niche inside
the Kremlin. The name Gagarin was given to
the town of Gzhatsk following his death in
1968.
Alen B. Shepard, Jr.
Full name: Alan B. Shepard Jr. The first
American astronaut to travel to space was Alan
Bartlett Shepard, Jr., who was born on
November 18, 1923, in East Derry, New
Hampshire, and died on July 21, 1998, in
Monterey, California. Shepard served on board
the destroyer Cogswell in the Pacific during
World War II after earning his degree from the
U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland,
in 1944. He qualified as a test pilot in 1951
after receiving his navy aviator wings in 1947,
and he has since conducted research on high-
altitude aircraft, in-flight refuelling systems,
and landings on angled carrier decks. He
received his diploma from the Naval War
College in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1957. He
was one of the first seven astronauts selected
by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration for the American Mercury
program in 1959. (NASA).
Shepard flew in the Freedom 7 spacecraft for
15 minutes, reaching a height of 115 miles, on
May 5, 1961. (185 km). Shepard's trip, which
took place 23 days after Soviet cosmonaut
Yury Gagarin became the first person to travel
to space, refocused American space ambitions
and elevated him to the status of a national
hero.
Shepard was chosen as the command pilot for
the first human Gemini mission, Gemini 3, but
due to Ménière disease, an illness that damages
the inner ear, he was unable to fly in 1964. He
had corrective surgery in 1969, which allowed
him to regain full flight status.
Hepard oversaw the Apollo 14 mission, which
included the first lunar landing on the Fra
Mauro highlands, which took place from
January 31 to February 9, 1971. Shepard, an
avid golfer, demonstrated the light lunar
gravity for live television cameras by swinging
at two golf balls with a homemade six-iron club
near the end of his Moon walk. Shepard
oversaw NASA's astronaut office from 1963 to
1969, followed by the years 1971 to 1974,
when he retired as a rear admiral from the navy
and the space program to start a career in Texas'
private sector. Numerous honors were
bestowed upon him, including the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the
NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
Additionally, he coauthored Moon Shot: The
Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon
with fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton
(1994).
Valentina Tereshkova
Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova, full
name Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova,
was the first woman to journey into space. She
was born in Maslennikovo, Russia, on March
6, 1937. She was launched on June 16, 1963,
on the Vostok 6 spacecraft, which made 48
orbits in 71 hours. Valery F. Bykovsky, who
had been launched in Vostok 5 two days
earlier, was also in orbit at the same time as
him; both men landed on June 19.
Tereshkova, who had no formal training as a
pilot but was an experienced amateur
parachutist, applied to the cosmonaut program
in 1961 and was accepted because of this. After
her trip, she abruptly departed the program. On
November 3, 1963, she wed fellow cosmonaut
Andriyan G. Nikolayev. She participated
actively in the USSR Supreme Soviet from
1966 to 1991. She served as the Soviet
Women's Committee's director in 1968 and a
member of the Supreme Soviet Presidium from
1974 until 1991. Tereshkova joined the United
Russia party in 2008 and was elected to the
position of deputy chair of the Yaroslavl
province parliament. She was chosen to serve
in the Duma three years later. Tereshkova
received the Order of Lenin twice and was
recognized as a Soviet Union Hero.
Aleksei Leonov
Aleksei Leonov, or Aleksei Arkhipovich
Leonov, was a Soviet cosmonaut who made the
first spacewalk. He was born on May 30, 1934,
in Listvyanka, Russia, U.S.S.R., and passed
away on October 11, 2019, in Moscow, Russia.
Leonov enrolled in Kaliningrad's early schools
and then enlisted in the Soviet air force in 1953.
Before being chosen for cosmonaut training in
1959, he served as a fighter pilot after
completing his flight training in 1957.
Leonov and Pavel Belyayev were on board
Voskhod 2 when it was launched into orbit on
March 18, 1965. Leonov used an air lock to exit
the spacecraft during the second orbit while it
was around 177 kilometers (110 miles) over the
Crimea. Leonov spent roughly ten minutes
practicing his maneuvers while free-falling
while tethered to the ship before re-entering
Voskhod 2 above western Siberia. After
spending 26 hours in space and 17 orbits, the
ship landed.
Leonov led the Soyuz 19 spacecraft, which
connected in orbit with the American Apollo
spacecraft on July 17, 1975, marking the first
joint Soviet-American voyage, ten years later.
In addition to working at the Yury Gagarin
Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, close
to Moscow, from 1982 to 1991, he retired as a
cosmonaut in 1982. Together with American
astronaut David Scott, he co-wrote the book
Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold
War Space Race in 2004.
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong, or Neil Alden Armstrong, was
an American astronaut and the first person to
set foot on the moon. He was born August 5,
1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and passed away
August 25, 2012 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Stephen
Koenig Armstrong, a state auditor, and Viola
Louise Engel had three children together, with
Neil Armstrong being the oldest. When Neil
was six years old, he had his first flight, which
ignited his love of aviation and flight. He
participated actively in the Boy Scouts of
America and attained the highest rank possible,
Eagle Scout. On his 16th birthday, he received
his pilot's license, and in 1947, he joined the
Navy Air Corps. His participation in the
Korean War, during which he was shot down
once and received three Air Medals, forced him
to leave his studies in aeronautical engineering
at Purdue University in West Lafayette,
Indiana, in 1950. He earned his degree in 1955
and started working for the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which
eventually became the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, as a civilian
research pilot (NASA). He test-flew more than
1,100 hours, using both the X-15 rocket plane
and several supersonic fighters.
Armstrong joined the second group of
astronauts in the space program in 1962. The
first manual space docking maneuver was
carried out by Armstrong and David R. Scott
on March 16, 1966, while Armstrong was the
command pilot of Gemini 8. The spacecraft
was forced to split from the Agena after
docking due to a rocket thruster malfunction
that threw them into an uncontrollable spin.
Following his regaining of control, Armstrong
performed an emergency splashdown in the
Pacific Ocean. Armstrong, Michael Collins,
Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and the Apollo 11
spacecraft launched toward the Moon on July
16, 1969. Armstrong directed the Eagle lunar
landing module manually when it landed on a
plain at the southwest corner of the Sea of
Tranquility four days later, at 4:17 PM U.S.
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (Mare
Tranquillitatis). Armstrong ascended from the
Eagle onto the lunar surface at 10:56 PM EDT
on July 20, 1969, saying, "That's one little step
for [a] man, one huge leap for mankind." (In
the excitement of the moment, Armstrong
omitted the letter "a" from the prepared
statement.) Armstrong and Aldrin spent more
than two hours away from the module
deploying scientific equipment, gathering
surface samples, and taking a ton of pictures.

After spending 21 hours and 36 minutes on the

moon, they launched on July 21 in order to
meet Collins and start their return journey to
Earth. The three astronauts were quarantined
for 18 days following their July 24 splashdown
in the Pacific at 12:51 PM EDT in order to
prevent potential contamination by lunar
germs. They were praised for their role in
ushering in a new era of astronomical
discovery in the days that followed and on a
tour of 21 countries.

Rakesh Sharma
Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to travel to
space, was born on January 13, 1949 in Patiala,
Punjab, India. He is an Indian military pilot and
cosmonaut.
Sharma became a pilot with the Indian Air
Force in 1970. He took a MiG-21 on 21 combat
flights during the 1971 Bangladesh War. He
was chosen as a cosmonaut for a combined
Soviet-Indian space mission in 1982. He
traveled to the Salyut 7 space station on Soyuz
T-11 on April 3, 1984, together with two Soviet
cosmonauts: commander Yury Malyshev and
flight engineer Gennady Strekalov. Sharma
carried out research there, including activities
to examine how yoga affects the body while in
weightlessness and space photographs of India.
Sharma and his crewmates made it nearly eight
days into the mission before landing in
Kazakhstan on April 11. He began working for
Hindustan Aeronautics in 1987 as the
company's principal test pilot. In 2001, he left
Hindustan Aeronautics and was elected
chairman of the board of Bangalore-based
Automated Workflow, a process management
firm (Bengaluru).
Spacewalks
It is an Extravehicular activity (EVA) done by
an astronaut or cosmonaut outside the
spacecraft beyond the Earth’s appreciable
atmosphere. This name derives from the
astronaut “standing up” in the open hatch,
usually to record or assist a spacewalking
astronaut. In Earth orbit, conditions can be as
cold as minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit. In the
sunlight, it can be as hot as 250 degrees. So, the
spacesuit protects astronauts from those
extreme temperatures.
An Astronaut Spacewalk is a dangerous extra
vehicular activity which requires astronauts to
exit the relative safety of their spacecraft (space
station or space shuttle) to perform work on its
exterior. The process adheres to strict safety
procedures, requires extensive safety
equipment, and is only performed when a space
agency determines it is absolutely necessary.
A spacewalk, also known as an extravehicular
activity (EVA), is when an astronaut leaves the
safety of their spacecraft and goes outside to
work in space. During a spacewalk, astronauts
wear a special suit that protects them from the
harsh environment of space, including the lack
of air, extreme temperatures, and radiation.
Spacewalks are usually performed to repair or
maintain the spacecraft, install new equipment,
or conduct scientific experiments. Astronauts
must be very careful during a spacewalk, as
even a small mistake can be dangerous in the
weightless environment of space.
Spacewalks have been performed by astronauts
on the International Space Station (ISS) and on
various space missions throughout history.
They are an important part of space exploration
and help us learn more about our universe and
the impact of long-duration spaceflight on the
human body.

What is Spacewalk?
In an astronaut spacewalk, also known as an
Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA), an astronaut
literally walks in space, exiting the relative of
the international space station in order to
perform exterior repairs on things like a solar
panel. Spacewalks are dangerous, physically
demanding, and rare.
The process of doing a spacewalk is not just
physically challenging due to the pressurized
resistance of the suit, it is also mentally
demanding – astronauts have to focus on the
work they are doing as well as their safety, a
vast number of potential tools, interacting with
the crew and with the team down in mission
control, all while the clock is ticking.
American, Russian, European and Canadian
astronauts such as Chris Hadfield and David
Saint- Jacques have all performed spacewalks.
Recently, female astronauts Anne McClain and
Cristina Koch completed their first spacewalks,
though the opportunity for the first American
all-female spacewalk was missed because of
issues with spacesuit sizes, meaning NASA
Astronaut Anne McClain walked with
astronaut Nick Hauge.
Why do astronauts perform
spacewalks?
Spacewalking is dangerous and only performed
when a job requires the skill and dexterity of a
human –something that can’t be done by a
robot.
The vast majority of astronauts work is done
inside the relatively safe environment of the
spaceship; and they use robotic arms like
Canadarm2 to remotely do work outside in the
harsh thermal vacuum. Occasionally, though,
external work needs to be done that requires
direct human judgment or dexterity. When the
need outweighs the risk, a spacewalk is
planned.
Astronauts perform spacewalks, also known as
extravehicular activities (EVAs), for a variety
of reasons. Here are some of the main reasons:
1. Maintenance and repairs: Spacewalks
are often used to repair and maintain
equipment on the International Space
Station (ISS) or another spacecraft.
 This equipment is critical for the
functioning of the spacecraft and the
safety of the astronauts on board.
2. Construction: During the construction
of the ISS, spacewalks were used to
assemble and install various
components of the station.
3. Construction: During the construction
of the ISS, spacewalks were used to
assemble and install various
components of the station.
4. Construction: During the construction
of the ISS, spacewalks were used to
assemble and install various
components of the station.

How is spacewalk performed?

There are many different reasons for
spacewalking- everything from installing a
new piece of equipment or removing a broken
piece of apparatus, to deploying experiments,
to surveying for damage- but the operational
components of a spacewalks are all the same
regardless of task.
In the international space station, astronaut
must exit the space center through the pressure
– controlled Quest Airlock. Once in space,
there are systems in place to ensure its efficacy
and safety:
1) During a spacewalk, astronauts are
supported by the crew inside the
station, who help to remind them where
they are in the procedure or setting for
the tools they are using.
2) Astronauts have to work through their
tasks with only an emergency checklist,
as there is no practical way to carry a
printed set of instructions.
3) Astronauts are reliant on their crew and
a spacewalk – experienced astronaut
down on the ground to support them
through the procedures.
4) If an astronaut is the lead spacewalker,
they are also responsible for keeping
 track of what the other astronaut is
doing outside, as well as the cadence,
safety, and completion of the entire
extravehicular activity.

What kind of spacesuits are required for

spacewalks?

The EVA spacesuits are the most important

component to ensuring astronaut safety during
a spacewalk.
1) EVA spacesuits are designed to protect
astronauts from the hostile, deadly
environment of space. The spacewalk
spacesuit shirt consists of a hard upper
torso to protect vital organs from debris
and other dangerous.
2) They are pressurized with pure
oxygen to one-third of sea-level
pressure, can with stand the extreme
cold and heat of the vacuum, and
protect astronaut from the constant
bombardment of tiny, high-speed
 micrometeoroids that fly through the
solar system at 10 kilometers per
second.
3) The suit has a portable life-support
system in its backpack. It contains the
oxygen-purification system, cooling
system, radio, and lithium-ion battery
power system.
4) On the helmet, there are cameras so that
mission control can get a visual record
of work astronaut carry out, as well as
lights for working in the dark. It also
has a gold visor and sunshields to
protect an astronaut’s face and eyes
from the incredibly harsh, unfiltered
solar array.
5) On the chest there is a computer display
and control module to run the suit and a
purge valve to dump pressure if needed.
6) Two hard clips on the front of the suit
allow astronauts to attach a metal frame
that holds all tools.
 7) During a spacewalk, astronauts keep
themselves connected to the space
station with at least one tether, clipped
to the suit using locking metal hooks.
8) Spacesuits are white to reflect the heat
from the sun. The suit itself consists of
14 layers of material, with each layer
playing a different role in keeping
astronauts alive.

How do you train for a spacewalk?

Before you do a spacewalk there are years of
training on suit system, in virtual reality
simulators, in vacuum chambers, and
simulating weightlessness under water. The
most important of these training environments
on the Earth that best simulates the
weightlessness of spacewalking in under water.
1) NASA astronauts train at the Neutral
Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson
Space Center. In this facility there is a
45-foot-deep pool, which contains a
replica section of the ISS and the
 Candarm2, used to help practice the
choreography of a spacewalk.
2) The main aim of training is to invent,
develop, and perfect entire EVAs, and
hone the individual skills needed.
3) Astronauts spend hundreds of hours
training under water, learning how to
operate and maneuver in their
spacesuit, learning how to think in three
dimensions, and developing new
techniques for spacewalking.
4) During training, you practice the skills
to monitor the health of your suit, get
used to the cadence of hot sunrises and
frigid, dark sunsets every 46 minutes,
and pressurized, stiff suit resists every
motion.
5) You train and prepare to the point that
when you are carrying out an actual
spacewalk, the experience is not
overwhelming, but hopefully familiar
and efficient.
 Astronauts also must learn and qualify
on SAFER (Simplified Aid for EVA
Rescue).
6) SAFER is a jetpack, used as an
emergency self-rescue system in the
event that you were to detach from the
ISS and go tumbling into space.
7) It is operated by a deployable joystick
that fires puffs of nitrogen gas through
24 small nozzles to stop you from
tumbling, and help steer astronauts
back to grab onto the station.

The International Space Station (ISS) provides

a relatively safe setting for astronauts to spend
the majority of their waking hours. But on rare
occasions, astronauts are forced to spend hours
in the lethal atmosphere of space, shielded only
by the flimsy spacesuits. Spacewalks are the
name for these excursions.
Spacewalks were essential for building the
space station, and more than 20 years later,
they are still essential for maintaining the
massive spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
Although "spacewalk" sounds a little sexier,
"extravehicular activity," or EVA, is the correct
phrase to use for the exercise. An EVA can be
carried out for a variety of reasons, including
spacecraft maintenance, the installation of new
equipment, or the deployment of scientific
instruments. Spacewalks are rather infrequent
compared to other jobs an astronaut conducts.
They are costly, time-consuming, and most
importantly, hazardous. In order to do remote
tasks in the arduous temperature vacuum of
space, astronauts typically control robotic arms
like the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which was
manufactured in Canada. But on occasion,
when robots simply can't handle the job,
specially trained astronauts must leave the
spacecraft to finish the task with human
dexterity.
How astronauts prepare for a spacewalk?
The first time an astronaut in a space suit sees
the ISS is not in the void of space, but rather 40
feet (12 meters) below the surface. A
submerged model of the space station is housed
in a 6-million-gallon (22,700 metric tons) pool
at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston,
where astronauts train for years before they
ever carry out an EVA in space.
According to NASA, an astronaut exercises for
seven hours in the pool for every hour they
would walk in space. Underwater, astronauts
learn how to maneuver in the confining suit as
they practice connecting electrical
connections, removing damaged equipment,
and other tasks they would perform in space.
On the other hand, floating in the enormous
training pool on Earth is not exactly the same
as actually squeezing out of a hatch on the real
ISS. According to three-time spacewalker and
NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, there
is "no diver floating around to keep you safe"
in space. Spacewalkers go through space at
about 17,500 mph together with the ISS
(28,000 kph). However, there is no breeze, no
air, and no sense of any kind of motion.
Spacewalks are typically carried out in pairs.
(So yet, there has only been one EVA with
three people.) The lead spacewalker, who is in
charge of monitoring the timing, security, and
success of the entire mission, is one astronaut.
Days before the astronauts leave for space, the
spacewalk is being prepared once they are in
orbit. Astronauts examine every component of
their suit and their tools to ensure that
everything is constructed and tethered correctly
as they get ready for their ultimate home repair
job. Decompression, which astronauts go
through before a spacewalk, is the process
divers use to ascend from the ocean's depths to
the surface of the water. The atmospheric
pressure inside the space station is 1
atmosphere, or 14.7 pounds per square inch,
the same as it is at sea level on Earth.
According to NASA, however, the pressure
inside a spacesuit is 4.3 psi, which is roughly
equivalent to the pressure at 30,000 feet (9,000
meters) above Earth. Nitrogen bubbles occur in
the bloodstream after a sudden drop in pressure
from 14.7 to 4.3 psi; this condition, often
known as "the bends" or decompression
sickness, prevents blood flow. A closet-sized
airlock is where astronauts spend the night
before to give their bodies time to acclimate to
the shift in pressure. This way, they can avoid
the condition.
How the spacesuit works?
The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), a
hefty "Michelin Man" suit that astronauts don
to undertake spacewalks, shields them from
solar radiation, debris, and high temperatures.
The temperature of the area can surge to as high
as 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees
Celsius) when participating in this high-
altitude hike and can fall to minus 250 F (minus
160 C) while the sun is hidden. Spacewalking
is undoubtedly not a stroll in the park. The
astronaut must always remain tied, along with
everything else. Most of the time, astronauts
move about by dragging themselves in the
direction they need to go. The spacesuit has a
jet pack called SAFER (Simplified Aid for
EVA Rescue), which the astronaut operates
with a small joystick, in case of an emergency,
such as losing their connection to the vessel.
The spacesuit offers layers of robust defense
and is adaptable enough to help astronauts
carry out delicate activities. The Hubble repair
Massimino performed "needed a great deal of
dexterity and the ability to move and operate
and be comfortable in that suit for a long time,"
he added. "However, it also shielded me from
the harshness of space. I got to know that
spacesuit very well, and it's truly a marvel of
engineering."
The garment takes 45 minutes to put on. The
suit is a marshmallow-like assembly of three
layers that weighs 280 pounds (130 kilograms)
on Earth: the bladder that holds the oxygen, the
constraint that provides the structure, and the
thermal and micrometeoroid layer that protects
against the environment. A Maximum
Absorption Garment (MAG), which is
effectively an adult diaper, is also included in
the suit. You never know when nature will call
in the vacuum of space, and an EVA could last
up to nine hours.
The ultimate workplace distraction
Spacewalks can be prolonged to 7 or 8 hours if
necessary and last an average of 6.5 hours.
Astronauts have a long list of tasks they need
to complete while in space. Nearly every step
of an EVA is captured by cameras installed on
the astronauts' helmets, and headsets enable
them to be in continual communication with
their ship and Mission Control on Earth. A
view of Earth that most people on the world
will never personally experience, astronauts
traveling in space catch a peek of the blue
marble yawning below them every few
minutes.
Major Spacewalk Milestones
First Spacewalk
By nearly three months, on March 18, 1965,
Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov performed
the first spacewalk in history during a 10-
minute outing on the Voskhod 2 mission.
A spacewalk is when an astronaut goes outside
of a spacecraft and works in the vacuum of
space. It's also called an Extravehicular
Activity (EVA). During a spacewalk, the
astronaut is not inside the protection of the
spacecraft and is exposed to the dangers of
space, so they wear a special spacesuit to keep
them safe.

The first spacewalk was performed by

astronaut Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965.
He was part of the Soviet Union's Voskhod 2
mission and spent about 12 minutes outside of
the spacecraft.
Spacewalks are important because they allow
astronauts to complete tasks that are difficult or
impossible to do from inside the spacecraft.
This can include fixing equipment, installing
new parts, or conducting scientific
experiments.
It's amazing to think that people can actually
work and live-in space! The next time you look
up at the stars, think about the incredible
accomplishments of the brave astronauts who
have ventured out into the great unknown.
First American Spacewalk
Ed White performed the first spacewalk by an
American during the Gemini IV mission in
June 1965. According to a 1997 NASA
monograph, White enjoyed every second of his
23-minute journey: "I'm coming back in... and
it's the worst time of my life," he stated as he
entered the Gemini capsule.
On March 18, 1965, astronaut Edward H.
White became the first American to walk in
space. He was a member of the Gemini 4
mission, which was launched into space by
NASA, the United States' space agency. White
was wearing a spacesuit that allowed him to
move around outside the spacecraft. He floated
in the vacuum of space for about 20 minutes,
using a handheld "jet gun" to control his
movements. This was a significant moment in
human history as it marked the first time an
American had explored the final frontier
beyond the confines of a spacecraft. White's
spacewalk paved the way for future
generations of astronauts to continue exploring
the cosmos and pushed the boundaries of
human knowledge and experience.
First Moonwalk
On July 20, 1969, NASA astronauts Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first
infantile steps on the lunar surface, marking a
turning point in the space race. They spent just
about two and a half hours on their moonwalk,
a solid-ground EVA.
The first moonwalk was a historic event that
took place on July 20, 1969. It was the first time
that humans had ever set foot on the moon.
Neil Armstrong, a NASA astronaut, was the
first person to step onto the moon's surface. He
was followed by fellow astronaut Edwin
"Buzz" Aldrin. Together, they spent about two
and a half hours walking on the moon,
collecting samples of moon rocks and soil, and
conducting experiments.
The moonwalk was watched by millions of
people all over the world, who tuned in to
watch the event live on television. It was a
major achievement for the United States and a
huge step forward in human exploration of
space.
The moonwalk showed us that we can achieve
great things when we work together and strive
for a common goal. It inspired a new
generation of scientists, engineers, and
explorers to continue exploring the universe
and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

First Woman to Perform a Spacewalk

Nearly 20 years after Leonov drifted in the
vacuum of space, a Soviet astronaut named
Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to
perform a spacewalk in 1984. She and
crewmate Vladimir Dzhanibekov spacewalked
for more over three hours.
First American Woman to Perform a
Spacewalk
In October 1984, NASA astronaut Kathryn
Sullivan made history by becoming the first
American woman to walk in space. Carl Sagan
writes about the "Pale Blue Dot" - not my
experience," said Sullivan of realizing her
ambition of looking down at Earth from the
quiet of space. "I saw the brilliant blue beach
ball."
First African American to Perform a
Spacewalk
The first African American spacewalker was
astronaut Bernard Harris, who accomplished
this feat in February 1995. According to the
BBC, Harris dedicated his historic spacewalk
"to all African-American achievements." In
order to honor many cultures and draw
attention to "their suffering as the indigenous
Americans," he also took the flag of the Navajo
Nation into space with him, according to the
Tampa Bay Times.
First All-Female Spacewalk
The orbiting laboratory's malfunctioning
power controller was replaced by NASA
astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir in
2019, making them the first two women to do
it.
On February 1, 2003, Columbia, which was
returning from an orbital mission,
catastrophically broke up above north-central
Texas at a height of around 60 km (40 miles).
Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut to travel
to space, was among the crew's seven fatalities.
(See the Columbia tragedy.) The shuttle fleet
was instantly grounded once more. The
accident investigation board came to the
conclusion that the orbiter's left wing had been
damaged by insulating foam that had come
loose from the external tank during the launch
of the shuttle, reducing its capacity to provide
thermal protection. Later, as the orbiter re-
entered the atmosphere, it was unable to endure
the intense heat; as a result, the wing was
penetrated by the hot air and destroyed, which
caused the orbiter to disintegrate. Similar to the
review of the Challenger catastrophe, it was
determined that both mechanical and
organizational issues needed to be resolved
before shuttle missions could restart for the
Columbia accident. With the launch of
Discovery on July 26, 2005, space shuttle
flights were once again conducted. On July 8,
2011, the 135th space shuttle mission, the last
one, was launched. According to a NASA
announcement, upcoming crewed flights
would use both American-made and Russian
Soyuz spacecraft. The Enterprise, which did
not travel into space but was only used for
landing tests in 1977, and the three remaining
orbiters were put on display at museums across
the country.
 International Space Station

The International Space Station

In low Earth orbit, there is a research facility
called the International Space Station. This
high-flying laboratory, whose design and
construction involved numerous partners, has
come to represent collaboration in space
exploration, with former rivals now working
together.
Since Expedition 1's entry in November 2000,
the station has been continually occupied. The
Russian Soyuz and Progress, the American
Dragon and Cygnus, the Japanese H-II
Transfer Vehicle, and earlier the Space Shuttle
and the European Automated Transfer Vehicle
all provide services to the station. Space
tourists, cosmonauts, and astronauts from 17
different countries have all visited it.
Systems for launching satellites into space
have been developed to be more dependable,
safe, and cost-effective. The majority of
American military and research satellites are
put into orbit by a group of disposable launch
vehicles that are made for different purposes.
There is fierce rivalry to build the next
generation of launch systems in the
commercial launch sector, and other countries
have their own launch systems.
The International Space Station (ISS) is a space
station that was built in low Earth orbit,
primarily by the US and Russia, with help and
components from a global consortium.
Funding and technical issues caused a
significant delay in the project, which was
originally an American effort. Freedom was
renamed in the 1990s after being redesigned in
the 1980s to cut costs and increase international
cooperation. Ronald Reagan, the president of
the United States, had originally given NASA
permission to build it within 10 years and had
given it the name Freedom. The European
Space Agency (ESA) and Japan also
contributed, and in 1993, the United States and
Russia agreed to combine their distinct ideas
for space stations into a unified facility.
The Russian Zarya control module and the
American Unity connecting node, both
launched on November 20, 1998, and joined in
orbit by astronauts from the United States
space shuttle, respectively, marked the
beginning of the construction of the
International Space Station (ISS). The Russian-
built Zvezda module, a habitat and control
center, was added in the middle of 2000, and
on November 2 of that year, the ISS welcomed
its first resident crew, which included
American astronaut William Shepherd and
Russian cosmonauts Sergey Krikalev and Yuri
Gidzenko, who arrived in a Soyuz spacecraft.
Since then, people have constantly occupied
the ISS. The overall plan called for the
construction, over the course of several years,
of a complex of laboratories and habitats
crossed by a long truss supporting four units
that held sizable solar-power arrays and
thermal radiators. A NASA microgravity
laboratory named Destiny and other
components were subsequently joined to the
station. Canada, Japan, and 11 ESA members
were also involved in the station's construction,
in addition to the United States and Russia.
Russian disposable launch vehicles launched
Russian modules into orbit, whereupon they
instantly reconnected with and docked to the
ISS. Other components were transported up by
the space shuttle and put together during space
walks in orbit. Shuttles and Russian Soyuz
spacecraft both carried passengers to and from
the International Space Station (ISS)
throughout its construction. A Soyuz was also
permanently connected to the ISS as a
"lifeboat."
Long-term life sciences and material sciences
investigations in the weightless environment
were the primary focus of early research by ISS
astronauts. The shuttle fleet was grounded after
the orbiter Columbia's disintegration in
February 2003, which effectively ended the
station's growth. The crew was reduced from
three to two, and their primary responsibility
was caretaking, which constrained the amount
of science that could be accomplished. Soyuz
spacecraft were used to transport crews to and
from the ISS, and automated Progress ferries
were used to maintain the station.
When the ISS started housing a six-person
crew in May 2009, it was fully functioning,
necessitating the constant docking of two
Soyuz lifeboats. Three Russians, two
Americans, and one astronaut from either
Japan, Canada, or the ESA made up the six-
person crew in most cases. The far end of Kibo
had an external platform added to it in July, and
the Zvezda module had a Russian docking port
and airlock, known as Poisk, attached to it in
November. A cupola with a robotic
workstation and numerous windows was
mounted atop the third node, Tranquility,
which was installed in 2010. This allowed
astronauts to monitor activities on the outside.
The shuttle was decommissioned from service
in 2011 following the construction of the ISS.
After that, the ISS was supported by the
Progress from Russia, the ATV from Europe,
the H-II Transfer Vehicle from Japan, and two
commercial supply craft, the Dragon from
SpaceX and the Cygnus from Orbital Sciences
Corporation. The SpaceX Crew Dragon, a
brand-new American crew capsule, made its
first trip to the International Space Station
(ISS) in 2020, and the Boeing Company's CST-
100 Starline was slated to make its first crewed
test flight in 2022. All astronauts utilized
Soyuz spacecraft to get to the ISS before Crew
Dragon. Four astronauts were transported to
the station by Crew Dragon, allowing the ISS
to hold a crew of seven. The station's Nauka
Russian scientific module was a 2021 addition.
The ISS has been visited by more than 200
astronauts from 20 different nations. On
average, astronauts spend around six months
on the ISS. A Soyuz's return to Earth signals
the conclusion of an ISS Expedition, and
another astronaut takes over leadership of the
space station. A few astronauts have, however,
stayed aboard the ISS for significantly longer
periods of time. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail
Korniyenko and American astronaut Scott
Kelly spent 340 days in orbit from March 2015
to March 2016 as part of a special mission
known as "A Year in Space." The longest flight
taken by an American was Kelly's. (Since Mark
Kelly was Scott's identical twin and a former
astronaut, scientists could compare him to
Scott to see how the extended space trip had
altered Mark.) Russian crewmembers on the
International Space Station (ISS) were
temporarily reduced from three to two in 2017,
while American astronaut Peggy Whitson
extended her mission to 289 days to ensure the
station had a full crew of six. Whitson had
made two prior trips to the ISS and had logged
a total of over 666 days in space—a record for
an American woman. Whitson's record was
eclipsed by American astronaut Christina
Koch, who from March 2019 to February 2020
spent 328 days on the International Space
Station (ISS), the longest spaceflight by a
woman. That period saw the first all-female
spacewalk, which Koch and American
astronaut Jessica Meir accomplished. Between
April 2021 and March 2022, the Russian
cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and the American
astronaut Mark Vande Hei spent 355 days
aboard the space station. Kelly's record for the
longest American spaceflight was surpassed by
Vande Hei.
The largest international scientific and
technological undertaking ever is the
International Space Station. The space station
serves as a permanent laboratory where
gravity, temperature, and atmospheric pressure
may be changed to conduct scientific and
engineering experiments that are not possible
in labs on the earth.
On November 2, 2010, the International Space
Station celebrated ten years of continuous
human habitation. The space station has been
visited by more than 200 people, traveled more
than 1.5 billion miles (equal to eight visits to
the Sun), and orbited the Earth more than
60,000 times since Expedition 1, which
launched in October 2000.
Building in space and understanding how
spacecraft systems work on orbit are two topics
that NASA and the rest of the world have learnt
a lot about. But there is still a lot to learn and
do. As NASA transforms its emphasis from
assembly to scientific research, technological
development, exploration, commerce, and
education, the journey of inquiry and discovery
is just getting started. On board the orbiting
laboratory, the crew members pursue cutting-
edge lines of investigation and development
that have an impact on medical research,
advance materials and techniques that benefit
businesses on Earth, and hasten technological
and engineering advances that have already
shown to have applications that are useful for
life on Earth.
The station keeps pushing the limits of space
science. Its laboratories' special skills will
result in discoveries that will help missions
farther into space. NASA will get ready for
lengthier missions to other locations, like Mars
and beyond, by using the station to research
human endurance in space and test new
technologies and techniques.

Astronauts
Astronaut is a term for a person who has
traveled to space that is derived from the Greek
words for "star" and "sailor." More
specifically, in the West, the term "astronaut"
refers to space travellers from the United
States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. The term
"cosmonaut" (from the Greek words for
"universe" and "sailor") refers to those people
from the Soviet Union and afterwards from
Russia who journey into space. In Russia,
space explorers from all countries are referred
to as "cosmonauts." Chinese astronauts are
sometimes referred to as taikonauts in the West
(from the Greek word for "sailor" and the
Chinese word for "space"), but the term
"Yuanyuan" (from the Chinese terms for
"space" and "traveler") is used in China.
587 people from 41 nations had entered orbit as
of 2022; 518 of these astronauts were men and
69 were women. The 438 days that cosmonaut
Valery Polyakov spent in 1994–1995 onboard
the Russian space station Mir are the record for
the longest stay in space on a single mission.
The cosmonaut Gennady Padalka's 878 days on
one voyage to Mir and four missions to the
International Space Station make up the
longest total individual time. Franklin Chang-
Daz and Jerry Ross, two American astronauts,
completed seven space missions, the most of
any one person. Oliver Daemen, who was 18
years old when he took part in the inaugural
flight of Blue Origin's suborbital spaceship
New Shepard in 2021, became the youngest
person to travel to space. William Shatner, who
was 90 when he participated in the second New
Shepard trip in 2021, held the record for the
oldest astronaut.
There have been 21 fatalities among space
travellers—4 Russian cosmonauts and 17
American astronauts—during spaceflight
operations. Three astronauts died in January
1967 while testing the first Apollo spacecraft
on the ground; one astronaut died in April
1967; three astronauts died in June 1971; a
crew of seven astronauts died in January 1986
when the U.S. space shuttle Challenger
exploded shortly after launch; and seven more
astronauts perished in February 2003 when the
shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry.
In February 1960, the Soviet Union chose 20
air force pilots from 102 applicants to train as
cosmonauts. Due to the tiny dimensions of the
Soviet Vostok spacecraft, these persons also
had to adhere to height (170 cm, or 5 feet 7
inches), and weight (70 kg, or 154 pounds)
requirements. Before they were actually
launched into space, their identities remained a
secret. The majority of the cosmonaut
candidates were between the ages of 25 and 30,
therefore they lacked the depth of test pilot
experience of their American counterparts.
With his one-orbit journey on April 12, 1961,
Yuri Gagarin, one of these 20 young men,
made history by becoming the first person in
space.
No women were initially chosen as astronauts
in the Soviet Union or the United States. (In the
US, seven Mercury astronauts and 13 other
women known as the "Mercury 13" undertook
part of the same testing. One of them was
Wally Funk, who would go on to become the
oldest person in space in 2021.) The Soviet
Union selected five women as cosmonaut
trainees in 1962; Valentina Tereshkova became
the first woman in space when she entered orbit
in June 1963. The first American woman
astronaut, Sally Ride, was launched aboard the
space shuttle Challenger in June 1983. Women
were not chosen for astronaut training in the
United States until 1978. China chose two
female candidates for its second class of
taikonaut trainees in 2010, and Liu Yang
became the country's first space traveler in June
2012 aboard Shenzhou 9.
Astronaut Training
Since the spacecraft used in the Mercury,
Gemini, and Apollo programs had limited
maneuvering capability in orbit and returned to
Earth using parachutes for reentry, this
requirement had more to do with the astronauts'
ability to perform effectively under high-stress
conditions than with their piloting skills. This
is true even though initially the majority of
U.S. astronauts were test pilots. The National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) chose two types of people as astronaut
candidates starting in 1978 with the
introduction of the space shuttle, which served
as a laboratory and operations center when in
orbit and then as a high-speed, challenging
glider as it re-entered the atmosphere and flew
to a runway landing. One group was required
to have a lot of jet aircraft flying experience.
These potential astronauts received training to
become shuttle mission commanders and later
shuttle pilots. The second group was picked to
become astronaut mission specialists. These
candidates did not have to be pilots (although
some were); instead, they were professionals
with advanced degrees in science, medicine, or
engineering. A number of people from
different nations started to become
international mission specialist’s astronaut
candidates in 1992 in preparation for taking
part in missions to the International Space
Station (ISS).
The major responsibility for managing cargo
and experimental activities, as well as
controlling shuttle or space station systems,
falls to mission specialists. Additionally,
mission experts engaged in extravehicular
activities (space walks). The payload experts
were a third group of astronauts that traveled
into space aboard the shuttle in addition to the
pilots and mission specialists. They performed
studies or payload tasks that they were
particularly experienced in. Payload specialists
did not go through official astronaut selection
or training and were not given the NASA
career astronaut designation, despite the fact
that they were recognized to the general public
as astronauts. However, they had the education
and training necessary for the duties of their
mission. NASA, a foreign space agency, or a
payload sponsor put out a nomination for a
payload expert for a particular spaceflight.
Christa McAuliffe, a teacher, was a "teacher in
space" payload specialist on the Challenger
mission, which was lost in space. In the 1980s,
two members of Congress also rode on the
space shuttle as payload specialists. John
Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth,
made a second trip to space in October 1998 as
a shuttle payload specialist. Most payload
experts flew in orbit just once.
History of Astronaut Selection
Since the first manned space flight by the
United States in 1961, the scope of human
space exploration has expanded. However, the
original seven pilots who trained our eyes on
the stars will always be remembered by the
country. NASA requested a list of military
personnel who fit certain criteria from the
armed forces in 1959. NASA required
engineering training and jet aircraft flight
experience while looking for its first
astronauts. Because of the small cabin capacity
available in the Mercury space capsule that is
being designed, height could not exceed 5 feet
11 inches. From an initial pool of 500
applicants, seven men were chosen by NASA
after a series of rigorous physical and
psychological tests. By 1964, the focus had
switched from having aviation experience to
having strong academic credentials. Only those
with the appropriate educational background
were invited to apply. These were the
"scientific astronauts," so named because
candidates had to have at least a doctorate-level
degree or comparable expertise in the natural
sciences, medicine, or engineering to be
considered.
Since the first batch of astronauts were chosen,
several men and women have sought and
fulfilled their aspirations to travel to space. To
start, each of them submitted an application to
become astronauts.
Basic Qualification Requirements
The selection process for astronaut candidates
was created to find highly competent people for
human space programs. As required,
candidates for astronaut positions are chosen.
Personnel from both the military and the civil
sector are taken into consideration. All
applicants, who must be US residents, must
fulfil a number of minimal standards. A
bachelor's degree in engineering, biology,
physical science, or mathematics from an
authorized university is necessary for astronaut
candidates. It's crucial to prepare for school
well. A degree must be followed by either at
least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in
a jet aircraft or at least three years of related,
progressively responsible professional
experience. Experience can be replaced with an
advanced degree in the following ways: A
master's degree equates to one year of
experience and a doctoral degree to three years.
Educators are urged to apply since teaching
experience, especially work at the K–12 levels,
is seen to constitute qualifying experience for
the Astronaut Candidate post.
 Astronaut outside the International Space
Station
The NASA long-duration space flight physical,
which has the following specific needs, is one
of the additional requirements. The candidate's
blood pressure must not be higher than 140/90
when measured while sitting, his or her distant
and near visual acuity must be correctable to
20/20 in each eye, and their standing height
must be between 62 and 75 inches. The
minimum educational requirements for NASA
engineering and scientific positions must be
met by applicants for the Astronaut Candidate
Program, specifically the successful
completion of a standard professional
curriculum at an accredited college or
university leading to at least a bachelor's degree
with a major in engineering, biological science,
physical science, or mathematics. Despite
being closely related to engineering and the
sciences, the following degree subjects are not
accepted: degrees in the social sciences
(geography, anthropology, archaeology, etc.);
degrees in technology (engineering
technology, aviation technology, medical
technology, etc.); degrees in psychology (aside
from clinical psychology, physiological
psychology, or experimental psychology,
which are qualifying); degrees in nursing;
degrees in exercise physiology or comparable
fields; degrees in nursing; and degrees in
aviation, aviation management or comparable
fields.
Both civilian and military applicants are
subject to a week-long process of personal
interviews, medical screening, and orientation
following the preliminary screening of their
applications. After the final decisions have
been made, the results are communicated to all
applicants. The Johnson Space Center (JSC) in
Houston, Texas, houses the Astronaut Office,
where chosen candidates are given the title
Astronaut Candidates. The training and
evaluation process for potential astronauts lasts
about two years. They will take part in the basic
Astronaut Candidate training program during
this time in order to gain the information and
abilities needed for official mission training
after being chosen for a flight. During their
candidate time, military astronaut candidates
with a background in jet flying maintain
competency in NASA aircraft.
Before starting their flight curriculum,
astronaut candidates must take military water
survival training as part of the Astronaut
Candidate training program. They must also
get SCUBA certified in order to be ready for
spacewalk training. As a result, during their
first month of training, all Astronaut
Candidates are expected to pass a swimming
test. They have to complete three 25-meter laps
without pausing, followed by three laps in
flying suits and tennis shoes with no time limit.
Additionally, while wearing a flight suit, they
must tread water continuously for 10 minutes.
In the altitude chambers, candidates are also
exposed to the issues caused by high
(hyperbaric) and low (hypobaric) atmospheric
pressures and taught how to handle
emergencies under these circumstances.
Additionally, during flights in a modified jet
aircraft as it executes parabolic maneuver that
result in periods of weightlessness for around
20 seconds, astronaut candidates are exposed to
the microgravity of space flight. After that, the
plane descends to its starting point, and the
process is repeated up to 40 times per day.
The successful completion of the training and
evaluation phase will determine who will be
chosen as an astronaut in the end. The
following must be accomplished in order for
the Astronaut Candidate Program to be
completed successfully: Systems training for
the International Space Station, training for
extravehicular activities, robotics training,
Russian language training, and training for
aircraft flight preparation. Candidates who
successfully complete the training and
evaluation process and are chosen as astronauts
join the Federal government on a permanent
basis.
Depending on the needs of the agency and the
available workforce at the time, civilian
applicants who are not chosen as astronauts
may be assigned to other posts within NASA.
Equal opportunity in the workplace means that
everyone has the chance to succeed. Regardless
of gender, national origin, race, age, non-
disqualifying physical or mental disability,
genetic information, sexual orientation,
parental status, or gender identity, NASA
offers equal opportunity in Federal
employment.
Candidates for the astronaut program may have
a civilian or military background. All
applicants must have a college degree in
engineering, a physical or life science, or
mathematics (with the exception of candidates
for the position of education mission
specialist). Candidates for either a pilot or a
mission specialist position may be either men
or women. An astronaut candidate must submit
an official application to NASA and go through
a rigorous selection process that includes in-
person interviews, medical exams, and
orientation to the space program. According to
NASA, individuals chosen must be strong team
players, highly skilled generalists, and to some
extent independent and individualistic. The
typical age of a person chosen as a NASA
astronaut candidate has been in their mid-to-
late 30s. Although pilots must be at least 5 feet
4 inches tall, the maximum height for an
astronaut candidate is currently 6 feet 4 inches
(193 cm). The minimum height is 4 feet 10.5
inches (149 cm).
At the NASA Johnson Space Center in
Houston, aspirants to become astronauts go
through a rigorous one- to two-year training
program. They study mathematics, geology,
meteorology, oceanography, astronomy, and
physics in addition to learning about shuttle
and space station systems, guidance and
navigation, orbital dynamics, and materials
processing. Additionally, they receive
instruction in space suits, weightlessness,
scuba diving, and land and sea survival.
Candidates for NASA career astronauts are
those who have successfully completed their
training.
When an astronaut is given a specific mission,
the other crew members and they train together
for a period of months to get ready for the
particular tasks of their spaceflight. Those who
will be a part of a long-term crew aboard the
ISS may take Russian classes in addition to
other subjects. During training, they make use
of a number of simulators and other tools to
become familiar with the intended mission
activities and to practice responding to
emergencies and other deviations from the
norm.
The distinction between pilot astronauts and
mission specialists has disappeared with the
termination of the space shuttle program and
the introduction of long-duration missions on
the ISS; an astronaut from either background
can be a candidate for assignment to a station
mission. In between spaceflight assignments,
astronauts work for NASA in a variety of
positions, from top management to mission
control communicators (who keep in touch
with their co-workers in space).
Mission commanders (who are typically pilots)
and flight engineers have traditionally been the
two types of cosmonauts in the Russian space
program. To determine their suitability for
lengthy flights, cosmonaut candidates must go
through a rigorous physical test, which might
take several months in some cases. In order to
become cosmonauts, candidates must complete
two years of general spaceflight training at the
Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in
Star City, Russia, close to Moscow, followed
by up to two years of training on spacecraft.
An individual can only be given a specific
mission after one or more years of extra
training and before launch. Previously Soviet
and now Russian training has prioritized the
general spaceflight and problem-solving skills
associated with longer stays in space, in
contrast to U.S. astronaut mission training,
which until the late 1990s emphasized the
specific tasks to be accomplished on a short
space shuttle mission. For those astronauts
prepared to stay on the ISS, U.S. astronaut
training has shifted since the late 1990s in the
direction of a similar methodology.
Astronaut Training
Mission commanders (who are typically pilots)
and flight engineers have traditionally been the
two types of cosmonauts in the Russian space
program. To determine their suitability for
lengthy flights, cosmonaut candidates must go
through a rigorous physical test, which might
take several months in some cases. In order to
become cosmonauts, candidates must complete
two years of general spaceflight training at the
Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in
Star City, Russia, close to Moscow, followed
by up to two years of training on spacecraft. An
individual can only be given a specific mission
after one or more years of extra training and
before launch. Previously Soviet and now
Russian training has prioritized the general
spaceflight and problem-solving skills
associated with longer stays in space, in
contrast to U.S. astronaut mission training,
which until the late 1990s emphasized the
specific tasks to be accomplished on a short
space shuttle mission. For those astronauts
prepared to stay on the ISS, U.S. astronaut
training has shifted since the late 1990s in the
direction of a similar methodology.
Spacesuits
When an astronaut needs leave the security of
their spacecraft, they use specialized
equipment called a spacesuit. They can breathe
thanks to these spacesuits, which also shield
them from the Sun's radiation and the harsh
temperatures of space. To prevent the astronaut
from floating away, the spacesuits are
occasionally tied to the spacecraft. Sometimes,
tiny rocket engines are built into the astronaut's
spacesuit to help him or her maneuver the
spacecraft. The clothing astronauts wear in
space is only one aspect of a spacesuit.
Actually, the suit is a little spacecraft. The
astronaut is shielded from the risks of being
outside in space.
A spacesuit is a special type of clothing worn
by astronauts when they are exploring space. It
helps to protect them from the harsh
environment of space, which has no air, no
atmosphere, and extremely high and low
temperatures.
Here are some key features of a spacesuit:
a) Oxygen Supply: The spacesuit
provides astronauts with a supply of
oxygen to breathe. This is especially
important because there is no air in
space.
b) Pressure: The spacesuit is designed to
maintain the right pressure inside the
suit so that the astronaut can survive.
 c) Temperature Control: The spacesuit
has a cooling system to keep the
astronaut comfortable, as well as
insulation to protect against extreme
temperatures.
d) Protection from Radiation: The
spacesuit provides some protection
from harmful radiation in space.
e) Mobility: The spacesuit is designed to
allow astronauts to move around and
perform tasks outside of the spacecraft.
Why does astronaut need spacesuits?
Astronauts benefit much from spacesuits.
Astronauts are shielded from extreme heat and
cold by their suits. While operating in space,
astronauts may breathe oxygen thanks to their
spacesuits. To drink water, use the suits.
Additionally, they protect astronauts from
space dust injuries. The hazard of space dust
may not seem particularly great. The dust,
however, can be harmful when it goes more
quickly than a bullet. Even the special gold-
lined visors on the costumes are there to shield
the eyes from the direct sunshine.
What are the parts of spacesuits?
There are numerous components in a spacesuit.
The astronaut's chest is covered by one piece.
Another piece attaches to the gloves and covers
the arms. The head is shielded by the helmet.
The astronaut's legs and feet are covered in the
final section. Several layers of material are
used in some suit components. Every layer
performs a particular function. Others shield
astronauts from space dust while others
preserve oxygen in the suit.
Astronauts also don another item of clothing
below their suit. Except for their head, hands,
and feet, it covers their entire body. It is
weaved with tubes. In order to keep the
astronaut cool, water runs through the tubes.
A backpack is located on the spacesuit's back.
The oxygen in the backpack is for astronauts'
breathing needs. Additionally, it takes out the
carbon dioxide that astronauts exhale. The
suit's electricity is likewise supplied by the
backpack. The oxygen is circulated through the
spacesuit by a fan. The cooling water is kept in
a water tank.
A SAFER tool is attached to the back of the
suit. The SAFER contains a number of tiny
thruster jets. An astronaut may utilize SAFER
to fly back to the space station if they floated
away from it.

How spacesuits work?

Consider how you dress for the outdoors on a
chilly winter day. You have your jacket,
gloves, helmet or hood, shawl, boots, and
possibly long underwear in addition to your
shirt, jeans, and sweater. To defend yourself
from the cold, you don a lot of clothing.
Now consider what you would need to wear to
defend yourself from space. Space suits must
solve difficulties like atmosphere, water, and
radiation protection while also offering all the
comfort and support that the Earth or a
spacecraft does.
The universe is a very unfriendly place. The
following things could happen if you stepped
outside a spacecraft without a space suit:
• You could become unconscious within
15 seconds because there’s no oxygen.
• Your blood and body fluids could
“boil” and then freeze because there is
little or no air pressure.
• Your tissues (skin, heart, other internal
organs) could expand because of the
boiling fluids.
• You could face extreme changes in
temperature. For example, in the
sunlight temperatures might reach 248
degrees F (120 degrees C) and plummet
to -148 F (-100 C) in the shade.
• You would be exposed to various types
of radiation, such as cosmic rays, and
charged particles emitted from the Sun
(solar wind).
• You could be hit by small particles of
dust or rock that move at high speeds
 (micrometeoroids) or orbiting debris
from satellites or spacecraft.
In order to safeguard you against these risks, a
space suit must:
• Have a pressurized atmosphere
• Give you oxygen and remove carbon
dioxide
• Maintain a comfortable temperature
despite strenuous work and movement
into and out of sunlit areas
• Protect you from micrometeoroids and
from radiation to some degree
• Allow you to see clearly, move easily
inside the space suit and outside of the
spacecraft, and communicate with
others (ground controllers, fellow
astronauts)
The Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES) and
Extravehicular Activities (EVA) are the two
main categories of astronaut suits (ACES).
They are available in many shapes, sizes,
colors, and features. We'll talk about the many
varieties of NASA astronaut suits in this
article.

The Extravehicular Activities

(EVA) Spacesuits
An astronaut dons an EVA spacesuit whenever
they are scheduled for an Extravehicular
Activity (EVA), also known as a spacewalk.
EMUs, another name for this kind of garment,
are extravehicular mobility units. The large,
white, multi-layered suit helps shield the
astronaut from the harsh conditions of space,
including radiation and micrometeorites. The
astronaut will be kept alive and comfortable in
these suits for at least six hours. Additionally,
it costs the most to produce than any other kind
of astronaut spacesuit.
In order to simulate the microgravity
conditions, they will experience during a
spacewalk, astronauts frequently undertake
activities in swimming pools while wearing
those EVA spacesuits during their low-gravity
training sessions. Wearing them allows kids to
practice working and moving. Additionally,
they learn how to fix any issues that might arise
while they are wearing the suit.
They are principally used for spacewalks on the
outside of the International Space Station and,
after the Artemis mission is fully underway, for
upcoming moonwalks. As NASA plans to
travel further into the solar system, it won't be
shocking if the EMU suits get some
modifications or upgrades in the near future
(Mars). For assistance in revamping the suit
(now known as the Exploration Extravehicular
Mobility Unit, or "xEMU") for the Artemis
missions, NASA has turned to the private
sector.
A life support system, radio communications,
and a tether that keeps the astronaut tethered to
the space station are all included in the suit. The
primary and secondary oxygen tanks, as well as
the battery power for the suit's electrical
capabilities, are stored in the suit's somewhat
bulky (319 lb, or 145 kg) backpack. A whole
45 minutes are needed for an astronaut to get
ready for an EVA.

Astronauts Bernard A. Harris Jr. and C. Michael

Foale put on an EVA spacesuit just before their
spacewalk on the ISS.

The Intravehicular Activity (IVA)

Spacesuits
Since it is not designed for usage outside of a
vehicle or spaceship, the Intravehicular
Activity (IVA) suit is far more comfortable
than the EVA spacesuit. Its function is to give
astronauts a little more mobility inside the
spaceship and some protection in case of an
accident, like the depressurization of the
spacecraft.
During take-off and landing, as well as
rendezvous and docking procedures, these suits
are frequently worn. Whereas aboard the Soyuz
spacecraft, Russian cosmonauts don the Sokol
IVA suits, while NASA astronauts don the
Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES) while
traveling aboard the Space Shuttle.
Orange is the color of the Advanced Crew
Escape Suit (ACES), commonly referred to as
the pumpkin suit. This is done in order to
increase wearer visibility when landing in an
emergency. The rescue teams' ability to locate
them is aided by the orange colors stark
contrast to the ocean's blue hue.
An emergency breathing apparatus, a liquid
cooling system, a headset communication
system, automatic inflation parachutes, and an
automatic-inflation life preserver are all
included in the ACES suit. In the case of a
mishap, they are intended to improve the
astronauts' chances of surviving.
ACES-clad astronauts also have pockets that
house the following equipment: a survival
radio, signal mirrors, chemical lights, strobe
lights, flares, knives, and cutters. In the future,
the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) might
take the place of the ACES suit. It makes
reasonable that Nasa would create a new and
superior suit for these longer-duration trips
given its intentions to send people back to the
moon and eventually mars.
Astronauts getting for lunch and putting on their
ACES suits.
The Blue Flight Jumpsuit

Most people generally picture an astronaut

wearing a blue flying suit when they think
about astronauts. The astronauts don this
uniform for training and public appearances.
When not engaged in any specific tasks that
call for them to don a different sort of suit, they
serve as the astronauts' standard uniform.
Consider them a form of uniform or deck attire.
NASA has traditionally utilized the royal blue
shade for its space suits, and this tradition is
still in place today.
The NASA logo is on the right shoulder of the
blue flying suit, while the American flag is on
the left. On the left, the astronaut's name is
likewise embroidered. Additionally, the suit
features numerous pockets for storing little
objects.
Spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle that can fly in a
controlled manner above Earth's lower
atmosphere with or without a crew. Although
early designs for space travel frequently
featured streamlined spacecraft, there is no
special advantage to streamlining in the
vacuum of space. Depending on the task,
different shapes are used in actual vehicles. On
October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik 1, the first spacecraft, which weighed
83.6 kg (184 pounds).
Other unmanned Soviet and American
spacecraft soon followed, and the first manned
spacecraft, Vostok 1, which carried the Soviet
cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, arrived four years
later (on April 12, 1961). Since that time, a
great deal of additional human and unmanned
craft have been launched to advance science,
strengthen national security, or offer crucial
services in sectors like telecommunications and
weather forecasting.
 Sputnik 3
The majority of spacecraft rely on a launch
vehicle for their initial velocity; the launch
vehicle separates from the spacecraft once its
job is complete. Normally, the spacecraft is
either put into an orbit around Earth or, if given
enough velocity to escape the gravity of Earth,
it continues on to another location in space.
Small rocket engines are frequently carried by
the spacecraft itself to aid in navigation and
maneuvering. The Apollo program's human
Moon landing craft, the Lunar Module, was
equipped with rocket engines that allowed it to
soft-land on the Moon and then transfer its
crew to the Command Module, which was
orbiting the Moon. The second vehicle, in turn,
had a service module attached that contained
enough rocket fuel to leave lunar orbit and
travel back to Earth. The American space
shuttle orbiter launches into orbit using three
onboard liquid fuel engines fed by a disposable
external tank and two solid fuel boosters.

Apollo 11 Lunar Module, Eagle 1969

To run the technology they carry, spacecraft
need an internal supply of electricity. The
majority of those intended to spend a lot of time
in Earth orbit employ solar cell panels,
frequently in conjunction with storage
batteries. The shuttle orbiter employs
hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells and is intended for
one-to-two-week long space missions. Deep-
space probes, like the Cassini probe that was
launched to Saturn in 1997 and the Galileo
probe that entered orbit around Jupiter in 1995,
are typically propelled by compact, long-lived
radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which
turn heat emitted by a radioactive substance
like plutonium directly into electricity.
Astronaut Responsibilities
All facets of the International Space Station's
on-orbit operations include astronauts (ISS).
Extravehicular activities (spacewalks),
robotics operations utilizing the remote
manipulator system, experiment operations,
and onboard maintenance duties are all
included in this. On their assigned missions,
astronauts are expected to have a thorough
understanding of the systems of the space
station as well as a thorough understanding of
the operational characteristics, mission goals
and objectives, and supporting systems and
equipment for each experiment. Long-duration
space station missions typically last between
three and six months. Long-duration mission
training is difficult and requires an additional
2–3 years of training and evaluation. This
training necessitates a lot of travel, including
extended stays abroad to train with our foreign
partners. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft will
first be used for trips to and from the space
station, with the possibility of other future
spacecraft currently in development.

Astronaut Formal Training

During their year of candidacy, the astronauts
start their formal training program by reading
instruction manuals and attending computer-
based training sessions on the various
spacecraft systems. The spacecraft systems
trainers are used in the following stage of
training. The astronauts are taught how to use
each system, how to spot problems, and how to
take corrective action if necessary. The Neutral
Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), a part of the
Sonny Carter Training Facility, offers
controlled neutral buoyancy operations in the
facility's water tank to replicate the zero-g or
weightless condition that the crew will
experience during space flight. It is a crucial
tool for developing, testing, and designing the
International Space Station as well as other
NASA initiatives. The facility offers crucial
pre-flight training for the astronaut, enabling
them to become familiar with scheduled crew
activities and the physics of body motion in
weightlessness in preparation for spacewalks.
Astronauts are also trained using a variety of
full-scale simulators and trainers. These
trainers and mock-ups are utilized for
habitability and onboard systems orientation
training. Meal preparation, equipment
stowage, waste disposal, camera use, and
experiment operations are all things astronaut’s
practice.
The NASA fleet of two-seat T38 aircraft allows
astronauts, who are also pilots, to maintain
their proficiency by flying 15 hours per month.
Astronauts who are not pilots fly for at least 4
hours each month. To prepare astronauts for
flight, including the g-forces experienced after
launch, the T38 is utilized for flight readiness
training. The astronaut training program is
intended to get people ready to fly in space on
the International Space Station, Russian Soyuz
spacecraft, NASA's Orion vehicle, and other
future spacecraft.
Things Astronauts Need to Survive in Space
1. Build an Effective Team
After overcoming Earth's gravity and the
vacuum of space, the next biggest challenge
astronauts face is being part of an effective
team. Imagine being stuck in a cramped area
with a small group of people for a long period
of time without any privacy or escape. No, it's
not prison—this is what space exploration feels
like. Astronauts work in suffocatingly small
spaces, have very stressful schedules, and rely
on each other to get their jobs done. Small
conflicts between the crew can quickly escalate
into serious life-threatening problems. Living
and working well together, despite differences
in personalities and perspectives, isn’t a lofty
goal – it’s critical to survival in space.
NASA takes team building very seriously.
Much of the research from NASA’s National
Space Biomedical Research Institute has
focused on team cohesion. We now know
that mixed gender crews work better than all
male or female crews (at least in remote
research facilities, the military, and NASA).
When it comes to multinational crews, the
biggest barrier to cohesion is working with
machines and procedures that are unfamiliar.
This can be easily overcome if different nations
work together when designing machines,
developing procedures, and training their crew.
Based on these findings, NASA created a
comprehensive team training program. Using
classes, simulations, and virtual reality, NASA
trains astronauts to effectively communicate
with one another, work across cultures, make
decisions, take care of each other, lead and
follow, manage conflict, and deal with
unexpected situations in space. Probably the
most important part of the training is the subtle
stuff that comes along the way—the crews get
a chance to spend time together before
missions, get to know each other, create a
common language, and develop trust for one
another.
Space agencies have done a pretty good job of
building effective teams for Apollo, Space
Shuttle, Mir, and International Space Station
missions. But these missions have had the
benefit of regular communication with Earth,
support from ground crews, and shorter
durations. The real challenge will be sending a
team to Mars where communication with Earth
will be delayed and the flight there and back
could take years.

Create Earth like-Conditions

Our biology developed to survive within
Earth's atmosphere and gravity. That's why
spaceships have ample supplies of oxygen and
why astronauts spend so much of their day
exercising.
The same is true of our psychology—it
developed to function on Earth, not in the
vacuum of space. This becomes a major
problem for our internal clock—
the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN
regulates circadian rhythms, which wake us up
in the morning and make us sleepy at night.
Because the SCN is located right next to the
optic nerve, sunlight has a big impact on it. The
more sunlight gets into your eyes, the more
alert you feel. As the sun sets and our
surroundings become dark, the SCN gets your
body ready for bed.
The problem with space exploration is
astronauts don’t get the same exposure to
sunlight and darkness that they’re used to on
Earth. Take the International Space Station—it
orbits the Earth every 90 minutes with varying
exposure to sunlight. The SCN isn’t built for a
90-minute orbit; it's used to a 24-hour cycle.
Being on the International Space Station is kind
of like having perpetual jet lag. Combine that
with the loud sounds of machinery and it’s no
wonder so many astronauts suffer from
insomnia and chronic drowsiness
during simulations and space missions.
Insomnia and drowsiness is a huge problem for
anyone operating machinery. Driving a car
while drowsy is just as bad as driving drunk.
You can imagine how much of a problem this
would cause astronauts working with
multimillion-dollar equipment in life-
threatening situations.
The solution is replicating as many Earth-like
conditions as possible. NASA plans to replace
the International Space Station’s fluorescent
lights with a new LED system that creates blue,
white, and red light. A combination of these
colors creates light that’s similar to what we get
on Earth during mornings, afternoons, and
evenings. Then, mission control will time the
lighting to correspond with a 24-hour cycle.
It’s a similar solution to light boxes which are
used to treat seasonal depression.

Develop rapid Brain and

Behavioral Feedback
We get a lot of feedback from the people we
interact with every day. Coming home from a
rough day at work, our loved ones might ask us
how we’re doing and give us an opportunity to
vent about whatever happened that day. This
type of feedback helps us maintain good mental
health. Improving awareness of our thoughts
and feelings is also a major goal of all effective
psychotherapies.
This type of feedback is rare in space. Sure, the
crew might notice some changes in your mood,
but what if they are also experiencing the same
problems as you? They could also be the source
of your frustration, leading you to isolate
yourself. Some of the sleep research I
discussed earlier has already shown that
astronauts think they feel better than mission
control's data indicates.
This is why NASA is developing remote brain
and behavioral feedback systems to augment
the current monitoring of an astronaut’s
physiology. The goal is for ground crews to
intervene with problems in space before they
impact mission goals or compromise team
cohesion. A group of psychologists are
developing tools to measure interpersonal
behaviours between crew members. Heart-rate,
speech, and distance between crew members
will be monitored using a badge. Ground teams
will be alerted if there are altercations between
the crew or if anyone is isolating themselves.
Psychologists have also developed a
psychomotor vigilance test that measures mood
and depression. Saliva tests and facial
recognition software can also be used to
measure an astronaut’s stress and mood. All of
this information will one day be integrated with
computer software that can provide remote
therapy to help astronauts get back on track.
"Exploration is in our nature. We
began as wanderers, and we are
wanderers still."
- Carl Sagan.
Basic Human Needs in Space
Food
Energy comes from protein, fat, and carbs
found in food. The vitamins and minerals that
our bodies require to function correctly are also
found in food.
Food is transported to the ISS by resupply ships
from Earth. The majority of the food is
precooked or ready to eat (see Figure 1). The
meals are prepared specifically to give the
astronauts the energy and minerals they need to
stay healthy throughout their trip.

Figure 1: A variety of ready-to-eat and pre-

cooked foods
prepared by
NASA for
astronauts on
the ISS. Source:
NASA
Air
Nitrogen, oxygen, and very little carbon
dioxide are present in air that can be breathed.
Cellular respiration, the mechanism by which
our cells obtain energy from the food we ingest,
requires oxygen. We exhale carbon dioxide, a
waste product of cellular respiration. If there is
too much carbon dioxide in the air we breathe,
it can be dangerous because it is a harmful gas.
There is no naturally occurring air to breathe in
the ISS's vacuum-sealed orbit around the
planet. The Environmental Control and Life
Support System (ECLSS, see Figure 2) is a
device that generates oxygen for the astronauts
to breathe. By splitting water molecules into
hydrogen and oxygen gases, oxygen is
produced. The ECLSS also purges the air of
carbon dioxide.
Figure 2: Environmental Control and Life
Support System (ECLSS) on display at
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center Test
Facility. The two racks on the left contain the
Water Recovery System and the rack to the
right contains the Oxygen Generation System.
Source-NASA
Water
On Earth, each individual uses about 350 litters
of water each day for things like drinking,
cooking, washing, and flushing the toilet. Only
12 litres are used daily each astronaut on the
ISS. Since there is no natural water source in
orbit, it is imperative that they practice water
conservation. On resupply spacecraft, some
water is transported from the Earth. However,
since water is heavy, it is impractical to send all
the water astronauts would require for a
lengthy voyage. In the enclosed atmosphere of
the ISS, water recycling is crucial. 93% of the
water used and produced by ISS astronauts is
recycled by the ECLSS (See Figure 2). To
create drinking water, washing water must first
be cleansed. Excess vaporized water in the
cabin's air. Even astronauts’ sweat and urine is
collected and recycled into drinking water.
The Human Body in Space
To effectively carry out our daily activities,
both on Earth and in space, we must maintain
good health. We must consume a healthy diet,
engage in regular exercise, maintain personal
hygiene, get enough rest, unwind, and more.
While children and astronauts have many
things in common when it comes to staying
healthy, living and working in space has some
special effects on health issues.
As astronauts go from the International Space
Station in low-Earth orbit to deep space
destinations on and around the Moon and
beyond, it is crucial to comprehend the
consequences of spaceflight on humans.
NASA's Artemis mission will send the first
man and woman to the Moon, where they will
use cutting-edge tools to explore more of the
lunar surface than ever before and collect data
while remaining healthy and safe.
What exactly happens to the body in space and what
are the risks? Are the risks the same for astronauts
who spend six months on the space station versus
those who may be away on a Mars mission for years?
The simple answer is: No. NASA is
researching risks for Mars missions which are
grouped into five human spaceflight hazards related
to the stressors they place on the body. These can be
summarized with the acronym “RIDGE,” short for
Space Radiation, Isolation and
Confinement, Distance from Earth, Gravity fields,
and Hostile/Closed Environments.
Space Radiation
The majority of the particles that make up the
space radiation environment are protected from
Earth by the magnetic field and atmosphere of
the planet. Nevertheless, radiation at low doses
is a daily occurrence for everyone on Earth,
from the food we consume to the air we
breathe.
Astronauts are subjected to varying, elevated
radiation exposure levels in space that are
distinct from those on Earth. Space radiation
comes from three main sources: galactic
cosmic rays, solar energetic particles from the
Sun, and particles caught in the magnetic field
of the Earth.
The difficulty of shielding against some space
radiation particles, particularly galactic cosmic
rays, is a significant obstacle to lowering the
hazards of radiation exposure. Depending on
how much radiation astronauts are exposed to
overall and how long they are exposed to it for,
increasing radiation exposure can have both
short- and long-term health effects.
People exposed to radiation on Earth have been
found to have an increased risk of cancer and
degenerative conditions like heart disease and
cataracts. The long-term effects of radiation
exposure on astronauts' health are what pose
the greatest health dangers.
The type of radiation in the space environment
appears to have a greater impact on health
outcomes than the radiation received on Earth,
according to animal and cellular study. In
addition to being exposed to greater radiation
in space than on Earth, astronauts may also face
higher dangers as a result of this radiation.
a) Isolation and Confinement
Expedition crews are carefully picked, trained,
and provided with assistance to ensure they can
function well as a team for the duration of their
six to twelve-month missions. Since they will
likely go further and for longer than previous
humans in a secluded setting with only a few
other individuals, crews on Moon or Mars
missions will undergo much more careful
assessment, selection, and preparation. Cross-
cultural sensitivity and team chemistry will be
crucial to the success of the mission because
crews are likely to be international and multi-
cultural.
It's crucial to make sure astronauts get good
sleep because, if not, their internal biological
clocks, or circadian rhythm, may be affected by
things like Mars' extended day of 37 minutes,
various dark and light cycles, a cramped
atmosphere, noise, and stress.

Given that there may be periods when there

will be a lot of work to be done and a changing
schedule, it is crucial to prepare for the
exhaustion astronauts may experience during
spaceflight. NASA takes into account the types
of activities the astronauts will partake in
during a multi-year-round trip to Mars in order
to reduce crew boredom.
The success of the mission depends on the crew
members' ability to communicate and
comprehend one another, and as the mission
progresses, morale and motivation may vary.
No matter how long the mission lasts, this may
be related to decreased stimulation, missing
loved ones, or feeling powerless to help with
family issues back on Earth.
NASA's research has found that it is crucial to
take into account the type and duration of
constrained and isolated experiences using
spaceflight analog on Earth. Humans are more
prone to developing behavioral or cognitive
problems or psychiatric disorders in
environments with more constrained space and
less contact with persons outside of the
immediate context.
b) Distance from Earth
It travels 240 miles above Earth in its orbit.
Compared to the space station, the Moon is
1,000 times farther away from Earth. Mars, on
the other hand, is typically 140 million miles
away from Earth. The astronauts must be able
to work as a team to solve problems and come
up with solutions without assistance from
NASA's mission control while on Mars, where
communication delays can be up to 20 minutes
one-way.
It's also crucial to think about what kinds of
food and medications to bring on a multi-year
journey without access to a grocery store or
pharmacy. Astronauts heading to Mars will
have to pack all of the food, equipment, and
medical supplies they require, unlike space
station crews who routinely get supplies from
cargo planes from Earth.
c) Gravity Fields
On a voyage to Mars, astronauts will
experience three different gravitational fields.
Crews will travel weightlessly between the
planets for the whole six-month journey. Crews
will be in a gravitational field that is around
one-third that of Earth while they live and work
on Mars. Crews will need to readjust to Earth's
gravity once they get home.
It's more difficult than it sounds to switch from
one gravitational field to another. It has an
impact on balance, movement, head-eye and
hand-eye coordination, spatial orientation, and
some crew members even experience space
motion sickness.
As astronauts get used to Mars' different
gravity, landing a spaceship on the planet could
be difficult. Astronauts may develop post-
flight orthostatic intolerance, a condition in
which they are unable to maintain their blood
pressure after standing up, which can cause
dizziness and fainting.
NASA has discovered that weight-bearing
bones lose, on average, 1% to 1.5% of their
mineral density per month when in space,
without the effects of Earth's gravity on the
human body. Although rehabilitation
following a return to Earth may not totally
reverse bone loss, their risk of fracture is not
increased. In addition, astronauts lose muscle
mass in microgravity more quickly than they
would on Earth if they don't follow a healthy
diet and exercise regimen.
In addition, the fluids in the body move to the
head when in microgravity, which could put
pressure on the eyes and impair vision. Crews
may experience a greater risk of kidney stones
due to dehydration and increased excretion of
calcium from their bones if preventative or
countermeasures are not put in place.
d) Hostile/Closed Environments
NASA has discovered that an important factor
in the daily lives of astronauts in space is the
environment inside the spacecraft.
Microorganisms that normally inhabit the
human body can change their features in space,
and in enclosed environments like the space
station, such organisms can spread more
readily from one person to another. The
immune system is weakened and stress
hormone levels are higher, which may make a
person more susceptible to allergies or other
ailments.
Earth-based analog are insufficient for
investigating how human immune systems
respond in space on the ground because they do
not accurately imitate the spaceflight
environment. However, research conducted in
Antarctica with funding from NASA may shed
light on how specific stressors experienced
during spaceflight may impact the human
immune system. While astronauts seldom get
sick after returning to Earth, it is recognized
that spaceflight alters the immune system.
Although the acquired immunity of astronauts
is unaffected, additional research is required to
determine whether spaceflight-induced altered
immunity may result in autoimmune
conditions, in which the immune system
mistakenly targets the body's healthy cells,
organs, and tissues.
Beyond how the environment affects the
immune system, living and working spaces
need to be meticulously planned and
developed. Nobody enjoys living and working
in an environment that is too hot, too cold,
small, noisy, or poorly lit in their home, and the
same is true of any habitat in space.
"The Earth is the cradle of
humanity, but mankind
cannot stay in the cradle
forever."
- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky,
Russian rocket scientist and pioneer of
astronautic theory.