Engineering the International Space Station

Engineering the International Space Station — page 3
BECOMING AN ISS ASTRONAUT Astronaut candidates must have a college degree in engineering science or math They complete years of tough physical and mental preparation Training includes water survival and aircraft flight skills They must learn Russian Candidates learn how to put on bulky space suits Spacewalk practice takes place in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory It is the world’s largest indoor pool Candidates wear suits that keep them stable in the water The pool mimics conditions in microgravity Candidates practice moving around and doing repairs After being accepted astronauts learn specific mission skills They learn to repair equipment and conduct experiments 6 Despite this extreme speed they heard only their radios and the whirring of air circulating in their space suits The vivid blue and green Earth rotated below them The inky blackness of deep space loomed above Commander Whitson used bolts to secure the new computer On another part of the ISS Fischer installed two antennae The astronauts completed their jobs They returned to the airlock and re-entered the ISS