Canadian Space Agency
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Training
In April 2001, I will fly on STS-100, International Space Station assembly flight 6A.
The primary purpose of the flight is to deliver and install the new Canadarm2 (the Space Station Remote Manipulator System or SSRMS), as well as an Italian-made resupply Logistics Module. During the flight two or three spacewalks are planned, which will make me the first Canadian to ever leave a spacecraft and float free in space.
Because of the unprecedented complexity of the ISS, NASA expects to encounter surprises during the orbital construction work. To prepare for the challenges, engineers and astronauts have been methodically practicing procedures, preparing tools and testing equipment for over a decade of spacewalking flight tests. A total of 37 space shuttle missions are scheduled to assemble, outfit and begin research use of the station through 2005, requiring 160 spacewalks totaling 1,920 astronaut-hours. Since astronaut Ed White stepped out of an orbiting U.S. Gemini spacecraft in 1965 to become the first American to walk in space, NASA has conducted only about 377 hours of spacewalks.
Chris Hadfield and the Canadarm2 at the Space Station Processing Facility, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
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This is how I am preparing for this first Canadian spacewalk:
Spacewalking is a hard physical workout. The suit is pressurized, stiff, and cumbersome, with a very high workload on the hands and forearms. Since I’ll be in the suit for 8 or 9 hours, it’s also a matter of endurance. But spacewalking is also a delicate ballet of careful climbing and flying around the shuttle and Station. It requires precise attention to tiny details, and a highly organized choreography.
To train for these 2 different requirements, I have been doing the following:
Technical preparation, with hundreds of hours underwater in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab
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- Physical preparation, including push-ups and sit-ups and squats every morning, as well as running 2 or 3 times a week.
- Technical preparation, with hundreds of hours underwater in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, and in the Virtual Reality Lab, as well as frequent trips to Canada and Florida for SSRMS training.
- Mental preparation, through simulation and procedure development, to thoroughly visualize every step of the flight, including any potential failures.
Through it all, I’ve been impressed with the quality of the hardware itself, and even more impressed with the quality of the people who have designed, built and developed Canadarm2 for flight. It thrills me and makes me extremely proud to be the Canadian aboard STS-100.
