Tim’s Astronaut Job was advertised online (2:08)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12185816
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Monday, 22 November 2010
Europe's new astronauts graduate
The European Space Agency's (Esa) new intake of astronauts have completed their basic training. The six individuals - two Italians, a German, a Frenchman, a Dane and a Briton - received their graduation certificates at a special ceremony in Cologne, Germany. They are the first group of candidates Esa has put through a training programme of its own design. Previous astronauts have relied on the US and Russia for their education.
Alexander Gerst, Samantha Cristoforetti, Thomas Pesquet, Andreas Mogensen, Luca Parmitano and Timothy Peake will now be given a range of duties within the agency.
"It's been a real whirlwind, a fantastic experience," said Major Peake, a former helicopter pilot with the British Army Air Corps
"We now have to wait for our chance to fly in space but there are some great jobs to be doing in the meantime," he told BBC News.
The first chance for one of the new recruits to go into orbit to visit the space station should come in 2013. This is expected to be one of the two Italian fighter pilots - Samantha Cristoforetti and Luca Parmitano. The 2013 opportunity is guaranteed under an agreement the Italian Space Agency (Asi) has bartered for its nationals in exchange for producing key modules for the space station. Esa itself can nominate another individual for the following year, with a further Asi flight guaranteed in 2015.
"Without going into the names and the specifics of who might be assigned to a particular flight, what I can say today is that 50% of the new astronauts are already in a good position to fly by 2015," Simonetta Di Pippo, Esa's director of human spaceflight, told BBC News.
The new recruits were selected in May 2009 and began their training in the September of that year. Activities have included Russian language lessons, engineering familiarisation; and medical, survival and robotics training. The sextet have also experienced what it is like to operate in the weightless environment of space by flying on a jet that simulates microgravity conditions. This was followed up by sessions in a large pool that tries to reproduce the sensation of spacewalking.
Future work will include a stint as Eurocom - the ground controller who talks to astronauts on the ISS as they perform experiments in Europe's Columbus science laboratory. "The training from now on will be much more individualised," said Dane Andreas Mogensen. "For me personally, in the New Year I will start some pilot training to get my pilot's licence. And then there will be other advanced training, for example more EVA training at Nasa in Houston and more robotics training in Canada."
Flight opportunities for astronauts from all the partner space agencies on the ISS will be restricted in the next five years because the US is retiring its seven-seat shuttles. The only way to get into orbit from next year will be on Russian Soyuz vehicles. These can carry just three individuals at a time. America hopes to introduce a number of commercial crew taxi services from mid-decade onwards.
Recently, the ISS partners agreed to extend the life of the space station until at least 2020. European Space Agency member states are expected to formally endorse that decision at a council meeting in December.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Tim Peake makes first weightless flight
Tim Peake has made a giant leap forward in his training. The Briton is seen floating free in the cabin of a jet plane as it flies a series of parabolic loops to simulate the weightlessness experienced in orbit.
Major Tim is the first UK citizen to be admitted into the European Space Agency's (Esa) Astronaut Corps.
His training will get him ready to fly to the International Space Station.
"We had a number of very important tasks to do, but at each stage there was also a lot of laughter because it was so much fun," Major Tim told BBC News.
The former British Army helicopter pilot took the parabolic flight with Esa's other astronaut rookies - Samantha Cristoforetti, Alexander Gerst, Andreas Mogensen, Luca Parmitano, Thomas Pesquet - who all joined the agency in September last year.
Although the group have practised spacewalking in a giant water pool at their training centre in Cologne, Germany, this was their first microgravity, or "zero-g", flight in an aeroplane.
The outing was made on a specially prepared Airbus A300 which operates from Bordeaux airport, France.
The jet makes a series of steep climbs and when the pilot throttles back near the top of the arc, anything not strapped down in the cabin begins to float free. Each parabola gives about 20 seconds of weightlessness.
"You teach the astronauts how to move in microgravity," explained Dr Gail Iles, an Esa instructor on the flight. "For example, when you throw a container in these conditions, you will move backwards because you have an opposite reaction. They learn how to deal with that."
The rookies tried out the whole-body actions they would need to make to manoeuvre themselves from module to module inside the space station. They also tested a new treadmill for the orbiting platform.
"That was a novel experience because it was on its side and your running position actually faced the roof of the aircraft," explained Major Tim.
"Initially, it felt a bit bizarre in normal flight and as you were doing the pull-ups; but once you were in zero-g and you started running, everything was completely normal."
Five of the six astronauts are pilots by trade, a number of them with extensive experience in fighter jets. But Major Tim said that experience had little bearing on the sensation he felt on the microgravity jet.
"It's genuinely a unique sensation; you don't get that in any aircraft where you are strapped in. And in fact, we all had the opportunity to go up to the cockpit where you are strapped in, and that was completely benign compared to being in the back of the aircraft. It doesn't compare at all to the manoeuvres in fighters or helicopters."
The next three Esa astronauts to go into orbit are all from the old guard - Italians Roberto Vittori and Paolo Nespoli, and Dutchman Andre Kuipers.
Esa is keen to get one of its rookies into space as soon as possible, but the first opportunity will not come before 2013 or 2014.
With the Americans set to retire their space shuttles at the end of this year, the only way to get to the space station will be on a Russian Soyuz vehicle. Its smaller size will restrict the number of flight opportunities for all the world's astronauts.
The US hopes eventually to introduce commercial systems to taxi astronauts to and from the station. These new rockets and capsules should be in operation within a few years.
Major Tim is the first UK citizen to be admitted into the European Space Agency's (Esa) Astronaut Corps.
His training will get him ready to fly to the International Space Station.
"We had a number of very important tasks to do, but at each stage there was also a lot of laughter because it was so much fun," Major Tim told BBC News.
The former British Army helicopter pilot took the parabolic flight with Esa's other astronaut rookies - Samantha Cristoforetti, Alexander Gerst, Andreas Mogensen, Luca Parmitano, Thomas Pesquet - who all joined the agency in September last year.
Although the group have practised spacewalking in a giant water pool at their training centre in Cologne, Germany, this was their first microgravity, or "zero-g", flight in an aeroplane.
The outing was made on a specially prepared Airbus A300 which operates from Bordeaux airport, France.
The jet makes a series of steep climbs and when the pilot throttles back near the top of the arc, anything not strapped down in the cabin begins to float free. Each parabola gives about 20 seconds of weightlessness.
"You teach the astronauts how to move in microgravity," explained Dr Gail Iles, an Esa instructor on the flight. "For example, when you throw a container in these conditions, you will move backwards because you have an opposite reaction. They learn how to deal with that."
The rookies tried out the whole-body actions they would need to make to manoeuvre themselves from module to module inside the space station. They also tested a new treadmill for the orbiting platform.
"That was a novel experience because it was on its side and your running position actually faced the roof of the aircraft," explained Major Tim.
"Initially, it felt a bit bizarre in normal flight and as you were doing the pull-ups; but once you were in zero-g and you started running, everything was completely normal."
Five of the six astronauts are pilots by trade, a number of them with extensive experience in fighter jets. But Major Tim said that experience had little bearing on the sensation he felt on the microgravity jet.
"It's genuinely a unique sensation; you don't get that in any aircraft where you are strapped in. And in fact, we all had the opportunity to go up to the cockpit where you are strapped in, and that was completely benign compared to being in the back of the aircraft. It doesn't compare at all to the manoeuvres in fighters or helicopters."
The next three Esa astronauts to go into orbit are all from the old guard - Italians Roberto Vittori and Paolo Nespoli, and Dutchman Andre Kuipers.
Esa is keen to get one of its rookies into space as soon as possible, but the first opportunity will not come before 2013 or 2014.
With the Americans set to retire their space shuttles at the end of this year, the only way to get to the space station will be on a Russian Soyuz vehicle. Its smaller size will restrict the number of flight opportunities for all the world's astronauts.
The US hopes eventually to introduce commercial systems to taxi astronauts to and from the station. These new rockets and capsules should be in operation within a few years.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Major Timothy Peake at the launch of the UK Space Agency
A very positive step for the UK Space Industry (2:10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4mwkobjTHE
The UK's first official astronaut, Major Timothy Peake, speaks to Astronomy Now at the launch of the UK Space Agency in March 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4mwkobjTHE
The UK's first official astronaut, Major Timothy Peake, speaks to Astronomy Now at the launch of the UK Space Agency in March 2010.
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Timothy Peake (born 1972 in Chichester, Sussex) completed a degree in flight dynamics and qualified as a Full Experimental Test Pilot at the UK’s Empire Test Pilots School. He has notched up over 3000 hours of flying time in Apache helicopters.