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Author Topic:   Astronaut Passports in Space?
ColinBurgess
Member

Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 07-17-2005 05:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ColinBurgess   Click Here to Email ColinBurgess     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A magazine editor asked me yesterday if astronauts had to carry their passports into space with them, and it was a question I just couldn't asnswer. I believe astronauts on earlier programs carried them, and I know the Saudi prince had to take one on his flight, but is this still the case? I did surf the 'Net a little and one site I found says they do, but it was a fairly juvenile sort of website, so not all that reliable as a source. Anyone know?

Colin

DavidH
Member

Posts: 1217
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted 07-18-2005 11:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for DavidH   Click Here to Email DavidH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This Expedition 6 story is anectotal rather than definitive, but hope it helps:

quote:
TRAVEL DOCUMENTS -- The change in landing plans has created more than mere scheduling problems, noted Melissa Gard, NASA’s manager for the current expedition operations. In response to a question from MSNBC.com, she described how a fellow astronaut will be at the landing site in Central Asia with passports and visas for the two Americans, who had not expected to need them when they blasted off last fall.

Kazakh immigration and customs officials have been sticky in the past about unexpected space visitors with uninspected baggage, but NASA has learned from experience and expects no bureaucratic problems — or any other kind — this time.



http://www.jamesoberg.com/04212003newreality_col.html


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"America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow." - Commander Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Mission, 11 December 1972

[This message has been edited by DavidH (edited July 18, 2005).]

spaceman
Member

Posts: 1104
From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 07-20-2005 05:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaceman   Click Here to Email spaceman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Colin,
I'll dig it out tomorrow and scan it...a black and white copy of Helen Sharman's passport for her Juno mission,
Nick.

ColinBurgess
Member

Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 07-20-2005 05:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ColinBurgess   Click Here to Email ColinBurgess     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
David and Nick,

Appreciate your responses very much - thank you. It seems as if a different protocol might apply to Russian missions, as I had this response yesterday from an active NASA astronaut:

"I 'grew up' in the VITO - Vehicle Integration Test Office. This office is the one which is the eyes, ears, fingers of the crew in their absence, and incorporates the program requirements into the engineering flow at KSC.

"One of the myriad of jobs that the VITT (Vehicle Integration Test Team - which supports the launching) performs is the passport thing. For landing, the VITO chief goes to the primary landing site; the VITT lead (which I was) goes to the secondary site. Should a 'foreign' site be used for landing, a team deploys there. THESE are the folks who meet the crew and who would carry the crew passports."

Colin

gliderpilotuk
Member

Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-21-2005 03:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I presume they wouldn't be obliged to undergo the humiliation of iris scans and fingerprinting if they didn't have biometric passports?
Big Brother is watching YOU!

Paul

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