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Author
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Topic: [Discuss] Selection, training for commercial crew
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perineau
Member Posts: 218
From: FRANCE
Registered: Jul 2007
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posted 03-25-2015 02:13 AM
   
The ISS taxi [Boeing's CST-100; SpaceX's Dragon] is slated for 2017 — 21 months from now. How can astronauts be selected and trained to fly a capsule which hasn't even been built yet not to mention tested and man-rated in that time frame? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-25-2015 02:18 AM
In January, Johnson Space Center director Ellen Ochoa addressed this question during a media briefing providing updates on the status of both Boeing's and SpaceX's work toward flights in 2017. ...NASA is not ready to start naming astronauts to specific test or operational flights on either CST-100 or Dragon, but plans to name a "small cadre" of astronauts who would follow both companies as training procedures and other launch preparations progress."From that cadre, later on, we would select the first crew," Ellen Ochoa, the director of Johnson Space Center and a space shuttle-era astronaut, said in reply to a question by collectSPACE.com. "I don't see individuals being selected immediately, but probably before too long a small cadre of folks out of the [astronaut] office will be named." Representatives from both Boeing and SpaceX said that their respective companies are preparing training facilities and simulators, but that their spacecraft are designed to fly with minimal input from the crew. SpaceX anticipates dividing training between JSC and its own facilities. Boeing, meanwhile, has contracted NASA's Flight Operations Directorate to oversee training crews for CST-100 missions."We will have a mission simulator that will be here at JSC, in the same footprint the shuttle training simulator was in," [Boeing's John] Elbon said. "There will be an ingress and egress simulator here as well. There will be a water egress simulator at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab and some part-task simulators." "We do want Dragon to be an extraordinarily easy vehicle to operate," [SpaceX's Gwynne] Shotwell noted, "but obviously the crew needs to be comfortable and capable of doing what is necessary to maintain safety." |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 03-25-2015 09:52 AM
Hmm. "...designed to fly with minimal input from the crew." This begs the question that has existed since Project Mercury: Will astronauts be the pilot-in-command or just passengers along for the ride (or "spam in a can")? I realize with advances in technology a spacecraft can be fully automated and controlled from the ground if need be, especially in an emergency, but this would go against the grain of a pilot-astronaut's training. Or, if taken another way, it will make it possible for a non-pilot to monitor the spacecraft systems or intervene with or without an emergency. Also, we do know, per an article I read months ago, that the first crew on Boeing's vehicle will include Chris Ferguson, the last shuttle commander, who now works for Boeing. This brings up another point: Will the crews for the CST-100 and Dragon test flights include all-commercial crews or some with NASA astronauts, prior to turning over the capsules to the "customer," NASA, as is done with commercial aircraft? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-25-2015 10:08 AM
quote:
Originally posted by onesmallstep:
Also, we do know, per an article I read months ago, that the first crew on Boeing's vehicle will include Chris Ferguson...
I believe whoever reported that was mistaken. Boeing has said no crew selection has begun and Ferguson has said he has no dibs on a seat. The Soyuz today flies almost entirely autonomously; the crew only takes over when there are problems. The same will be true for CST-100 and Dragon. Boeing and SpaceX are each required to fly a demonstration mission that is crewed by at least one NASA astronaut and one company pilot as part of the certification process. After that, it is all NASA astronauts. | |
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