Posts: 1751
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002

Posts: 1634
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 06-28-2006 11:55 AM               

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Good question. I don't know if astronauts are involved in the formal training program, but I've heard a number of astronauts give credit to other more experienced astronauts for helping them learn more about how to function in space. For example Jim Voss said that he learned so much about EVA's from working with Story Musgrave, so as expected there is at least some informal training the occurs.

[This message has been edited by MCroft04 (edited June 28, 2006).]

Posts: 646
From: Douglas, Isle of Man, UK
Registered: Feb 2004

Posts: 361
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 06-29-2006 10:14 AM               

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The crews are always a mix of experience levels. The commander teaches the pilot how to be a better pilot with an eye to becoming a better commander for being under his or her wing. The experienced mission specialists show the less experienced ones the ropes. The trainers are running from specific goals and objectives for the job description (pilot/MS) then step them up to a specific flight when that time comes.

As I see it the astronaut to astronaut is informal word of mouth / anecdotal. The trainer to astronaut interface is heavily documented, scripted and more formal.

Posts: 649
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 06-29-2006 04:57 PM               

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Typically, a returning crew conducts a post-flight debriefing meeting with the rest of the astronaut corps, so this could be considered astronauts teaching other astronauts using their firsthand knowledge and experience.

--John

Posts: 339
From: Houston, Texas, USA
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 06-29-2006 08:31 PM            

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There are whole cadres of professional trainers at JSC, to educate the astronauts in spacecraft systems. (I remember Neil Armstrong thanking everyone involved with his Apollo 11 mission during a trans-Earth TV downlink, and his list ended with the army of trainers--but did not include any scientists.)

But there are also experienced astronauts who are apparently certified as trainers. I recall Shannon Lucid commenting, during an STS-34 downlink, that John Fabian had trained her for RMS ops for their flight on STS 51-G, and then she trained Ellen Baker for their flight on STS-34, sort of a "circle-of-life" observation. I wondered then if she wasn't forgetting all the non-astronaut trainers...

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John Charles
Houston, Texas

[This message has been edited by John Charles (edited June 29, 2006).]

Posts: 46
From: Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 06-30-2006 04:11 PM            

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While I can appreciate that others can gain insight from the experiences of others who have been in space, just because they have experienced something however does not make them a good trainer/teacher.

A lot of the trainers at JSC know more about the systems they train on than the astronauts. They also know how best to communicate and teach it as well. When I was on a behind the scenes tour of the Astronaut training floor one comment I heard was that some of the trainers/technicians on the full motion landing simulator had flown as many, if not more approaches than a lot of the astronauts.