ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano. is gearing up for his second mission to the International Space Station in 2019 on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. All astronauts who fly on Soyuz do a winter survival course in the forests near Star City, Russia.
When Soyuz lands on Earth support teams are usually at hand within minutes to help the astronauts out, but there is always the possibility that the capsule lands in a remote, cold area. As part of their normal training, astronauts learn to survive in harsh climates while waiting for rescue.
For Luca, the course is more of a refresher than learning new skills – he already survived the training in October 2012 as part of his first mission.
The course includes getting out of Soyuz unaided, changing from spacesuits into more winter-friendly garments, signalling for help (as pictured here), building a shelter out of wood and the capsule’s parachute, building a fire and providing first aid.
Credits: GCTC
Tags: ESA European Space Agency European SPace Agency Luca Parmitano Parmitano Astronaut Astronauts Human Spaceflight human spaceflight image week astronauts survival training survival training Russia Star City Fire Flair Astronaut training Red Snow Winter ISS
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Human Spaceflight image of the week:
The date has finally arrived. On 7 February 2008, after years of planning and construction, delays and bad news, concessions and coordination, Columbus is ready to go.
Loaded inside Space Shuttle Atlantis, Europe’s largest contribution to the International Space Station is about to make its final journey.
All tests are complete, the crew is ready and the weather has been cleared for liftoff. In less than an hour, Columbus and the seven-strong crew will begin the ride of their lives, at 19:45 GMT, from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
Fast forward 10 years to the present, and we are one day away from marking this historic moment for European space research.
Tomorrow, the larger Columbus family of planners, builders, scientists, support teams and astronauts will gather to celebrate the laboratory at ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands.
Join us in celebrating this very special 10th anniversary when we celebrate the past, present and future of Europe’s major contributions to the Station and the future of European space exploration. Programme details and live streaming are available here. Follow us on social media using #Columbus10Years hashtag.
Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja 2008
Tags: Human Spaceflight Image of the Week Space Shuttle Atlantis European Columbus laboratory Columbus 10 Years Kennedy Space Center launch ESA
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Human Spaceflight image of the week:
The year: 2007. The place: Cape Canaveral. The Columbus module, built in Italy and shipped from Germany, is undergoing tests at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This unique interior view features some of the hardware that makes Columbus a world-class laboratory. Resembling airline galley storage units, the ‘racks’ are highly compact facilities for research in various scientific disciplines.
Each rack is the size of a telephone booth and can host autonomous and independent laboratories, complete with power and cooling systems. Video and data links send results back to researchers on Earth.
From left to right are the European Drawer Rack, a flexible experiment carrier; the European Physiology Modules for experiments focusing on the human body; Biolab for life sciences experiments; and the Fluid Science Lab for studying fluids in microgravity.
The four are seen here in their launch configuration. The racks were later relocated inside Columbus once in orbit.
Thanks to these and other facilities in Columbus, researchers have been able to conduct multidisciplinary research in microgravity over the past decade.
From studying immune cells to understand how they function to developing technology that finds its way to Earth, Columbus and its suite of research equipment have hosted more than 225 experiments and generated countless scientific papers.
On 7 February, ESA is celebrating 10 years of Europe’s gateway to space research at our technical heart in the Netherlands. The event is a unique opportunity to re-live some exciting milestones, connect live to the Station and look into space exploration plans.
The larger Columbus family of planners, builders, scientists, support teams and astronauts will gather to celebrate the past, present and future of Europe’s major contributions to the Station.
Credit: ESA-S. Corvaja
Tags: Human Spaceflight Image of the Week European Columbus laboratory Columbus 10 years racks science research NASA Kennedy Space Center preflight
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Human Spaceflight image of the week:
The focus of this image is the suspended European Columbus module being moved onto a work stand in a cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
Of course, a cylindrical module of more than 10 t (without payloads) for housing laboratory equipment, storage units and three working astronauts is big, but the contrast between Columbus and the people in the image is startling. Even more so when we remember that Columbus is one of 16 similarly sized modules orbiting 400 km over our heads.
Countless teams across Europe were involved in the planning, building and assembly of the parts that make up this orbital lab. Teams of people were involved in shipping Columbus across the Atlantic, where it was carefully received by even more partners in the greatest human endeavour.
This image of Columbus was taken in the summer of 2006, shortly after the module arrived at the launch site. Teams at NASA put Columbus through its final paces to ensure it was airtight and ready for flight.
It would be another year and half before Columbus made its way to the International Space Station, in 2008. Ten remarkable years later, there is much to celebrate about this long-planned and hard-earned European contribution to the international space community.
To mark the occasion, ESA is hosting a get-together of the larger Columbus family of planners, builders, scientists, support teams and astronauts at our technical heart in the Netherlands on 7 February. The event will be livestreamed to the public, with more details coming soon.
Join us in the celebrations on Twitter by following the #Columbus10Years hashtag and stay tuned for more exciting details.
Credit: NASA
Tags: Human Spaceflight Image of the Week COLUMBUS laboratory Kennedy Space Center NASA ESA teams preflight
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Human spaceflight image of the week:
The European Columbus module is packed up and loaded for transport to the US in this image from 2006. Built in Turin, Italy, and Bremen, Germany, the completed module was shipped to NASA’s facilities in Cape Canaveral, Florida ahead of its February 2008 launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Columbus has been providing microgravity research facilities for the past decade. In honour of this milestone, this week’s image celebrates Columbus’ triumph over setbacks. Many events factored into its delayed launch: the bureaucratic challenge of planning and budgeting, construction delays and the tragic 2003 Columbia Shuttle disaster meant Columbus was five years behind schedule by the time it climbed into the sky.
So it was with joy and relief when Columbus inside its climate-controlled container was loaded into the Beluga aircraft, an Airbus A300 named after the whale it resembles.
Among the many who attended its farewell ceremony was German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Once at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the fully integrated module underwent final tests before being loaded into the Shuttle payload bay.
Since its launch in February 2008, the biggest European contribution to manned spaceflight has provided a multi-disciplinary, multi-user platform for research in biology, fluidics and physics, and technology demonstrations – and continues to do so today.
Credit: EADS–I. Wagner
Tags: Raumfahrt/ Bremen Deutschland Human Spaceflight Image of the Week European Columbus laboratory Airbus Defense and Space Beluga transporation
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