LIVING THE DREAM
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John Pazmino
NYSkies Astronomy Inc
nyskies@nyskies.org
www.nyskies.org
2011 May 4
Introduction
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Jean-Francois Clevroy, astronaut, on 2011 May 3 gave a talk
'Living the dream' at the France consulate on Manhattan. Overseas
space/astronomy accomplishments are bannered in US thru UN missions or
consulates in New York. Typicly a country's UN mission and consulate
are in the same offices, like for this one of France. The France
consulate house is on 5th Av, 74/75 St, facing Central Park. There
being no close subway, I rode a Madison Av bus to, Fifth Av bus from.
the building.
The event was announced to NYSkies on May 2, missing the May 2011
NYC Events. I posted it into the NYSkies yahoogroup in morning of May
3rd, where the better astronomers of New York caught it. .
The lecture was free but advance registration was required. The
email address in the announcement for RSVP bounced. I phoned in my
RSVP. I brang with me a printout of email and error as a backup.
There was a quick look thru bags and a look at photo ID at the
security desk. Stowing coats was optional. I left my jacket and one
shopping bag and took my shoulder bag with me to the lecture room.
The talk was mostly a slideshow with some video clips embedded.
The microphone was set a bit softly but room was quiet. The audience
seemed attentive with little fidget. For some of the !&A, Jean-
Francois wandered away from the podium and spoke without the mike.
About 50 attended the event with about 15 astronomers from NYSkies
and Inwood Hill. Some ally with both and with other clubs. Most of the
Q&A was with this group. Most other attendees were passive audience
Clervoy
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Jean-Francois Clervoy is a native of France and took almost all
education thru university level in France. He was an aerospace
engineer at various agencies and companies.
He is 53 years old, married with two children, and enjoys several
outdoor sports. He's a voice for the ESA and France space program and
works in aerospace software development..
He joined CNES, the France space agency, in 1985 and ESA in 1992.
He trained at Johnson SFC for Shuttle work and at Star City, Russia,
for Soyuz and Mir work.
Among the hardest courses Ckervoy struggled with at Star City was
the Russian language. This was required for any work with Russian
space facilities.
He served three terms in space, totaling 439 orbits around Earth
and 675h 05m in space:
--------------------------------------------------------
flight | Shuttle | month | mission | orbit | time
--------+-----------+----------+---------------+-------+--------
STS-66 | Atlantis | Nov 1994 | free-flying | 175 | 262h 34m
STS-84 | Atlantis | May 1997 | crew at Mir | 144 | 221h 20m
STS-102 | Discovery | Dec 1999 | Hubble repair | 120 | 191h 11m
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Francois spoke good English with a mild pleasant accent. He
also understanded questions to give complete detailed answers He
engaged the audience during the reception after the talk.
Space Shuttle
-----------
Because all three trips into space were via the Space Shuttle,
Clervoy spent some time reviewing its operations. He had the usual
pictures of the preparation, launch, and return of Shuttles. The
pictures were from various flights, not necessarily his own.
He noted the coming retirement of the Shuttle. He said the final
Shuttles are Endeavour 'yesterday' (May 2) and Atlantis in June.
Endeavour was at May 3rd already set back to week of May 9th, after
the lecture.
He seemed agreeable to allow astronauts to ride Russia's Soyuz,
other foreign craft, or commercial craft to and from ISS.
Mir
-
Scenes shown in the US of humans at a space station are almost
entirely in the International Space Station or, before it, Skylab.
There are very few of any Soviet or Russian station. In spite of this
lack, there was little reaction from the audience when viewing the
scenes of Mir.
. Because Mir was an earlier facility its equipment was of an older
build and design. The Soviets and Russians were far less endowed than
the US to field a space station, letting some of its systems be of
lesser than optimal quality.
Clervoy explained the furniture and fixtures of Mir but didn't
compare Mir with ISS. This was probably because he never served on
ISS. Nor did he highlight particular features of Mir as a
Soviet/Russian example of space design and operation.
He described, like just about every other person riding in ISS or
other station, the use of the toilets.
Unless familiar with space equipment it wasn't obvious from the
pictures that Mir was an ancient craft compared to ISS. The main
difference was that Mir was smaller, more like a submarine, than ISS.
Everything was crowded into in a smaller cabin.
International Space Station
-------------------------
Jean-Francois described ISS in a general way, he never serving
with it. He noted that ESA has 8% share of ISS thru 2020. This will
stay the same there after if ISS continues.
This 8% includes any mix of crew, equipment, expenses, repairs. It
works out to allow one ESA astronaut per two years. With SHuttle
leaving the scene, the ESA crew members will ride Soyuz capsules until
other craft come into service.
The current crew on ISS returns by the Soyuz capsule already
attached to ISS when the new crew arrives. The arriving capsule
replaces the departing one and then waits until the next crew
exchange. While docked to ISS this capsule is a lifeboat in case of
emergency escape.
Training
------
Before going into space, each person undergoes an extensive
training regimen of many months. Clervoy, because he was visiting Mir,
trained at Star City near Moscow. This facility is off-limits to
foreigners (and Soviet citizens). The course is rigorous with long
hours.
The dropout rate is, surprisingly, low because the candidate is
chosen from among people who already have a military-style discipline
and some substantial aerospace accomplishments. on the other hand,
including this preliminary selection stage, few candidates survive to
enter formal astronaut training.
The greatest hurdle to jump is health and medical state. A person
can be released from training at any time due a thick book of medical
conditions, even simple ones like nasal drip. The station could be
rendered unfit for habitation if loose phlegma mist up the cabin air.
For a spacewalk or other complex mission, the operation is
simulated with every conceivably contingency. The crew must learn to
do the tasks correctly on the first attempt and to deal with problems
as they arise along the way. There is no spontaneous action to get
around a trouble point. Only the prescribed remedy is allowed and this
is practiced in the simulations.
The training includes the discipline and attention to instructions
from other crew, according to rank, and from the ground base. WHile
there is dialog about the commands, the final word is then obeyed.
Operations
--------
A trip to space is carefully planner in advance. The ride is not
at all a time-at-leisure visit where you can do as you like. Each
person's function is defined for the trip and each is in a sequence of
command and control relative to the other crew.
Living conditions are much like camping with very few comforts.
Tools, work items, furnishings are built to conserve mass and size.
Every thing is on inventory, tagged and monitored for location and
condition. Consumibles are carefully monitored and logged.
Trash must be dutifully captured and bagged. If there is a
destructive reentry during the flight, the trash is packed into the
returning capsule to burn up up on the way down to Earth.
Once in space, there is no bailing out of an unpleasant stay. The
astronaut must stay in place until the tour is finished. In case of
genuine emergency, there may -- but not for sure -- be a return ride
coming soon. Else the crew remains on duty.
The zero-g setting requires that every thing be positively stowed
when not in use. No item can be left on the table for later. It will
drift away to do mischief in the station. At the very best it will get
lost inside or behind furniture that can not be moved or opened.
Equipment on the station is operated for an assigned purpose and
only under prescribed conditions. Otherwise it is left alone to run
under its predetermined schedule.
Every task is performed 'by the numbers' step-by=step, each being
verified as properly completed before the next is started. The crew
must always know what can go wrong and how to deal with that case. A
initial mistake or wrong reaction can put the entire station and crew
in a life-threat situation.
Conversation is closely defined to ensure correct comprehension.
Only the proper jargon, acronyms, numbers are allowed. It was here
that Clervoy had probably his greatest difficulty. He on Mir had to
get about only with Russian. The Russian equivalents of American
linguistics is not a straight crosswalk.
Only approved personal items are allowed on the station. Each item
must be presented for carefully examination and testing for possible
hazard to the crew or station. There are many rejections for what look
like harmless items like plastic models, grooning items, snack food.
In some cases an approved alternative is provided by the space agency.
Clervoy explained one way to keep sanity under the stress and
pressure of a space flight. In the simulations and training think
'this is real'. On the station, think 'this is a simulation'. And
always consider the worst scenario for a mishap at every instant.
There can be a sweep of fear from not knowing what may happen
next. The trick to control this fear is to know what to di if the
feared situation does occur.
Sun and stars
-----------
He explained that he tried to examine the sky and probably didn't
see any more stars than from a darksky site on the ground. The absence
of atmospheric light loss was offset by thick coated windows of the
spacecraft and visors of the spacesuit.
To see the stars at all, he had to keep the Sun out of view by
hiding it behind the craft wall or turning away from it. Letting it
shine on the face destroyed his night vision.
Identifying stars was real tough. There was no horizon or compass
directions. The sky moved in erratic ways, not along a diurnal path.
The sky shifted rapidly as the craft circled Earth or changed
attitude.
The day-night cycle was totally upset by not only the orbital
motion but the frequent change of attitude of the spacecraft. Daily
task, like sleep and bath, were done by the clock or instruction from
the ground base. Toilet functions could be handled as needed but the
activity was dutifully logged.
Meteors and aurora
----------------
Clervoy saw lots of meteors on the night side of Earth FROM ABOVE.
At first he wasn't sure what they were until other crew pointed them
out BELOW the spacecraft. They were brilliant, probably from the
airless line of sight to them, but shorter than seen from the ground.
They looked short because they were several hundred kilometers away,
not the many tens or so as viewed from the ground.
Auroae were seen as patchy glows or arcs in the north on the night
side of Earth. He flew in a low to mid latitude orbit, so the aurora
were never under him.
He also saw vertical auroral spikes reaching to, or almost,
orbital elevation. He said these ere still poorly studied since they
can be seen only from orbit, being masked by other aurora glows from
the ground.
Photography
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On all of his flights, and on all other human flights by all
craft, the crew took pictures of assigned targets on the ground. These
keep an eye on storms, disasters, pollution, climate effects. Many
targets were not obviously important but they could be 'spy' targets.
Each crew member had his own list of targets and must bring the
pictures back or transmit them to his own ground base. The ground base
processes the images for its own purpose. It then releases to the
public the pictures at its discretion. He showed several examples.
Women in space
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ESA and Russia so far prefer only male crew, Other countries and
US include female crew. Altho Russia a couple years ago resumed taking
applications from women, none processed thru to become cosmonauts yet.
Conclusion
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Jean-Francois Clervoy finished with a show of public spaceflight,
He hopes rides into space will be more open and available to the
general public. He showed examples of current and future plans for
suborbital, zero-g, ISS visits.
The evening closed with a reception of juices in an adjacent room.
The audience thinned out quickly but most of the astronomy group
discussed assorted space and astronomy topics with Clervoy.