PAGE 4 November25, 2009 ~JE~SP~JIRZI7


Center for Security Forces instructor Gerald Fine instructs members from the 2009 class of NASA astronaut candidates on the uses of a parachute canopy for shel-
ter during a week of survival training at the Navy's Rangeley mountain wilderness training facility in western Maine. Land survival skills training is the first team evo-
lution for the candidates, who also learned navigation and field medicine. Photo by Bill Stafford



Rstronaut candidates train aboard DRSP


(Right) 2009 NASA astronaut candidates
(ASCANS) Lt. Col. Michael Hopkins and Lt.
Cmdr. G. Reid Wiseman construct a trap to
catch dinner as part of their survival training at
the Navy's Center for Security Forces Rangeley
mountain wilderness training facility. Photo by
Bill Stafford
(Far right) Astronaut candidate Dr. Kjell
Lindgren exits from the helicopter dunker as
part of water survival training, a prerequisite for
introductory flight training with Training Air Wing
Six at NAS Pensacola. Photo by Ray Smith
(Middle) Astronaut candidates are monitored
by HM2 Daniel Young as they train in the alti-
tude chamber. The candidates realized how dif-
ficult repetitive coordination exercises can be
while experiencing the effects of hypoxia.
(Below) Training Air Wing Six instructor Cliff
Campbell explains how to preflight landing gear
on the T-6A Texan II aircraft to members of the
2009 class of NASA astronaut candidates. The
ASCANS were in Pensacola training with the
Navy for water survival, physiology and intro-
ductory flight training as part of their prepara-
tion for space flight. Photo by Ed Barker


By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

 S even members of the 2009 class of NASA astro-
naut candidates (ASCANS) recently completed water
survival, aviation physiology and aviation indoctrina-
tion flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
 The initial cadre of NASA astronauts in 1959 were
all military pilots, so each had already gotten flight
and survival training. Today's astronauts are a mix of
military and civilians and have diverse backgrounds.
 "As we began to select civilians, it made sense to
give them similar training to what the military candi-
dates brought to the program," said Duane Ross,
NASA's manager for astronaut selection and training
at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "The Navy
survival and flight training is exactly what we need-
ed, they're easy to deal with, and they were able to
work with the ASCANS' schedule."
 The entire ASCANS class consists of 14 aspiring
astronauts who started their training by honing their
survival skills with the Center for Security Forces
(CENSECFOR) detachment in Brunswick, Maine.
The group traveled to the Navy's 12,500-acre
Rangeley mountain wilderness training facility,
where they learned land survival, navigation and field


medicine.
 "We usually get to train new aviators at the begin-
ning of their careers, but these NASA candidates are
already experts in their chosen fields as all of the
civilians hold advanced degrees," said HT1 Michael
Pavlovick, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape
instructor at CENSECFOR. "These guys learned very
quickly and have an amazing work ethic. Their two-
day field survival exercise went extremely well; I can
see why they were chosen for the astronaut program."
 Following their land survival training in Maine, the
seven non-aviators in the class traveled to NAS
Pensacola for water survival, aviation physiology and
flight training, including flight training in simulators,
familiarization flights and instrument training flights
in the T-6A Texan II turboprop aircraft.
 Lt. Col. Kenneth Devero, the training officer for
Training Airwing Six, was the project manager for
the ASCANS during their month-and-a-half stay at
NAS Pensacola. "The candidates training with us in
Pensacola are mission specialists, not pilots so
they need to receive flight training very similar to
what we give our naval flight officers," said Devero.
"Although they don't get the full NFO syllabus, the
training provides a great aviation orientation for the
ASCANS."


 "I expected the flight training to be tough," said
Dr. Janette Epps, an aerospace engineer who worked
for the CIA before applying with NASA. "But with
our abbreviated syllabus they really throw a lot at you
and expect you to learn quickly. Since we will be fly-
ing in the T-38 Talon jet trainer on a regular basis
with NASA, this is exactly what we need."
 The NASA class of 2009 is focused on the
International Space Station, as current plans call for
the space shuttle to be phased out by the time they
complete their training. The term "international" also
applies to this class of ASCANS; in addition to the
nine United States candidates, five international
members, including three Japanese and two
Canadian candidates, have joined the class for a total
of 14.
 With their aviation indoctrination complete in mid-
November, the ASCANS returned to the Johnson
Space Center in Houston to continue their astronaut
training, which includes scientific and technical
briefings, intensive instruction in International Space
Station systems, extravehicular activity (space walks)
and robotics. The entire ASCAN syllabus takes
about 18 months to complete.
 For more information on the astronaut program,
visit the NASA Web site at www.nasa.gov.


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November 25, 2009 GOSPORT