space ship one, astronaut training program?

[tater1337]

I am president of a model rocket club, and one of our LONG term goals is replicating the cancelled mission of little Joe, specifically the manned flight.

Now our club is a group of enthusiastic volunteers, and I see no reason why (if a miracle happens) that each one should not have a chance to blow themselves up in a rocket we built, while having the slight possibility of it actually being a sucessful flight (humor impaired, that was a JOKE)

but that brings up a question or two. what kind of training would our would-be astronauts need?

now, to be able to fly space ship one, you'd have to be a pilot, with all the train associated with light aricraft, along with additional training for RCS and use of a non-throttlable motor.

For us, it "should" be much less than even that (cripes, chimps flew in the thing safely)

then there is trying to determine just WHAT physical training is needed (3g's? 5g's?)

[Vee One...Rotate]

I would imagine that meticulously setting down the profile of how the flight is meant to happen, and considering all of the possible problems which may be encountered, will give you the starting point for what needs to be trained for. Make sure all conceivable contingencies are covered as well as normal operations.

Many years ago (as a child) I wrote to NASA asking them for details of how to become an astronaut (!) - I still remember one phrase that popped up in the discussion on training. They wanted "highly-skilled generalists" to emerge from the training programme.

If you start dabbling in manned flight, I can foresee some legalities coming into play more and more. These may have the biggest say in what training is needed.

Interesting idea anyway. What is the aim of the flight? Apart from going up and down? Though that is still pretty cool :)

Last year, my final year project at uni was the design and building of a High Power Rocket + Payload...great stuff :ok:

V1R

[smirnovv]

Nasa requires a degree in astrophysics to start then the equivalant in another subject for what ever your going to do up there, you can get an application and requirement documents online at nasa. The physical trainning is intense and and to quite a high level as is the psychological aspects. I think the time is coming when the caa/jaa will have to prepare for commercial space pilots.

[MobiusTrip]

Misinformation about this subject is commonplace - a good source of open info can be found at

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/factsheets/asseltrn.html

But some relevant bits:

"For mission specialists and pilot astronaut candidates, the education and experience requirements are at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics"

The medical is thorough, but you do not need to be superhuman.

MT

tater - PM for you.

[Rivet gun]

I heard talk of Vigin Galactic recruiting from Virgin Atlantic.

If you're a current Virgin pilot, ex fast jet / TPS graduate you're in with a chance?

[gonadz]

See the very last paragraph:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3693020.stm

The company does have a considerable pool of talent to call upon should Richard get his way.

Me Me pick Me

:D