NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei could spend a year in space after its launch in April – and if so, he will welcome the opportunity, Vande Hei said at its first news conference on Monday (March 15) since NASA’s flight announced last week. .
Astronauts usually spend about six and a half months at the International Space Station and live in orbit. But a separate project from NASA’s Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, could mean Vande Hei has to stay in space longer before he can take a ride back to Earth. If that’s the case, it’s just fine with him, he told reporters at a television news conference on NASA TV on Monday.
“Honestly, for me it’s just an opportunity for a new life experience,” he said during the news conference, which was held virtually from Star City, Russia, where he was preparing for the flight. “I’ve never been in space for more than about six months, so if someone tells me I have to stay in space for a year, I’ll find out how it feels. I’m really enthusiastic about it.”
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Vande Hei has visited the space station once before and in 2017 and 2018 flew with a Russian Soyuz vehicle to and from the orbital laboratory to complete a six-month stay; the experience made a longer flight attractive, he said. “On the previous flight, it felt like every day was getting a little easier,” he told the news conference. “I was more comfortable with things as time went on, I was much more familiar with my work.”
Vande Hei has already seized the opportunity regarding his upcoming mission: He has learned that the launch next month was only confirmed last week, along with the rest of the world, he said during the media event.
For the past decade, NASA astronauts have been flying Russian Soyuz capsules to the International Space Station in seats purchased by the agency from its counterpart, Roscosmos. Now NASA is launching its astronauts on US commercial vehicles such as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, but does not want to stop flying on Soyuz.
To that end, NASA has hastily arranged for a seat on the April Soyuz flight, called MS-18, over the past few months, this time through Texas-based space tourism industry Axiom Space rather than directly through Roscosmos. In exchange for the launch in April, NASA will fly an astronaut selected by Axiom on an upcoming commercial flight, likely in 2023, according to an agency statement on the arrangements.
An extended stay would mean a second irregularity in Vande Hei’s mission, one caused by the scheduling on the part of Roscosmos. The agency is working with a Russian television channel to film a film in space, which requires two people to fly to the space station for filming.
Previous statements from Roscosmos have suggested that it may occur in the fall. If the schedule is true, Vande Hei will have to wait until the next visiting Soyuz – MS-19 – on his way home, rather than fly back to Earth in the same vehicle he started in, as astronauts usually do.
“It all depends on whether the tourists go on the spacecraft in the fall or not, because they will take my seat, so I will have to stay longer to wait for another seat,” Vande Hei said during the news conference. .
He did not specify whether he would know the length of his stay before the launch; the last NASA astronaut to do an extended mission, Christina Koch, learned of her extension when she was already in orbit. Koch spent 328 days in space in 2019 and 2020, making her visit the second longest mission for an American astronaut. Scott Kelly set the current record when he returned from a 340-day mission in 2016. )
“My perspective is that I’m going back to a job and instead of being a new employee who just showed up, I’ll be someone who worked in the lab there a few years ago,” Vande Hei said. “I will start a little better than I was the first time, and I will be able to continue that work longer, so I will hopefully be able to contribute even more.”
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