Peggy Whitson and the new ISS crew: Who made their journeys possible?
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On Thursday, a new International Space Station crew lifts off from Kazakhstan. And behind each astronaut is another crew: the trainers and technicians who give the astronauts the tools they need to succeed in space.
At 3:20 p.m. ET, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz rocket that will take them on a two-day flight to catch up with the International Space Station.
It鈥檚 a groundbreaking team. Mr. Pesquet will become the first French astronaut to fly to the International Space Station. Though Dr. Whitson and Mr. Novitsky are veterans of the International Space Station, Whitson was the first woman to command the ISS, and will become the first woman to command it for a second time once the current ISS team leaves in February. She will also become the oldest woman to fly in space.
But without their support teams, Whitson is quick to point out, none of these milestones would have been possible. That鈥檚 why, in the run-up to her third trip to the International Space Station, she has taken to Tumblr, highlighting the stories of her 鈥渃rew,鈥� from food scientists to language teachers.
鈥淲e are working to ,鈥� she said in an interview with NASA commentator Dan Huot last year. 鈥淲hat we hope is that by telling those stories, we鈥檒l inspire young people to realize there are different types of jobs in spaceflight and exploration.鈥�
Astronauts have long enjoyed a certain kind of 鈥渉ero鈥� status. The early astronauts inherited the celebrity of pilots, who were in regions far removed from Americans鈥� home lives. In the post-war world, astronauts also became key players in the cold war space race, creating a fascination with the individuals. Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space, remains a Russian icon. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is a household name.
The engineers, technical specialists, and even language instructors behind these astronauts and their impressive feats, however, have largely remained unknown. With her , Whitson hopes to shift that narrative, and help children to picture themselves in these roles, too.
Julia Raykin, from Kansas, works as a 鈥渞emote guider,鈥� helping astronauts understand the data they are looking at and improve its clarity. Carolina Davis, an astronaut trainer who immigrated to the US from Brazil as a teenager, helps Whitson practice for unexpected events, like communications failures, during missions. Food scientist Takiyah Sirmons is in charge of preparing meals for the astronauts.
You don鈥檛 have to be a scientist to work with astronauts, either: Elena Hansen is a Russian-language instructor, helping American crew members communicate with Russian astronauts. "The official language of the space station is English, but the official language of the Soyuz vehicle is Russian, so all our crew members have to speak both languages.," . "I see my job not just as teaching language, but building bridges between crew members."
Whitson agrees, "We need to understand each other鈥檚 language ... to reach out to each other, with our words and with our minds, to better learn each other鈥檚 cultures, and ways of thinking."
Similar teams support Novitskiy聽and Pesquet. Novitsky has undergone , while Pesquet has worked underground and underwater on .
Even an Orthodox priest supports the missions, in Kazakhstan.
You can聽, as well as the astronauts鈥� pre-launch activities, from 2:45 p.m. ET on NASA TV.聽
