PCFR April Newsletter

Member Spotlight
Jamie Forseth interviews Ambassador Barbara Barrett about training and earning certification for space flight as an astronaut.

Jamie: Barbara, having been a member of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations for over three decades, you may be recognized as an attorney, businesswoman, diplomat, pilot or rancher. Before beginning astronaut training, you had only recently returned from another international commitment. Would you talk a little bit about that?

Barbara: Yes, you must mean Finland. Representing the United States as Ambassador to Finland was an extraordinary privilege. Representing the US anywhere would be a joy, but Finland was my good fortune, indeed. Historically a friend of the US, Finland displays many attributes we Americans admire. Finland has been ranked the most democratic nation in the world. They are also rated the least corrupt. On the OECD's most recent PISA exam testing fifteen year olds on science, math and reading skills, Finland ranked number one on science and reading, despite an education system in which students start school at age seven. Finland was the first nation to give women the right to vote. Finns produce more patents per person than almost any other nation in the world. Characteristically, Finns are thoughtful and honest. Uniquely, after World War II, Finland paid their war debt.

Though not a "Member" of NATO, Finland is a NATO "Partner." As such the Finns have contributed to NATO efforts in many trouble spots around the world. During my tenure as Ambassador, Finland held the Chair of the OSCE. In that role Finland led efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Russian attack on portions of the Republic of Georgia. Also during my tenure, Finland's former President, Martti Ahtisaari, received the Nobel Peace Prize for his pivotal role in peace negotiations in Aceh, Kosovo, Namibia and other world crises.

Jamie: Let's discuss your astronaut training. Could you capture the essence of your experience in a phrase or two?

Barbara: Training for a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was a whirlwind! Perforce it was a condensed course because the seat became available at the last minute. Still, the entire course curriculum had to be covered before certification could be granted. I covered all the material, usually taught over several years, in just four and a half intense months. I learned to respect even more the scientists, engineers, specialists, astronauts and other highly-qualified space professionals.

Jamie: There were several elements to your training - medical clearances, classroom training, simulations, Russian language coursework. Can you walk us through your Star City experience?

Barbara: Before the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center begins substantive training, all prospective astronauts or cosmonauts must obtain medical clearances. These clearances do not come easily. Two weeks of check-ups were scheduled for every imaginable (and a few unimaginable!) pokings and proddings: pulmonary, cardio, neurological, dental, eyes, ears, nose, throat, internal organs, blood and even psychological. Physical tolerance was tested by the dreaded rotating chair, centrifuge spins, hyperbaric chamber and tilt-table. Finally, after two weeks, the General Medical Commission with input from about a hundred physicians met in a cavernous theater-style classroom to determine fitness for technical training.

Classroom training covered design and layout, life support systems, communications, propulsion, docking and off-nominal situations, among other topics. Frequent simulations on the Soyuz space capsule and the ISS mock-ups rehearsed every element of the anticipated space flight. By agreement with Roscosmos, the Russian counterpart to NASA, each Soyuz trainee is required to study the Russian language. Because of the importance of physical strength and fitness, workouts were required during training. Class work, examinations and simulations usually occupied ten or twelve hours a day. Study occupied evenings often until 2:30 a.m.

For the first three months, I had classes in Star City, Russia with the primary astronaut trainee, Guy Laliberté, along with an instructor and interpreter. For one week, however, we trained at Johnson Space Center near Houston. In a stroke of lucky timing, our week at Johnson Space Center coincided with their fortieth anniversary festivities celebrating with the Apollo astronauts and ground crew, including a rare visit by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Man's first walk on the moon and safe return to Earth was worthy of the reunion and proud celebration.

After all the preparation, space flight and emergency simulations; Soyuz and ISS systems courses; launch and reentry centrifuge profiles; altitude chamber; zero gravity proficiency; spacesuit fittings; testing; physical fitness; off-nominal landing and wilderness survival training, we faced two days of qualifying examinations before Russian military, civilian and corporate evaluating commission.

Finally, on September 10, 2009, the primary crew, my backup crew colleagues and I sat together at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center headquarters auditorium as the qualifying commission presented our individual professional history, details of the curriculum completed and our exam scores. In a formal, somber ceremony all six of us received full commission clearance! Yahoo!! "Certified for spaceflight!"

After two press conferences at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center headquarters, one of which was uncomfortably conducted under the shadow of one of Russia's remaining Lenin statues, we observed Russian traditions. We signed the astronaut/cosmonaut book at Yuri Gagarin's personal desk - preserved just as it was on the day he died. As tradition dictated, as new astronauts/cosmonauts we honored the first human in space by laying a flower on the Red Square grave of Yuri Gagarin. Then we were welcomed inside the Kremlin.

Jamie: You trained in Star City, Russia which, historically anyway, was closely guarded and top secret. What was it like living there?

Barbara: Just 20 miles from Moscow, Star City is home to the famed Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. During the Soviet era, Star City was a protected enclave for the cosmonaut elite. The spacesuit maker who began making pressurized space suits in 1961 explained to me that for most mornings of his secret career he told his wife he was going to work in a machine factory because his real work was unspeakable. Today Star City is a small town complete with a kindergarten and high school, movie theater and post office as well as cottages and apartment complexes.

Cultural differences abound. There was a small shop in Star City stocked with candies, sausages, booze and, in the very back corner, a small stash of oranges. For three days I had thought about those beautiful oranges. On my first free moment I biked to the shop, pointed at the oranges and in English I asked for four oranges. The clerk shook her head sternly told me, "Nyt." I tried again. "Nyt!" - this time with some elaboration, which was incomprehensible to me. I asked a third time. This inspired the clerk in exasperation to get up, amble over to the shelf and pick up one of my desired oranges, giving me some hope. She held it up by her ear with one hand and tapped it with the other. Ah, it was plastic! It was good for an intercultural laugh.

Jamie: From Russia, you flew to Kazakhstan where the Soyuz launches take place. What was the preparation process for launch day?

Barbara: Baikonur, Kazakhstan is a sprawling, remote compound on the Kazak steppes. The small compound houses astronauts and cosmonauts, space agency leadership, physicians, trainers and support teams. Upon arrival in Baikonur, the primary and backup crews were quarantined in the Cosmonaut Hotel.

Launch day, finally!!! After a 4:30 a.m. wakeup, ceremonies and traditions abounded. A final medical check, flight suiting, toasts to success and a helicopter escort of our bus trip to the launch area. Through a protective window, the space commissioners authorized the primary crew for their flight at a final meeting. We on the back-up crew supported the primary crew one last time as they boarded their bus bound for the fully-fueled Soyuz.

Once the primary crew boarded the Soyuz atop its frosty rockets, my quarantine concluded. I joined my husband, Craig, to watch the launch.

I had been to several launches before: a Space Shuttle at Cape Canaveral, an earlier Soyuz at Baikonur and unmanned rockets at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Still, as those mighty engines, white with frost from the sub-zero liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel, began shaking and rumbling, and the flames lit up, I was awed. Sure, I had studied all the theory, mechanics and procedures; but the reality of the launch, with my sidekick of the past three months tucked on board, was incomparable! The raw power, the minimally controlled energy, the man-made force under those three passengers, my friends, was a stark, jaw-dropping reality. They were off! Godspeed my friends!

Two days later I joined NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and his Russian counterparts at Moscow Mission Control to watch the Soyuz dock with the ISS 223 miles above Earth.

Jamie: What was the best part?

Barbara: Perhaps most rewarding was the camaraderie between astronauts, cosmonauts, engineers, scientists and support staff. The career astronauts earned my highest respect.