Sophie Adenot will take part in the International Space Station (ISS) next spring to spend about six months in space. The French astronaut in France took part in a meeting on July 8th by the association of professional journalists for aviation and space (AJPAE). In the headquarters of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Paris, the former Toulouse student returned to the intensive training that she pursues to carry out the “Epsilon” mission planned in a few months. Interview.
What does a kind of astronaut that prepares for a mission look like?
There are no two days that look the same, but I have my rituals … I sport sports every morning. Before the start of my working day, I do 1 hour 30 minutes of sports, an hour of muscle building and 30 minutes cardio. The days usually start between 6 and 8 hours and ends around 7 p.m. But we will not complain, we chose this job, we are 100 % on adventure. It’s a bit like athletes who prepare for the Olympic Games.
Is your training -intensive, but what exactly is that?
We mainly train with extravalicular excursions. When I opened an air lock for the first time, I gave me a Waouh effect. I said to myself, “Ah yes, it will look like that anyway!” You have to know the spacesuit on your fingertips and know how to manage all support life systems, the evacuation of CO₂, the means of communication, etc. We spend at least six hours in a swimming pool that is equipped with an actual size model of the ISS. Some say that it is the equivalent of a marathon … it is indeed very physical and you have to recover quickly. Specifically, we train in normal operations and will seek limits in all areas: technologically, operational, physiological. There are many procedures to learn. All of our gestures must be precise, effective and almost automatically.
Are you preparing for the management of disaster scenarios?
Yes, during the pool exercises we are confronted with emergency situations to see how we react and teach ourselves, manage them. For example, I had to help my teammate, who simulated a loss of consciousness. I had to bring him back to the air lock in less than thirty minutes. Another time it was necessary to manage water that penetrated into the helmet and used a kind of snorkeling to get air elsewhere in the combination. I don’t know in this phase if I will take an extravalicular excursion, but as you can see, we are preparing for it. I inspire a lot of old astronauts: I have read their stories, I exchange with them. Beyond the extravalicular excursions that are most surprising for me, it is the medical training that we are liberated. We learn to tear a tooth or do a blood test alone. It’s pretty confusing.
What state of mind are you a few months after the start?
There is life before I go to a mission and the next life … Personally, I am both super happy and super impressed. I don’t try to ask too many questions. I live every day of training as a gift. It is an adventure that comes out of the ordinary, so that there is necessarily its share of fears, it is normal. I say to myself when I sit up in this 70 m high rocket, the engines will light up and that we will take off from the shot, there will certainly be afraid, but I am aware of happiness that I have.
Is your suitcase ready?
Preparing the suitcase for space mission is not slim, there are many security restrictions and the size is limited … it is complicated to bring everything along (laughs). I will not reveal everything now, but I will bring objects that I will share with the French during my mission. There will also be gifts for my crew colleagues and some other surprises.