On Friday Heidemarie Stefany-shyn-Piper will be one of seven crew on board
flight STS126 bound for the international space station, 250 miles above
Earth. This is Nasa’s 124th shuttle mission aboard the spaceship Endeavour
and Stefanyshyn-Piper’s second space flight.
One of only about 50 women (compared with more than 400 men) to go into space,
she was inspired by tales of pioneers such as Valentina Tereshkova, the
Russian who became the first woman to enter space. She was aboard Vostok 6
in 1963, the year of Stefanyshyn-Piper’s birth. And Stefanyshyn-Piper is
still full of the wonders of space travel: “It’s such a tremendous
opportunity and experience seeing the Earth through your cabin window.”
Probe a little deeper and it does not sound quite so pretty. As the shuttle
leaves the gravitational pull of Earth, the body experiences weightlessness,
which can induce space sickness, a form of motion sickness; the spine
stretches uncomfortably by as much as 3in; the bones and muscles can start
to waste away, no longer needed to carry the body’s weight; and internal
fluids shift upwards, leading to shrunken legs and a puffy head, which can
cause headaches.
Outside the shuttle, beyond Earth’s protective atmosphere, ultraviolet
radiation levels are dangerously high. Spacesuits and helmets must be
covered in special UV-blockers, but some rays can still penetrate the suit,
potentially damaging the immune system. And to top it all, there’s no shower
in the shuttle, just sanitised wipes and dry shampoo. Still want to be an
astronaut when you grow up?
“You really need to be fit going through the hatch,” admits
Stefany-shyn-Piper, 45, who must exercise for 30 minutes every day of her
15-day space flight on specially designed machines, to prevent muscle
wastage and loss of bone mass (see graphic).
“Spacewalking is certainly the most tiring part for me. When you are out
there, you are not using the same muscle groups as when you are on the
ground just walking around. The stresses on your legs, your lower back and
muscles are different from on Earth.
“It’s also [mentally] stressful because you are working in a cumbersome suit
for more than six hours. Even though it is in a weightless environment the
suit is bulky and you have a certain amount of inertia to overcome, often
while performing delicate procedures with heavy tools.”
Stefanyshyn-Piper is poised to break the record for the most hours spent
spacewalking by a woman. She has to add only 21 more to beat the 32 hours
clocked up by Peggy Whitson, her Nasa colleague.
The mission behind the latest shuttle launch is to turn the space station’s
three-bedroom research centre into a five-bed, two-bathroom “hotel”. The
work is designed to increase the number of scientists who can stay on the
station at one time to help research progress at a faster pace.
Stefanyshyn-Piper will lead three of the four “extra-vehicular activities”, or
spacewalks, to clean and lubricate the station’s 10ft-wide “solar alpha
rotary joints”, which rotate to keep the photo-voltaic cells pointing at the
sun to produce power. “The first thing you notice is hand fatigue because
you are working inside a bubble, constantly fighting against the
weightlessness,” she says.
The astronauts are tethered to the space station by a foot cord that can get
tangled. “As lead astronaut I am a bit like mother hen and have to keep a
watch over my brood. I have to get them back in safe and sound afterwards.”
Stefanyshyn-Piper was born in Minnesota 14 years after her Ukrainian father
fled the Soviet Union, escaping via Germany to America. She joined the US
navy, aged 22, in 1985 and became an expert diver. She was part of the team
that salvaged the BAP Pacocha, a submarine belonging to the Peruvian navy
that collided with a fishing trawler and went down in 1988, and also helped
to refloat Exxon Houston, a stranded oil tanker, near Hawaii in 1989.
After two years of tests, she was selected as a Nasa candidate in 1996. Her
first space flight in 2006 was a 12-day mission to the space station aboard
the space shuttle Atlantis. The day after she landed back on Earth, she
collapsed during a welcome home ceremony in Houston, Texas. Doctors said she
had failed to readjust to gravity after the weightlessness of space – just
to add to all the physical stresses she had endured on her way up.
“I asked at least three other astronauts who said the same thing happened
after their space flights,” she says. “It’s just that I was the unfortunate
one to do it in front of all the cameras instead of at home in the bathroom.
Because of the lack of gravity in space, the fluids inside your body shift.
Back on Earth, your body fluids have to get used to the pull of gravity
again. I passed out because I was standing up for too long and wasn’t
properly prepared.”
Stefanyshyn-Piper, who is married with one son, has confirmed this will be her
last space mission before she returns to the navy.
Nasa’s shuttle launch programme is confirmed until 2010, but its future after
that remains uncertain, especially given the financial climate, so that
spacewalking record could be hers for quite a while if she can claim it.
With five days to go before liftoff, she is not worried about the dangers:
“I miss my son and my husband and that, for me, is the one downside.”
HEIDEMARIE’S PERFECT SPACE WORKOUT
Stefanyshyn-Piper prepares for an “extra-vehicular activity” - or spacewalk -
by training every day in a specially designed space gym. Exercise also helps
prevent loss of bone mass, which is a side effect of weightlessness. Nasa
has designed three machines to provide the most effective exercise for the
limited room available.
THE CYCLE ERGOMETER This looks like a box, with a pedal on either
side, bolted to the cabin wall. Stefanyshyn-Piper clips her feet into the
pedals to stop them floating out of position and pedals standing up.
THE SPACE TREADMILL Stefanyshyn-Piper uses spring-loaded cords
attached to a waist harness to keep her on the treadmill, which sits on a
spongy pad to prevent stress damage to the space station structure.
THE RESISTANCE DEVICE This device uses a pair of vacuum cylinders
attached to pulleys to build muscle. With different harnesses and
attachments, Stefanyshyn-Piper can perform squats, deadlifts and heel lifts.
KIT BAG
DELUXE APOLLO ASTRONAUT SPACE SUIT £1,411 www.countdowncreations.com
A replica space suit based on Nasa’s early Apollo suits, this is custom-built
to your specification and is made mostlyfrom heavy-duty denim twill.
Suppliedwith a realistic backpack, gloves, a helmet and boots, it gives a
moonrock sample and says: “Hi, I’m Buzz.” Actually, that last bit is not
true.
NO RINSE SHAMPOO £1.99 for 56ml www.norinse.co.uk
In space it’s impossible to wash in the conventional way, and nobody can hear
you scream if fellow astronauts have greasy locks. So Nasa developed an
alcohol-free shampoo that doesn’t need rinsing. You apply it, massage it
into a lather, then dry your hair. It’s ideal for camping trips, and, of
course, perfect for space camp.
FISHER RAINBOW TITANIUMOXIDE BULLET SPACE PEN £23 www.fisherspacepens.co.uk
In the 1960s the Fisher pen companycreated a pressurised ballpoint pen foruse
in zero gravity and at extreme temperatures. It was first used by the Apollo
7 astronauts and is still taken on space missions. The Bullet, sold in
various finishes and just 3½in long when closed (but full-sized with the cap
on the end), is effectively that same classic Space Pen
THE REGIME
Gloves are attached to the spacesuit’s arms with a rotary bearing, to allow
the wrist to swivel. Fingertip heaters protect the hands from extreme cold
The helmet is made of impact-resistant polycarbonate. Oxygen is pumped in
via a vent at the rear. When Stefanyshyn-Piper spacewalks she will add a
visor that fits over the helmet to protect it from flying micrometeroids
This assembly is a vest-like, rigid shell made from fibreglass and has
attachments for the helmet, arm and leg sections of the suit. The
astronaut’s life support system, containing oxygen mounts on the back of
this shell, is linked to controls on the front
DIET
Astronauts can lose up to 10% of their body weight during 4-6 months in space.
Food can be tricky to prepare and eat in a weightless environment and taste
is dulled. There is also the problem of “space adaptation syndrome”, or
space sickness. This is like motion sickness and can occur as the vestibular
system, which is involved in balance and spatial awareness, adjusts to
weightlessness. John Glenn, the first American in orbit, had only an
aluminium tube filled with apple sauce, which he could squeeze into his
mouth, during his 4hr 55min flight in 1962. Now many conventional meals have
been adapted for consumption in space and astronauts can select from a menu
before liftoff. Shrimp cocktail is the most popular dish, another is grilled
pork chops with rice and asparagus.
Food is in sealed pouches and has been heat-processed to kill microorganisms.
Some can be heated and eaten from the container, while others need to be
mixed with water, a byproduct of the shuttle’s fuel cells, which combine
hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity.
Stefanyshyn-Piper should consume 2,600 calories a day. Dishes are designed to
provide vitamin C and folate, which helps repair cellular damage from
high-energy solar radiation (astronauts are exposed to this because they are
above Earth’s protective atmosphere) and from the pure oxygen they breathe
on spacewalks. Vitamin D is usually taken as a supplement to compensate for
the lack of exposure to sunlight (skin must be covered on spacewalks to
avoid high levels of ultraviolet radiation).
EXERCISE
During her two-year initial training to become a Nasa cadet, Stefanyshyn-Piper
was trained in survival techniques on Earth and in space, as well as how to
cope with high and low pressure environments wearing a space suit. “You also
have to pass the swimming test,” she says. “That’s three lengths of the pool
wearing your flight suit and shoes, then treading water for 10 minutes.”
She prepared for her latest mission with regular gym sessions - using weights,
running on a treadmill and cycling. The workouts also help to alleviate
mental stress before the flight. An astronaut’s body tissue can deteriorate
because of weightlessness. Without gravity, bones don’t have to support the
body so they can suffer disuse osteoporosis, a bone loss common among
wheelchair users. Astronauts can lose 1.5% of their bone mass every month
unless they exercise.
Astronauts who spend long periods on a space station have to exercise for two
hours each day on specially designed machines. This is cut to 30 minutes for
shorter flights such as Stefanyshyn-Piper’s.
