First couple of weeks at the European Astronaut Center

Ok so while Rani is out there in the streets dealing with learning all things German and random French SNCF dudes, my life has been much more conventionnal at the EAC.  When I first got there the place was a buzz with the Soyuz launch transporting three additional astronauts to the international space station.  This is a bit of a special occasion for a few reasons. One this is the first time that the ISS will host six astronauts, so now we can actually do experiments up there rather than just continuously building and fixing the ship.  Two, Frank De Winn a Belgian Astronaut is part of the crew of three and in a few months will become the first non-american or non-Russion to take command of the ISS.  And three, but not least, Bon Thirsk our Canadian astronaut is part of the mission..some of my ISU buds are involved in an experiment that he's going to complete on the ISS.  For me this was a great start to my internship as I got to watch the launch from the Medical Operations control room where the European support physisians and biomedical engineers (BME's)monitor the progress of the launch and make sure that their astronauts remain healthy. 

The critical moment came two days later when the Soyus capsul docked with the ISS and they were finally, after about 1.5 hour hatch leak checks, able to open the door and transfer to the ISS living space.  I was in the control room at the time, where the BME's were actively monitoring the progress.  There was a moment of drama when suddenly we lost the images and could no longer see the astronauts.  Oops!  turns out somebody pressed the wrong button in Houston.  

My second week at the EAC was a lot less exciting as most of the staff had taken off for some much needed vacation now that there astros were safely floating at 400km above.  So I guess it was time for me to actually start working on my project.  My internship is in the Crew Medical Support Office (CMSO) and I work with the guys who do long term planning for the division...cool love planning.  So they came to the realization that there's no real formalized training for space medical doctors in Europe or Canada.  My job is to make sure that this is true, figure out what kind of jobs out there, and provide some recommendations on what should be included in an eventual master's program that is being developped at King's College in London.  So this means that I spend most of my time e-mailing and talking to people on the phone which suits me just fine..as you might have noticed I like to talk.  Also I want to create a survey that you will all see in the next couple of days as I will be spamming all.  

The highlignt of last week was swimming in the EVA astronaut training pool.  This is the biggest pool I've ever seen. It's 27m long as it is wide and 10m deep!  They open it up for employees for an hour once a week.  For the last 40 minutes they organize a "friendly" polo match.. Cool.  I asked around what the rules were, but was assured that there were no rules except to shoot the ball into the nets after a minimum of three passes.  Ok fine I can handle this...crickey I didn't realize how intense water polo is!  After about thee minutes I was totally knackered.  Then somebody passed me the ball for some reason.  Instantly I had three German girls on top of me trying to sink me into the pool..luckily I'm pretty good at holding my breath under water and tried to dive away.  But this turns out to be really difficult while holding a ball that really wants to float.  I eventually had to let go of the thing and swim away fearing for my life.  It's only later that I found out the second crucial rule..let go of the ball or they will sink you.  I also realized after about 15min of play that everybody was wearing boyancy belts!  Punks!  Next week will be my revenge...