As a child in the village of Sankt Wendel where I was born, in the German state of Saarland, when I saw astronauts going into space on television, I thought of them more as “supermen” than as an example I would like to see. follow, as I said earlier in an interview. Did the dream of becoming an astronaut come about later?
Yes, I come from an area where there are many villages and no big cities, so it’s good for pilots to do test flights. It is close to the largest US military base outside the US, Ramstein. So there were always planes passing by and I really wanted to be a pilot. I never dreamed of becoming an astronaut because it was something so distant that I thought they were superhuman.
But the dream came true… Already after a career as a materials scientist.
It was an adult’s dream. I’m a materials scientist. It’s an important area. If you look at innovation, 70% comes from a new material. For example, if you have a better cell phone today, it’s because it has a better battery, and better batteries require better materials to store energy. The same goes for faster, more efficient cars.
Why did you decide at one point that you wanted to be an astronaut?
As a child I had the idea of becoming a pilot and as a student I learned to fly a plane without an engine, a glider. Initially I thought about studying aerospace engineering, but when I made the decision, the fact that the chances of a job after the course were so small weighed on me: it is very specific, so very limited. I ended up in materials science, which is very interesting. But when I saw on the news in 2008 that the ESAs [Agência Espacial Europeia, na sigla em inglês] was looking for astronauts, I thought, “Wait a minute, what’s the job of an astronaut?” Apparently it is intended to conduct experiments in space. And on the space station, we do a lot of experiments related to materials science. I thought, “Wow, that’s exactly what I’m doing.” The second is that astronauts work with the best technology. And I like technology. And third, astronauts have international teams and I studied in four different countries. Love it. And then there’s the excitement, the excitement of being in space. That’s why I applied.
And what was it like to beat more than 8000 candidates?
8500! Looking back on last year, when the ESA opened a new competition, it was even easier for me – because last year there were 22,500 entries.
In 2021/2022, he spent 177 days in space. He did a lot of experiments, kind of like he did on Earth, but what was the hardest part of the time he spent on the International Space Station?
When you live in space for so long, the hardest part is getting along with your co-workers. Because we are in a closed, private environment. In the past, there have been times when astronauts had petty squabbles. So when they select astronauts, they only pick those who are socially compatible, those who aren’t going to fight right away. And also after the selection, before we flew, we received a lot of training to form a harmonious team. I was very lucky, my team were all very friendly. We had no problems and when we got back NASA told us we were the nicest crew they’d ever had in space, the perfect crew. So it wasn’t the hardest part for us, even though it often is. For us, the hardest thing was to lose all freedom: from morning to evening, all our minutes are counted. We are a little monkey in a machine, we have to work, work, work. If everything goes well, that’s fine, but if there’s a problem with an experiment, or if we have to go to the toilet unexpectedly, we can easily fall five minutes behind schedule. There is a lot of time pressure.
No free time?
We have free time…
But it’s on the agenda.
Precisely! We start at 7:30am and work until 7:30pm – 12:00pm. But in between we worked out for two and a half hours. And an hour before lunch.
What kind of sports are played in space?
Well, being in space is super, super relaxing because we’re floating. It’s more relaxing than lying in bed. Lying in bed is hard work compared to floating in space. Even. So the body is smart and realizes that to be in space it doesn’t need muscles or bones. So the body changes. Muscle mass is lost, bone structure is lost. That is why it is important to exercise to protect our body. If we don’t, there will be consequences. For example, muscle loss is 30% faster than here on earth. Spending a year in space will age me the equivalent of 30 years on Earth. It’s like looking at an older man or woman: sometimes they fall and break their hip – it’s osteoporosis. And that’s what happens in space at an accelerated speed. The bone we lose can form kidney stones, which is very painful. If one of us has a kidney stone and is in pain, it means that we should all be brought down to earth immediately. So if we don’t play sports, we pose a risk to the mission. And what do we do as a sport? We lift weights. That it’s not okay to lift weights because there is no gravity and nothing has weight, so we push against resistance, which has the same effect as lifting weights on Earth. We have a bicycle and we have a treadmill to run on.
What differences did you discover in your body when you returned from space?
The differences start as soon as you arrive in space. The first difference you feel is that the fluid floats in your body. Again, when we think of the elderly, they often have swollen legs and feet. That’s because gravity pulls everything down and the heart no longer has the strength to pull fluids up. In space it is the other way around. Because there is no gravity, liquids rise up, which made my face puffy. When I look at my photos in space and compare them to photos of me on Earth, it looks like I’ve gained ten pounds. I haven’t gained weight, but it looks like it. And it causes headaches due to pressure on the brain. Put pressure on the optic nerve, vision becomes blurry. And it lasts until after the flight. The sense of smell is also affected by the nasal congestion. These are instant changes. Then there are the muscles and bones. The vestibular system is also affected, the sense of orientation. In space we can spin round and round and round without getting sick. It’s because the brain realizes that what it sees with the eyes doesn’t match what it feels with the inner ears, causing the brain to stop hearing the inner ears. In space, fine. But when we came back to earth and bent over, we felt sick. When we return to Earth, we have to do some tests, such as walking in a straight line with our eyes closed. And it’s almost impossible. We felt like we were drunk. When we go to bed and get up, it’s like seasickness. It was like being tortured. Then it gets better, but at that moment we feel terrible.
Right now we see India, China and Russia sending missions into space. The US wants to put men – and the first woman – on the moon again. How do you see this new race for space by the superpowers?
I love. It is a healthy competition in which everyone wants to be the best and innovation flourishes as a result, but cooperation also flourishes between all these powers, which cannot do everything alone. And I would certainly prefer them to compete in a scientific and technical way than to fight wars on Earth, which would be another form of competition. Unhealthy competition.
Will Russia continue to cooperate in space, on the International Space Station?
Yes continue. I was in space when the war started.
There are also an increasing number of private companies taking people into space. How do you view these people spending a few minutes in space? Can they consider themselves astronauts?
“Astronaut” is an unprotected title. Anyone can consider themselves an astronaut. It’s not wrong. Planet Earth itself is a large spaceship, so even Helena can consider herself an astronaut. I’m an astronaut even when I’m here. I believe we all have the enthusiasm, that everyone dreams of going to space. But not everyone has the financial resources for this. And I would like everyone to have the opportunity to experience that feeling. Because I believe that after we get up there, we all become better people – that we want to protect the Earth, that we want to work with others to take care of it. There is only one place we know we can live and what we are doing to this planet is terrible. I believe looking up there at this beautiful and wonderful planet changes everything we learn and realize that we need to protect it. So I would love it if we could get all the politicians in power into space. Because after that they would have a different policy.
And which of these leaders would win first?
He took with him the gentleman who reigns in Russia. It can change your perspective.
You were in Beja to participate in Zero-G – Astronauta por Um Dia. What is the importance of initiatives like this that bring together students from all over the country for gravity flight? What is it like to see the faces of these children after fulfilling this dream?
It is awesome. I was chosen to be an astronaut because I’m emotionally stable, but last year I almost cried here. The kids were so excited and by the end some of the girls were crying and saying “It was amazing, this was the best day of my life!” It was very emotional.
30 students were astronauts for a day
For the second consecutive year, under the Zero-G Portugal – Astronauta por Um Dia initiative, the Portuguese Space Agency has recruited 30 Portuguese primary and secondary school students from all regions of the country, including Madeira and the Azores, taken on a parabolic flight that allowed them to experience the feeling of weightlessness that astronauts feel in space. The flight, which took place aboard the Airbus A310 of the French company Novespace, took off from airbase 11 in Beja yesterday morning and was preceded by a conversation with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer the day before.
Source: DN
