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NASA Astronauts Simulate Space Training in Aging Underwater Lab off Florida

Posted on: Sunday, 22 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

Jun. 21--Sixty-two feet below the ocean waves off the Florida Keys, three NASA astronauts and a medical researcher are experiencing firsthand the risks and close-quartered isolation of a long spaceflight.

The crew, led by Peggy Whitson, a veteran international space station science officer, earlier this week descended into the exotic undersea world of coral reefs, sea turtles, silvery tarpon and menacing barracuda to lead an unusual, 16-day offshore training session. Their destination: Aquarius, an aging, seaweed-draped laboratory anchored in the sandy sea bed of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary that will serve as their "sea station" until June 29.

Several times a year, the space agency converts the 43-foot-long undersea research outpost just southeast of Key Largo into training grounds for missions to the international space station or a future, uncharted deep-space destination.

With NASA's space shuttle fleet grounded in the aftermath of the Feb. 1 Columbia accident and the crews assigned to the space station limited to one American and one Russian, training opportunities for astronauts like the one under way aboard Aquarius are prized.

"The training experience in general is valuable," Whitson said in a telephone interview late Friday. "I think maybe because the shuttles are not going right now, it is especially valuable to us to have this kind of opportunity."

A 43-year-old biochemist, Whitson returned to Earth in December after a 185-day visit to the station, her first spaceflight.

Under her command are rookie astronauts Clayton Anderson and Garrett Reisman, as well as Wylie Laboratories biomedical engineer Emma Wang.

Columbia's loss has prolonged the wait for a first flight for many of NASA's astronauts, including Reisman and Anderson. Their recourse was to cross-train as aquanauts.

"While the space shuttle is grounded, our opportunity to fly in space is pushed a little bit to the right. This is the only game in town," said Anderson, 44, an aerospace engineer who joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1998.

"For me, this is a big thrill," added Reisman, 35, a mechanical engineer who also was selected for astronaut training in 1998.

While they are submerged, Whitson and her colleagues are working on a dozen experiments, much as they would aboard the station.

Their food and water intake is closely monitored, and the Aquarius residents provide regular blood, saliva and urine samples to check their metabolisms. The aquanauts also are subjects of an experiment to determine whether the stress of isolation leaves their immune systems vulnerable to viral infections.

Most days, the Aquarius crew ventures out onto the coral reef in at least one long dive that resembles a space walk. Early Friday, Whitson and Reisman floated 700 feet away to test communications gear.

A small component of NASA's Mission Control Center is monitoring the activities aboard Aquarius as though it were an actual spacecraft.

"This all wrapped around how we will do operations in the future," said NASA's Tony Griffith, who leads the advanced planning effort. "Our real challenge is how do we do things for future missions in a safe and efficient way and incorporate the lessons we've learned in the past."

Operated for NOAA by the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, at an annual cost of $1.3 million, Aquarius currently is the only undersea laboratory of its kind in the world.

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(c) 2003, Houston Chronicle. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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