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Canadian Astronaut Steve MacLean Enthusiastic About His Third Space Trip

Posted on: Saturday, 5 August 2006, 15:00 CDT

By MICHAEL HAMMOND

OTTAWA (CP) - Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean is so confident about the safety of his coming shuttle mission and space walk he's willing to give odds.

Ottawa-born MacLean, 52, says NASA technicians have all but eliminated the problem of insulating foam threatening a future shuttle mission.

"I'd say one in 100 is the risk," he said. "I have a great deal of confidence."

MacLean is to fly to space aboard the Discovery shuttle on Aug. 27. He will become the second-ever Canadian to walk in space when he helps install trusses and solar panels on the exterior of the International Space Station.

MacLean has waited more than four years for his opportunity to walk in space.

Since a piece of insulating foam damaged the Columbia shuttle, causing it to explode on re-entry in 2003, subsequent missions have been under close scrutiny.

MacLean said the insulating foam will always present a challenge, but he added that his crew has been in close contact with the technicians who work on the shuttle and they are satisfied with the improvements made.

"We will not kill another person with foam," he said. "We haven't solved the problem but we've minimized it."

MacLean has spent hours in a giant pool at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston simulating space walks. The pool, which is 12 metres deep, has a submerged model of the International Space Station where astronauts train for different manoeuvres.

"We go through a six and a half to seven hour space walk several times a month," he said. "We practise choreography and plan for all the contingencies we can think of."

MacLean is also preparing to work with the Canadarm 2 on the space station. MacLean will be the first Canadian to operate the robotic arm since it was installed on the station.

The veteran astronaut's coming trip to space will be his third. He last travelled to space in 2002 aboard Columbia.

MacLean said the seven astronauts who died aboard Columbia are never far from his thoughts.

"I lost two of my best friends," he said. "I miss those guys every day, so I want to finish this (mission) for them."

MacLean first went to space in 1992, seven years after he originally qualified to become an astronaut. The seven-year wait came after the Challenger shuttle exploded during its launch in 1986.

Considering the amount of training that goes into each mission, MacLean said the period between missions is hardly idle time.

"I've been on this crew for five years," he said. "It's not like we're not doing anything in between missions."

This month's space walk will cap off an unlikely career for MacLean, who has competed with Canada's national gymnastics team and worked as a professor.

Unlike other astronauts, he said he didn't always dream of making it to space one day. He was fascinated with space exploration when he was growing up, but he assumed that such adventures were limited to Americans.

An avid reader, MacLean said he decided one day to focus his efforts on mathematics to steer his career toward something scientific.

However, it wasn't until a colleague encouraged him to apply for the astronaut program that he began to realize that he could actually make it to space.

"I didn't apply because I didn't think I had a chance," he said.

Source: Canadian Press

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