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Interview with Anette
Bade, astronaut instructor
Anette Bade decided to work in the space
field very early. She worked in Germany
and then in the United States. Since 1999,
she has been working for EADS Astrium company
on its site in Breme (Germany). She has
now fulfilled her dream as her job consists
in training astronauts to prepare for some
of their missions in the International Space
ship (ISS), in particular for missions for
Columbus, the European laboratory.
Anette Bade tests on the ground what astronauts
will be doing up there!
IOONOS: What does
your job consist in ?
Anette Bade: As a senior astronaut instructor,
my job consists in developing, preparing
and implementing astronauts and ground personnel
training in cooperation with the ESA and
with the European Centre for Astronauts
which are both located in Cologne (Germany).
I work in close cooperation with different
company departments (i.e. engineering, operations,
testing teams etc.) to design the astronauts’
training for their various missions I also
need to verify all procedures (i.e. instructions
for astronauts or flights controllers for
performing a specific task as for example
opening a valve). I also need to be familiar
with training from other international partners
in order to harmonize training and structure
contents with other international partners.
IOONOS: What led
you to do this job ?
Anette Bade: I have always worked in the
space field as my studies prepared me for
this job. I qualified as a Doctor in Mechanical
Engineering at the Technical University
of Braunschweig. My special field was Spaceflight
Technology. I prepared a Master of Science
Thesis and did a lot of research work in
Germany. Then I worked in the United States
where I did research work on space debris
at NASA. But what led me to do this job
is the prospect of working together with
international partners with different cultural
backgrounds (Europeans, Americans, Japanese
etc.)
IOONOS: What kind
of equipment do you use and in what kind
of environment ?
Anette Bade: I do most of my work in classrooms
with laptops and simulators to train for
future flight missions. I also use mock-ups
and tools the astronauts will be using for
their operations in the International Space
Ship (ISS).
IOONOS: Who do
you work with ?
Anette Bade: I work with astronauts and
crew instructors from all over the world,
engineers from various disciplines, ground
controllers, flight controllers and flight
directors from NASA and ESA.
IOONOS: What are
the skills and qualities needed ?
Anette Bade: First of all, you need to be
fluent in English and to be willing to travel.
Then you need to be able to understand technical
documentation and to extract the contents
of interest. You must also be able to teach
people with different backgrounds. The personal
qualities needed are flexibility, stress
resistance and diplomacy.
IOONOS: What are
the challenges and the interests of your
job ?
Anette Bade: Design training which meets
the requirements of the students and timely
implementation of training. What is interesting
in this job is to teach people what they
need to know in order to do their job and
to handle malfunctions.
IOONOS: What are
the constraints ?
Anette Bade: Main constraints are linked
to deadlines. The information is not always
available at the time it is needed and it
is sometimes outdated. People one needs
to talk to are not available or overloaded
with other work. The most difficult is to
handle last minute changes such as operational
details change and training schedule changes
at the last minute. One needs to adapt to
new situations very quickly.
IOONOS: Would you
recommend this profession to young people,
if so, what advice would you give them ?
Anette Bade : Yes, I would. I would advise
them to do something that has at least a
fascinating aspect for them and not something
that is in fashion or common.
IOONOS: Does space
make you dream ?
Anette Bade: Space is fascinating since
there is still a lot to discover and lots
of things have never been done before.
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