Interview avec Bonnie Dunbar, astronaute lors des missions STS-61A, 32, 50, 71 et 89

Bonnie Dunbar est astronaute de la NASA et elle a effectué le plus grande nombre de missions spatiales pour une femme (avec Shannon Lucid et Marsha Ivins).

Elle est scientifique et médecin.
Elle entre à la NASA en 1978 en tant que Flight Controller et Payload Officer.
Elle est sélectionnée en 1980 dans le Groupe 9).
Elle effectue son premier vol spatial lors de la mission STS-61A du 30 octobre au 6 novembre 1985.
Elle effectuera 5 missions spatiales (STS-61A, 32, 50, 71 et STS-89). Elle quitte la NASA en 2005.
Actuellement Présidente et Directrice du Museum of Flight de Seattle.

 

Interview réalisée en 2001

How many years were you connected to the space program before your 1st flight ?

I was with the Space Program 5 years as astronaut and 6 years as engineer before my first flight on the space shuttle

 

 

How did you feel prior the flight ?

Great !

 

 

What kinds of sensations did you experienced during the take-off ?

Up to 3g during the 8-minutes launch. But since we were lying on our backs, this was not significant

 

 

What does weightlessness feel like, and what did you think about during the flight ?

Weightlessness was wonderful !!! I ought about the experiments and how lucky I was

 

 

What were some of the problems you encountered and how did you fixed them ?

I encountered problems with some of experiments, and fixed them by rewiring hardware and re-loading sofware

 

 

What did you eat and did it taste real ?

All the food is very good - like schrimp cocktail, beef barbecue, chicken, etc...

 

 

What was Re-entry like ?

It least about 50 minutes. At night it was possible to see the glow of plasma re-entry

 

 

Were you glad to be back on Earth, or did you feel you could have spent the rest of your life up there ?

I was glad to be back on Earth, but would like to spend more time on-orbit