Interview de Piers Sellers, astronaute de la NASA qui a effectué 3 vols avec la navette spatiale

Piers Sellers est météorologiste.

Né en Grande-Bretagne, il commence à travailler pour la NASA au Goddard Space Flight Center en 1982 (modélisation informatique des systèmes climatiques).

Souhaitant devenir astronaute, il demande à obtenir la nationalité américaine, qu’il obtient en 1991.

En 1996, il est sélectionné comme astronaute dans le Groupe 16 de la NASA.

Il effectue trois missions spatiales : STS-112, STS-121 et STS-132.

Il effectue 6 EVA lors de STS-112 et STS-121.

 

Interview réalisée en 2012 

 

How many years were you connected to the space program prior to your flight ?

Scientist from 1982 to 1996

Trainee Astronaut from 1996 to 2002
 

How did you feel prior to the flight ?

Excited ! Very well-prepared !

 

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

Vibration, Shaking, raw power !!!

 

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

Feels good most of the time, but hard to sleep.

Though about how marveleous to finally make it to orbit !

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

Many technical problems – Solved with help from MCC Team !

What did you eat, and did it taste real ?

MRE’S – Taste like cardboard

Have to use Tabasco

What was re-entry like ? 

 Very smooth (Shuttle !)

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

 
YES ! Great to be back !

I LOVE THE EARTH

(Piers Sellers durant une EVA lors de la mission STS-121)

(Piers Sellers lors d'une EVA durant la mission STS-121)