Interview avec Nicholas Patrick, astronaute de la missions STS-116

Nicholas PATRICK a effectué son premier vol spatial lors de la mission STS-116 du 10 au 22 décembre 2006. Il doit effectuer son 2ème vol en février 2010 lors de la mission STS-130.

Interview réalisée en 2008

 

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

A : I was an astronaut for 8 years working on many aspects of the space program before I flew with STS-116.

 

Q : How did you feel prior the flight ?

A : I was very busy preparing and was looking forward to the flight a lot


Q : What kinds of sensation did you experienced during the take-off ?

A : The most memorable was the feeling of weight caused by our accelaeration wich lasted 8 1/2 minutes and was following by weightlessness.

 

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

A : Weightlessness is very comfortable - it's especially comfortable to sleep while you're floating. Most of the time, I thought about my tasks !


Q : what were some of the problems you encountered and how did you fixed them ?

A : We had an ISS solar array that would't retract, and we send out 2 crewmembers for a fourth spacewalk to fix it.


Q : What did you eat and did it taste real ?

A : We ate our standard deshydrated food and it tasted almost the same as it does on the ground - perhaps a little less spicy.


Q : What was R-entry like ?

R : The ''g's'' weren't very strong - only about 1.6g peak - but felt very heavy after 2 weeks of weightlessness.