Interview Greg Johnson
The former NASA astronaut reveals how he came to help build the International Space Station and what he thinks is best for the future of human space exploration
The NASA astronaut reveals what it takes to build the ISS
“We were all trying to stick together, figure out what happened, get the shuttles flying again and help fix the problems”
What made you want to become an astronaut?
My original motivation was the first lunar landing, when I was seven years old. At that time it was a dream, and I didn’t really think it would be possible. This was until the early 1990s, when I finally had some touchpoints with astronauts, and in particular Charlie Bolden, who was then a pilot talking all around the country about the space programme and Space Station Freedom. So, in 1998, I was very surprised and thrilled to be selected as an astronaut, because I didn’t think it would ever happen.
You started your NASA astronaut training in 1998, but didn’t go on your first mission until almost ten years later. What kept you motivated?
The honeymoon motivation lasted for several years and yes, we knew there was a backlog of astronauts, and they weren’t flying many rookies on the flights, maybe one or two. I had an office mate and his name was Stan Love, or Dr Love [laughs], and he extrapolated, based on the flight rate and how many rookies were going on each flight, that our first flight would be around 2016 or so. Of course that didn’t turn out to be true. We had people in my class flying right after the return to flight in early 2006.
It is true that it [NASA] had a – for lack of a better term – glut of astronauts in 1996 and 1998. There were 44 astronauts selected in 1996 and there were 31 selected in 1998. The 1996 class was called the ‘sardines’, because it [NASA] packed them in, and the 1998 class – our class – was called the ‘penguins’ after the birds that would never fly. Between the two classes we had 75 new astronauts within a two-year time period. So there was quite a backlog on the books of people in the pipeline waiting to fly in space.
But the promise of many more shuttle flights per year was the reason they chose so many astronauts within a short period, because we were just starting to assemble the International Space Station [ISS]. I don’t know the original plan for how many flights were dedicated to it, but there must have been about 50. So if you do the maths, you realise you need a lot of people to do that, especially if you’re trying to fly six or eight times a year. We didn’t get that flight rate very often. I think there might have been one or two years that we executed this many flights, and that was partly to do with the Columbia accident that happened right in the middle of that ten-year span. We [the class of 1998 pilots] starting flying into space in 2006, and a few didn’t fly until 2009 or 2010. I was certainly in the back half of the group that had an opportunity to fly in space.
I was really motivated throughout the initial astronaut candidate training in the first couple of years. During the next few years I was a ‘cape crusader’ [crew support in FL], one of the astronaut pilots who flew out to Cape Canaveral in Florida from Houston [Texas] often to help support the launches and the landings. Sometimes I’d end up in California for landings, but during that period of time I was really involved and focused on those missions. Although I wasn’t flying those missions, I was deeply engaged with those missions.
And then the Columbia accident happened [turn to page 72]. For over two years we didn’t fly shuttles at all, but following the investigations we had a really good flight rate and many of my classmates were starting to get to fly. So my motivation stayed strong due to different factors, but everyone knew what they had signed up for. Those nine-and-a-half years, I’d do all over again, but it was really a long wait.
What were you doing during the time after the Columbia accident?
Here we had a different motivation. We were all trying to stick together, figure out what happened, get the shuttles flying again and help fix the
“Luckily they added a few more shuttle flights to the manifest and I slipped into that second flight. I was amazed actually, to get a second flight”
problems that were in the shuttle system.
I would say that the space shuttle accidents, although they were terrible, each time we had an accident, we as an agency and as a country and as a space community worldwide learned great things from those accidents. So the Columbia accident was no exception. We didn’t just learn about thermal protection systems, which ultimately led to us finding out what breached the thermal protection system that took Columbia out, but we looked at all different parts of the shuttle from launch all the way through to landing. The shuttle, when it returned to flight, was probably the safest shuttle we ever had.
Did you think you’d only complete the one flight?
I didn’t think I’d get two flights. I thought at the time, in the early 2000s, that I’d only get one flight. Luckily they added a few more shuttle flights to the manifest at the very end [of the shuttle program] and I slipped into that second flight and I was really excited to have that second flight as well. I was amazed actually, to get a second flight.
How do you feel looking back on the space shuttle missions that built the ISS? Especially with how far the station has come along since.
I look back on it with great pride for our country [the United States], and for the entire world. I was so happy to be a part of that enterprise. It took over a dozen years to assemble the ISS, one flight at a time. The entire astronaut corps and many factions of NASA, as well as the other space agencies around the world, were involved in this amazing engineering achievement. So I’m very happy as I look at the work NASA and the collaboration did, and the entire space station program.
It’s further underscored by my involvement in the ISS’ US National Laboratory, which followed in the subsequent five years after I left NASA in 2013. So I look back on that with great satisfaction and happiness, and I’m pleased to have been a part of it.
During your time in space, did you feel any significant changes to your body?
It’s funny; some of the changes were a little insidious and some were very immediate. Obviously when we get into continuous microgravity, which happens right after main engine cut off at eight-anda-half minutes after launch, I think I was laughing [at that time] more than anything else, as it was so different than standing on the ground. We did practice zero gravity in 30-second intervals in the
‘Vomit Comet’. This is an aeroplane that we trained in to get little segments in microgravity. But once you’re in continuous microgravity for a few minutes, it is really different. Things were floating, as if it was under a different set of rules. It’s kind of like walking into an Alice in Wonderland world, as the rules were so different.
We also had different physiological changes that happened fairly immediately. You start feeling a little bit of fullness in your head. Some people get nauseated immediately; with me it was kind of a bit more insidious. Most of us had it in just that period, at least the first day or two, and some never actually got over it. This is because your body is just confused. Your vestibular system is accustomed to having fluids settle in the semicircular canals [in your ears], but it just never does, as the fluids just float around in there. So the nausea is one that can be pretty immediate.
I’m curious as to how long it took me to grow about five centimetres taller. But we did measure ourselves several days into the flight and every one of us had grown a few centimetres. I grew as much as five centimetres. Without gravity continuously pulling through our spines, our bodies get longer.
There are other effects also, like vision can shift. Some astronauts experienced vision shifts by up to three dioptres, I understand. My vision actually got better, interestingly enough. In fact, I didn’t need to wear the glasses I brought with me. But then again, when I came back to the Earth my eyes popped back.
So there are a lot of changes to the human body. Although there are changes, our bodies are really adaptable. We get used to some of those changes very quickly.
How long was the recovery period when you got back to Earth?
A couple of days. I mean, with me, I had relatively short flights. My flights were about 16 days each. The recovery period compares to the amount of time you spent in space, so astronauts that have had six months to a year in space had a much longer recovery period.
Our bones degrade about two per cent per month if we’re not doing intense exercise in space, and I didn’t do a lot of anaerobic [exercise]. I did quite a bit of aerobic exercise with the bicycle on the shuttle. About four hours into my return, I had finally met my family for the first time and they handed me a Diet Coke. So I was drinking the Diet Coke with my right hand and my ten-year-old daughter came up and I was hugging her with my left arm. At that time, the NASA administrator [Michael Griffin], walks up to me to shake my hand and congratulate me for my first shuttle flight.
Normally I would do a hand off with the
Diet Coke to my left side - but instead of handing my drink off, I just released it, because of course in space it would just float. So I released it, and just as I reached my hand out to the NASA administrator, my Diet Coke [hit the floor and] splashed all over his shoes!