Original Cosmonaut Training - Desert Survival Training - Kasakhztan
How to feel like an Cosmonaut:
This means first of all hard training, before he is able to be ready for his journey into the orbit.
Cosmonaut training is a very long duration training, which requires, that the cosmonaut-participant first of all has to adjust himself into the perfectly new enviroment.
Since that the International Space Station ISS is constantly manned, a docked Russian Soyuz spaceship also always is in the orbit, with which the astronauts and cosmonauts can leave the space station in an emergency.
If it comes to such an unforeseeable event, everything must go very fast and the crew withdraws themselves within hours into the command capsule of the Soyuz spaceship and docks off. Here it can come to another landing point than in the Kazhakh quilts, the cosmonauts can land with the Soyuz into equatorial, water or all possible ice- or very cold areas.
This special desert surival training is a very unique training. During this training the cosmonauts and astronauts learn to survive, after their Soyuz capsule has not a normal landing Kazakhztan. In this szenario, the capsule is going down in very hot climate in a desert.
The participant will train with international crews, who are plan for a trip into space in the next months or years, and everybody who will fly with a Russian Soyuz spaceship into Earth orbit, has to perform several survival trainings.
Preliminary Training:
The priliminary training will performed in Star City at the GCTC and includes following activities:
- Theoretical and practical training of the portable (and buoyant) survival kit (HA 3)"Granat 6" (purpose, structure, contents, major tasks, functional guidances, safety precautions) - Duration 4 hours.
- Theoretical safety briefings for surviving in the desert, discussion of medical characteristics, meteorology, geography. - 2 hours
- Practical exercises with the survival kit "Granat 6" - Duration 6 hours.
Pre-autonomus Training:
The pre-autonomus training is perform under genuine desert conditions and contains the following activities:
- Eestablishing and adjustment of an emergency accommodation with the help of the parachute of the Soyuz descent capsule - by material of the brake parachute and components of the survival kit "Granat 6".
- Using of the communication system and signal pistol.
- Firing exercises with the TP-83 pistol (a component of the survival kit "Granat 6")
Duration of the training: 8 hours.
Autonomus Training:
Training accomplished in the desert with the crew participants under material conditions depending upon mission default by head of the head of the survival team.
The duration of the autonomus training: 48 hours.
Safety aspects during the training:
In order to place the security of the training participants surely during the autonomus training, the following is placed surely:
- The director/conductor of the test team and the director/conductor of the medical teams specify the place for the camp development as well as the place of the autonomous training under epedelogical aspects.
- The cosmonauts and the test crew members were inform about the event sequence and safety precautons with guidelines during the training and what is plan to perform.
- 24 hour medical monitoring is locally based during the training in the basecampy.
- The medical service of the hospital in Baikonur is shifted during the entire training into higher uncertainty phase.
- Emergency equipment is made available 24 hours in the basecamp, also a emergency-helicopter.
- An engineer and a physician per member are in the basecamp connected with the cosmonauts and training participants via radio.
- The director/conductor salvage of the rescue team and his crew is locally constant in the basecamp in readiness.
- Medical monitoring and examination during the training.
- The cosmonaut or other training participants possesses a medical certificate over their health status. This certificate entitled the participant for training.
- Before training the participant goes through a medical basic investigation. This entitled the participant for the training.
- In given times the participant and his crew comrades is requested to announce via radio over their health conditions.
- After training the participant goes through a medical re-examination, in order to determine the general state of the participant.
Weather conditions:
The weather conditions in Baikonur (Kasakhstan) are unforeseeable. Normally the days are very hot (over 52 degrees in the shade) and in the night the temperatures fall rapidly off (8 - 12 degrees). The desert is much drying. In the 48 hours the weather can change. Rain is not to be expected. Sandstorms can arise and obstruct the respiration and you view.
