The astronaut shared her experiences and insights and told about her journey to the vastness of space.
Meeting with an astronaut from the USA
(15 photos)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
Meeting with astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (photo: Fotodiena/Dmitrij Kudriavcev)
It started with the navy
Some astronauts dream about this profession since childhood, but M. Stefanyshyn-Piper’s realization of what she wants to be came a little later. As a child, the woman felt a great admiration for aviation, since her mother’s birthplace is Germany, the astronaut started flying planes when she was just 4 years old, so she wanted to become a pilot.
She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering, but to pay for her studies, she joined the Navy, where she also saw many opportunities. Later, Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper remembered her dream profession as a pilot and tried to maintain her pilot’s license, but failed the test.
Later, she learned about the astronaut program and what the requirements were, so she realized that it was not necessary for her to become a pilot. Since he has a degree in mechanical engineering and repaired ships underwater in the navy, why can’t he fly into space?
This is how her journey as an astronaut at NASA began. The astronaut’s path was not the one usually chosen by women. She also met few women in the navy. In those days, only 10 percent served there. women.
“But I always pursue what I think I’m best at and what interests me. Sometimes I had to walk a very long and difficult way, but I did not give up. It used to be that people didn’t take me seriously.
Once when I was in the office, a man came into my office and told me he was looking for Captain Piper. I told him that I am what you are looking for. Then I realized from the person’s eyes and confusion that he expected the captain to be another person,” the astronaut recalled.
Never gave in to difficulties
No matter what difficulties she had to go through in life, the astronaut never gave up. The woman claims that she has such a personality – to always fight to the end.
If there are moments when she is close to giving up, then the astronaut is even more adamant that she cannot give up, especially in cases where there are no logical explanations for why she cannot do something.
“My husband sometimes even gets angry because I’m so stubborn, but it’s a very good quality. I never wanted to be the type to give up when faced with problems. I had a hard time at university when I wanted to quit – but I didn’t give up.
I failed the test once, but after that I told myself that I would do everything to pass it and I did, and I graduated. For example, in space we don’t have such a thing as giving up, when you’re in orbit you can’t do that, you have to face your problems,” says the former NASA astronaut.
When asked about what she did when she wanted to go home while in space, the astronaut smiles and says that she never had such a moment because she knew at the time that it was simply not possible. – “When I set my mind to something, my only goal is to finish it no matter what.”
M. Stefanyshyn-Piper assures that doing such work often involves uncertainty and risks. There is a vision, a dream, knowing where you want to go and what to do, but when you fly into space, you are greeted by a completely different atmosphere and what you planned on Earth – you cannot fulfill everything.
Maybe you have a plan that is really good, but it doesn’t fit your environment and therefore it won’t be successful. Therefore, astronauts must be flexible and consistent at the same time. You should always have a plan, but if that plan doesn’t work, you should be flexible and change it.
One of the most important things in an astronaut’s job is cooperation. “We are successful in space only because of the people who stay on Earth and work with all the equipment. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to work in space,” says M. Stefanyshyn-Piper
“I don’t think we’ll ever send all humans into space”
Everyone would like to see what the Earth looks like from above, so the astronaut shared her impressions of what she saw with her own eyes:
“We have a very beautiful planet. Seen from space, it is very blue, because 70% they are made up of oceans. We have a lot of white due to water and clouds. Looking at all the different colors of the Earth made me realize how amazing it is.
We only have one such planet and we all live on it together. When you do something on one side of the planet, it will affect the other side as well. You can’t say it’s my place and I can do whatever I want in it. This is not true because we only have one environment and it is all of us.
We have to take care of her. It’s the only thing we have. Yes, we can send people into space. We currently have 7 people living there, but it takes a lot of effort to send them out.
And we still have people on Earth supporting them from here, so to think that one day we’re going to put all the people in spaceships and send them somewhere else, we can’t. I don’t think that will ever happen, so we have to support our planet.”
Space can be opened to the common man
But according to Ms Stefanyshyn-Piper, the day will come when we will be able to buy tickets on a spaceship and fly into space for a short time, and it will be possible for ordinary people to do it. But, of course, the ticket will cost a lot of money, and it will not be possible to buy it for, for example, 100 euros. – “I think that space can really be opened to the common man in the future.”
The astronaut also talked about how people in this profession take care of their physical and emotional health after flying into space. They regularly do various exercises while they are still on Earth.
Since Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper’s missions lasted just 12 and 16 days, she never had any critical health problems, but for those astronauts who spend 6 months in space, their preparation is more complicated.
“The heart doesn’t work as hard in space as it does on Earth because of gravity, but we always come back to Earth, so we always maintain good heart health.”
The most important thing for astronauts is bones. You never walk in space, so your body begins to lack calcium. While in space, we try to lift weights to put a load on the body, to maintain strong muscles.
When it comes to emotional health, NASA takes it very seriously. They understand that we are isolated from the family, so they try to prepare us, give us time to rest. Nowadays, technology is better, we have phones there, we can talk to family, correspond with them.
Previously, family members had to come to the mission control office to talk to those in space, but now it is no longer necessary, so it is much easier,” the astronaut is happy.
