Former astronaut: the most interesting thing on the ISS is working on experiments

On the International Space Station (ISS), the most interesting thing is working on scientific experiments, former Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne from the European Space Agency told PAP. He added that floating in a state of weightlessness is his favorite feeling, and gravity is not pleasant at all.

At the European Space Agency (ESA), Frank De Winne is the group manager for LEO (Low Earth Orbit) services. His team develops and demonstrates low-orbit satellite technologies, including navigation and communications. A former ESA astronaut, De Winne has been to the International Space Station (ISS) twice: in 2002, he spent 11 days in space, and in 2009, 188 days.

The second Pole in history, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, is scheduled to fly into Earth orbit in the Ax-4 mission on June 10.

In an interview with PAP, De Winne expressed his conviction that the flight into orbit and stay on the ISS will be a great experience for Uznański-Wiśniewski. "Of course, it will also be a very busy time, because the mission lasts only 14 days and he has to conduct not only 13 Polish experiments, but also several others for ESA," he added.

The ESA representative said that, despite training, the ISS always surprises new arrivals. "The astronauts have much more work to do there than they did on Earth. There are more computers and more equipment on board the station than you might expect. The first impression is: where have I ended up? And you have to learn to live and work in microgravity," he said.

Frank De Winne admitted that manned space flights are risky. "The entire ground crew tries to minimize this risk, but it cannot be completely eliminated. The only way to do this is to stay on Earth, and that is not what we want," he noted.

He recalled that before he became an astronaut, he was a fighter pilot. "It's also a risky job, I even had to eject from a falling plane once. But there are many other risky professions in the world," he said.

De Winne was the first non-American and non-Russian commander of the International Space Station in history (in 2009). As he emphasized, he could fulfill this function because Europe has been expanding its activity on the ISS for the past two decades, among others thanks to the European space laboratory Columbus installed there.

"Sławosz will also work there. It's great that Poland is becoming a part of this journey. We see great interest from Poland in increasing its participation in low-orbit research and space exploration. It must be remembered that Sławosz's mission primarily serves the development of science and technology," the former astronaut noted.

One of the most interesting elements of the mission for him was working on scientific experiments. "This is one of the main reasons why we want to fly into space. Astronauts feel responsible to scientists for performing the experiments entrusted to them and delivering results that are to serve humanity," he noted.

The second Belgian in space after Dirk Frimout said that a large part of the training program before a space flight is training on how to behave in emergency situations on the ISS.

"In such cases, you have to react immediately. Usually, the flight director on Earth is responsible for what happens on the space station. However, in an emergency, these powers are immediately taken over by the space station commander - and I have undergone such training. If, for example, a fire breaks out, you cannot wait for contact with Earth, you have to act," he noted.

He mentioned that during his mission there were no emergencies, but there were several false alarms, including a fire. "It turned out that one of the fans stopped working, so dust was floating in the air and settled in front of the smoke detector. And it recognized the polluted air as smoke and set off the alarm. In such situations, initial actions are carried out as if it was a real emergency, until it is determined that there is no danger," he described.

Emergency situations on the ISS are not the only threats during the mission. "There are many critical moments. For example, takeoff: you sit on top of the rocket on the launch pad and hope that everything will go well. There is a slightly tense atmosphere in the capsule, but that is normal. If someone does not feel a little stress during a flight in space, they probably do not know what they are doing," the former astronaut believes.

He revealed that after takeoff, the astronauts in the capsule would have broad smiles on their faces. "You can see that in the photos. I smiled a lot when I first saw how beautiful the Earth was from the capsule window," he recalled.

A few or a dozen hours later, before docking with the ISS, the tension in the spacecraft increases again. "You can really breathe only after docking. That's when the real work begins, because the launch and the journey to the ISS are not. And the real work is conducting experiments," the Belgian assessed.

He noted that another critical moment is landing after returning to Earth. "When the parachute of the Soyuz capsule opened, and after landing on Earth the hatch opened and I could breathe fresh air again, I was very happy," he recalled.

Frank De Winne revealed that he is a big fan of microgravity. "It's really cool, but the body has to adapt to it. My first days on the ISS were not pleasant, I felt bad. The blood shifts, there is back pain... But after a while, when you get used to it, it's great to float in the air as if you weighed nothing," he said.

However, after returning to Earth, everything seems very difficult for the astronauts. "During the landing of the Soyuz spacecraft, I had a book with procedures on my lap. On Earth, the hatch opened and someone tried to take it from me, but I couldn't lift it. It's not because I didn't have the strength after being in space, it's just that my brain has adapted to microgravity so much. Gravity is not pleasant, although it allows us to live," he emphasized.

He said that, longing for a state of weightlessness after returning to Earth, he took part in several so-called parabolic flights, during which one can experience microgravity for a moment. "It's nice, but it's not the same, because you only float in this state for 20-30 seconds. There is no comparison to what Sławosz will soon experience during his mission," summed up Frank De Winne.

From Cocoa Beach Anna Bugajska (PAP)

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