Preparing to Go to Space! - An Astronaut's Perspective

Science Buddies' founder, Kenneth Hess, was an astronaut on Blue Origin's NS-25 suborbital spaceflight. From setting up a spacecraft simulator at home to doing zero-g training, here are some of the steps he took to prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime experience—and science projects students can do to explore how astronauts train.

Photo: Ken Hess (right) did zero-g flight training with daughter Amber (left) (who wrote many resources for Science Buddies) in preparation for his Blue Origin spaceflight. © Ken Hess

On May 19, 2024, when I flew on the suborbital Blue Origin New Shepard mission NS-25, I became the 652nd human to cross the Karman line into space and the 53rd who was not a professional astronaut.

What was it like to go to space? It was ten minutes of sensory overload and striking contrasts, encompassing the thunder of liftoff, the awesome sight of Earth and the Sun floating in the blackness of space, the relief of hearing the mortars deploy the drogue chutes, the triumph of egressing the capsule after landing, and much, much more.

Years of preparation preceded my trip. The suborbital spaceflight would be straight up, straight down-and very short, ten minutes from liftoff to landing! I would be in zero-g, unbuckled from my seat, for two minutes and seventeen seconds, and I would be above the Karman line (truly in space) for 77 seconds. There would be no time for a "do over"!

Imagine competing in the Olympics in an event you had never practiced or even seen before. Bad idea! My spaceflight would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For it to be successful, I needed to get comfortable with what I was going to experience, plan what I wanted to do, and practice, practice, practice.

I approached my spaceflight like a scientist and engineer. Here are some of the steps I took to get ready:

• I watched videos of every other suborbital spaceflight, watching and timing everything that the astronauts did. What problems did astronauts have and what seemed to be easily accomplished? What seemed like a good use of time and what was a waste?
• I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything in space if I was a "nervous Nellie," so I wanted to experience everything that might be a problem during the flight while I was still on the ground (or in an airplane). Experiencing something in advance removes uncertainty, making one less thing to worry about. Because a spaceflight involves very high g-forces on the way up and down, separated by zero g while in space, these seemed like important areas to explore. I travelled to the Philadelphia area to ride in a high-g, human centrifuge at the NASTAR center. Check off that box. I was good to go! I also flew on two zero-g airplane flights, and they were super fun. (For a very short time, an airplane can create zero g by flying in a parabolic flight path.) The zero-g flights reassured me that the g forces were nothing to worry about!
• I set clear objectives and priorities for my time in space, revising my plan repeatedly as I learned more and more about what the experience would be like. Because the New Shepard vehicle doesn't have any cameras pointing outside, my primary objective was to photograph Earth in its natural environment of space. I purchased a GoPro with wrist mount (the camera setup I was allowed to use) and learned it inside and out. Before the flight, I knew exactly how I wanted to have all the settings and printed out a checklist to take with me to the space capsule.
• I built a spacecraft simulator using a reclining chair. Next to the chair, I had my cellphone mounted on a tripod while it played a video of the mission clock. To make the video more realistic, my wife Connie added an audio track, pretending to be the capsule communicator in mission control as she made callouts for key events during the flight. This simulator allowed me to practice and visualize the implementation of my plan as if I was in the capsule.
• One thing that I couldn't practice in advance was sitting on top of a rocket waiting to launch. However, I could practice how to stay relaxed in stressful situations. I studied and practiced a stress reduction technique called a physiological sigh (or cyclic sighing).

Because of these preparations, when launch day arrived, I was calm and ready to launch!

Photo: Ken prepared for the high g-forces of spaceflight with human centrifuge training at the NASTAR center. © Ken Hess

A Firsthand Account of Suborbital Spaceflight—From Pre-flight Training to Landing

This post is part of a series of posts about Ken's experience as an astronaut on Blue Origin's NS-25 suborbital spaceflight. This series breaks space flight into individual segments, including pre- and post-flight, and connects Ken's first-hand account with space science projects for students.

Other posts in this series:

• A Firsthand Account of Suborbital Spaceflight - An Astronaut's Perspective
• The Thrill of a Rocket's Launch & Ascent - An Astronaut's Perspective
• Heading Back to Earth—An Astronaut's Perspective

Students interested in the types of preparation I did to make the most of my spaceflight can conduct related experiments with these projects:

• Motor Imagery Visualization's Impact on Fine Motor Skills for Space Flight: Use the small muscles in your hands to model and test how visualization of a task can improve the accuracy of fine motor skill performance.
• Astronaut Stress Management Training for Space Flight: Experiment with volunteers to see how breathing techniques can improve the type of fight-or-flight response induced by the stressors of space flight.

Browse space science projects