Club Meeting

At the virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry on 9th December, members and guests enjoyed an extremely interesting talk by Andrjez Stewart speaking from NASA, Houston, Texas. Andrjez is a flight controller at the Johnston Space Centre in Houston and he described the two experiences of simulated life in space in which he has taken part. Andrjez lived and worked on the Hera Simulator for two weeks with another three crew members. He also spent three hundred and sixty- six days in the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulator with another five crew members. This was designed to mirror exactly what life would be like for astronauts on Mars. The domed habitat simulator is located on Mauna Loa in Hawaii where the jagged volcanic mountain slopes resemble the surface of Mars. Andrjez and his colleagues worked in an environment that simulates what astronauts would experience on Mars. It takes twenty-two minutes to send a message to Mars and the same time to receive a reply. For a whole year this is how Andrjez and his colleagues communicated, even with their families. Power came from solar panels and water was delivered monthly as if by a shuttle from Earth. Their meals were the same dehydrated food used on the space station and had to be rehydrated and cooked by the crew. Just as in space, if any equipment failed they had to repair it themselves. Andrjez's ultimate goal is to become an astronaut and this insight into his training was fascinating for the Rotary audience. Jim McCulloch introduced the speaker. Sandy Mackenzie proposed the vote of thanks.