CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts from Germany and France will make the International
Space Station (ISS) a bit more international when they help ferry a new
European module to the orbital laboratory this week.
Veteran spaceflyers Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts will haul the European Space Agency's (ESA) Columbus laboratory into
orbit with the help of five crewmates when NASA's shuttle Atlantis launches on
Thursday.
"Columbus is the biggest contribution from Europe for the
International Space Station," Schlegel, of Germany, told reporters Monday.
"By doing this, Europe will become a senior
partner in human spaceflight and I'm very glad."
Schlegel, Eyharts and their STS-122 crewmates will deliver the 13-ton
Columbus module
during a planned 11-day mission that is set
to launch Dec. 6 at 4:31 p.m. EST (2131 GMT).
Return
to space
Hailing
from Aachen, Germany, Schlegel is a former Federal Armed Forces paratrooper who is returning to space more than 14 years after launching on his first mission in 1993.
"The first
burning question for me is, how much will I remember?" Schlegel, 56, said in an
interview. "How much will my body still remember and will it be functioning as
I would like it to function?"
Schlegel, a
scientist-turned-astronaut, first flew as a mission specialist for the Spacelab
D-2 research expedition during NASA's STS-55 flight aboard Columbia, where he participated in some 88
experiments over the course of 10 days. On STS-122, he will serve as Mission
Specialist-3 and participate in two of the flight's three
planned spacewalks.
"The most
joy will be when the first laughter comes over through the space-to-ground [comm]," said Schlegel, adding that, as the fifth of nine
children with eight children of his own, he's learned the value of teamwork.
"That means we know our mission is going well, we are doing as expected and
everything is going to be good so we can continue building up and working to
our common goal."
It was
science that led Schlegel to Germany's astronaut corps. While studying the properties of semiconductor materials, the trained physicist had the chance to work with substances made in orbit, which galvanized his interest in spaceflight. He gladly applied when his country made
a new call for astronauts.
"I never
thought I would have had a chance, but I was lucky enough to be selected," said
Schlegel, who joined Germany's astronaut ranks in 1988 before shifting into the ESA's spaceflying corps in 1998. He served as backup to fellow German astronaut Reinhold Ewald during the joint German-Russian Mir-'97 mission to the Mir Space Station.
"I think the International Space Station is a role model of
how in the future we, as humankind, have to tackle our big problems and solve
them," Schlegel said. "Only in cooperation, in taking advantages of the
capability of other nations, other people, other cultures, this is the way to
go."
ISS or
bust
Like
Schlegel, Eyharts is also making a return to space
after a years-long hiatus. But this time, the veteran French astronaut is
heading for a very different space station.
Eyharts,
50, first flew in space in February 1998, when he launched to the Mir Space
Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on France's 20-day Pegase
science expedition. On STS-122, Eyharts will serve as
Mission Specialist-5 aboard Atlantis until the shuttle reaches the ISS, where
he will replace NASA astronaut Dan Tani as an
Expedition 16 crew flight engineer for the next three months.
"As I'll
probably be gone for awhile, I'd like to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year," Eyharts told reporters Monday. "See you in
2008."
A general
in the French Air Force, Eyharts flew fighter jets,
conducted parachute jumps and served as a test pilot, but spaceflight has
always been his main goal.
"I decided
that I would like to be an astronaut when I was about 12 years old and I saw
the first U.S. astronauts stepping on the moon and walking on the moon," he said in a NASA
interview. France selected Eyharts to join its astronaut corps in 1990.
Eyharts will be the first astronaut to enter the ESA's Columbus lab once it is
finally attached to the ISS, and he hopes to savor the moment once the
requisite safety checks are complete.
"I think
there will be some emotion, even though that's just a partial ingress," he
said, adding that many people on Earth have worked for up to 25 years to see Columbus fly.
Eyharts is married and has a nine-year-old child, and said he will definitely miss his family
during the months he will spend in orbit. The long duration of his spaceflight,
and the months of training and travel that preceded it, cannot help but cause
some stress to those he will leave behind, he added.
He has also
steeled himself to forgo the traditionally French glass of wine while in space.
"I will
miss it actually," Eyharts said with a laugh. "I am
very French."
NASA
will broadcast Atlantis' STS-122 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com's STS-122 mission coverage and NASA TV feed.
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