"We need to publicize more the details of the programs (the commercial spacecraft and Orion) among children - boys and girls, in the developed world and in developing countries in order to arouse in them a desire to be involved in the program" * Williams is optimistic about the development of the space program despite the disasters and mishaps of recent years
Dozens of astronauts (out of the approximately 450 astronauts who have ever flown into space) participated in the International Association for Astronautics (IAC) Congress held in Jerusalem last week. Two of them, Sunita Williams from NASA and Reynold Ewald from the European Space Agency participated in the meeting with the general public, including elementary and middle school students from all over the country. After the event, the two were interviewed by the science website. In this article, we bring the interview with Williams, who is the record holder for American women's spacewalks, and is currently one of a group of test pilots that NASA will lend to the two commercial companies that are developing spaceships funded by NASA that will carry astronauts into low Earth orbit, mainly in the first phase to the International Space Station .
When will space flights be commonplace and suitable for everyone?
"I believe that it will happen relatively quickly, one of the goals of the commercial manned launch program is to support the development of the ability to launch humans into space (not just professional astronauts AB). The idea is to use the ideas and innovations of the private industry of commercial companies that build the spacecraft that will allow people to fly into space on a daily basis. Currently we (NASA) are working with Boeing and SpaceX but there are other companies developing this capability on their own and trying to build better, cheaper and smarter spacecraft to fly humans into low Earth orbit. I estimate that this will happen in 10-15 years."
During her lecture, Williams answered a question from the audience, when will the US return to launch. According to her, in the first phase, the spacecrafts of Boeing and SpaceX will replace some of the Soyuz spacecrafts that are currently circling the station - two spacecraft in the fall and two in the spring, and then it will be possible to reduce the orbit to one spacecraft every six months, and complete the rest of the orbits with the help of American spacecraft, which will be maneuvered from US soil.
Couldn't the Virgin Galactic disaster cause a delay?
Williams: "I don't think so, neither professionally nor personally. I believe that the results of the investigation will get to the source of the problem, although the company maintains secrecy and does not reveal details. In any case, it is clear that every such disaster makes people think about the risks of flying into space. It is not easy and indeed dangerous. I don't think this concern will ever go away, but we must build safer spaceships. This case should make people appreciate more the complexity of space flight and the tremendous effort that engineers make to prevent it.
What needs to be done to restore the youth's interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), especially girls or children in developing countries?
We need to provide more information about what we (the scientists, engineers in the field of space AB) are doing now, what we will do in the near future as part of the commercial space program and what we will do in the future with Orion in providing opportunities for the next generation of space explorers. Until today we went step by step and it was quite boring. These steps will be very brave and doing brave things is exciting. We need to publicize more the details of the program among children - boys and girls, in the developed world and in developing countries in order to arouse in them a desire to be involved in the program. We will not be able to do everything by ourselves, it should be a global event, like the Apollo program. Everyone was excited about humans landing on the moon. It should be explained how each of them will be able to participate in these programs personally. Study engineering, science and math, keep your health and you can try to apply to be an astronaut. Why not? We are a group containing people from all over the world. Go for it, get on board.
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