Space passenger rides out highs and lows

The ups and downs of a space dream
Olsen’s childhood interest in space was reawakened with a vengeance in 2003, when he read about the multimillion-dollar space trips taken by California investment manager Dennis Tito and South African dot-com entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. Soon he was in contact with Virginia-based Space Adventures, the company that helped arrange those earlier trips aboard Russia’s Soyuz transport spaceships.

After a preliminary trip to Russia — in part to check out the Spartan accommodations at the Star City cosmonaut training complex — Olsen signed up for the $20 million trip himself. He started a six-month training program in June 2004, in hopes of flying that October. Little did he know it would take a year longer, due to the Russian doctors’ medical concerns.

Olsen has kept mum about the exact nature of the problem, other than to say “something turned up in a test.” He emphasized that the concern was not life-threatening. In fact, he said his American doctor told him nothing needed to be done — which added to the frustration.

“Three months after I went home, it had disappeared,” Olsen said.

Olsen and his doctors kept sending medical updates to the Russians, and he stuck with a workout routine that kept him in prime physical shape.

“I don’t give up easy,” he said. “You can’t, because once you give up mentally, it’s all over. You’ve got to keep that determination going.”

After months of follow-up tests, the Russian doctors admitted that “the old condition had pretty much gone away,” Olsen said. One big test remained: a review by the Russian space program’s medical commission.

While Olsen was attending a technology conference in Scotland, he got a message from Space Adventures’ chief executive officer and president, Eric Anderson: Get over to Russia this weekend for the big commission meeting.

“So I did,” Olsen recalled. “I went through this medical test, and they said, ‘All right, you pass, you’re back in the program.’ So I said, ‘Well, when can I start?’ And they said, ‘How about Monday?’”

Olsen decided then and there to stay in Russia with his overnight bag, buy what he needed to buy, and have the rest of his effects sent over later. Two days after doctors gave the green light, “I was back in class, and I haven’t stopped since,” he said.

Going to space school
Olsen said cosmonaut training has been “like being a college student again.” Of course, not many college students get to take parabolic zero-gravity flights, or spin around in a centrifuge at up to 8 Gs of acceleration. In comparison, shuttle astronauts generally experience a maximum of 3 Gs — that is, three times Earth’s gravitational pull.

But most of the training is spent in classrooms, where Olsen and his two professional crewmates learn the ins and outs of the Soyuz vehicle they will ride next month as well as the international space station. And like students stuffed in a phone booth, the three crew members spend hours going through procedures in a cramped Soyuz simulator at Star City.

Sergei Remezov / Reuters Space passenger Gregory Olsen practices in a Soyuz training module at the Star City cosmonaut complex near Moscow.

Perhaps the most arduous task came during a water-landing exercise, when the three had to change into wet suits and don survival gear, sometimes lying on top of each other to accomplish the task. The 6'1" Olsen, who usually weighs about 170 pounds (77 kilograms), said he sweated off more than 3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) in two hours.

Despite those trials, Olsen says the physical aspect of the training has been the easiest part. And the hardest part?

“That for me has been trying to learn Russian,” he said. “I want to. I love Russians and the Russian culture. … But I’ve never been good at languages since I was a young person.”

Olsen said he’s bonded well with his veteran crewmates — NASA’s McArthur, who will serve as space station commander; and Russia’s Tokarev, who will serve as the Soyuz commander.

“I’m just in awe of them,” he said. “When I watch them operate the Soyuz and the ISS simulators, they seem to know every nut and bolt on the vehicle. I just stand there and try to soak up the knowledge.”

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