Payload Training

The crew spent two years learning how to operate the many experiments they would use in space. The crew trained at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas, and also at the Spacehab facility in Cape Canaveral Florida, the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Ohio, the Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt Maryland, and Europe.

ARMS

The four payload crewmembers (Anderson, Brown, Clark, and Ramon) participated as test subjects for the various human experiments. For Europe's ARMS (Advanced Respiratory Monitoring System) the subjects would ride a 'bicycle' while hooked up to instrumentation which monitored their breathing, pulse, blood pressure, and other functions.

Biopack

The European Biopack experiment was operated by several STS-107 crewmembers including Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, and Willie McCool.

The crew traveled to Europe for some of their training. Most of the crew's activities involved hand-intense tasks inside a glovebox. The glovebox is a sealed container with a clear lid. The astronaut inserts his or her hands into rubber gloves to manipulate the contents inside. The glovebox is a safety precaution if there's a leak or something breaks to prevent the materials from contaminating the crew cabin.

These photos were taken in Cape Canaveral Florida at Spacehab.

Crew Biopack training
Thumbnail for Biopack glovebox training.jpeg Laurel Clark learns how to operate the glovebox
Thumbnail for Laurel glovebox.jpg KC learns how to operate the glovebox
Thumbnail for 01pp1164 KC glovebox.jpg Laurel Clark learns how to operate the glovebox
Thumbnail for 01pp1671 Laurel glovebox training.jpg Willie McCool during Biopack training
Thumbnail for 01pp1670 Willie Biopack.jpg

Combustion Module

The Combustion Module (CM-2) consisted of three experiments, Laminar Soot Process (LSP), SOFBALL (Structures of Flame Balls at Low Lewis numbers), and Mist. The crew trained to operate the experiments in Houston, at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Ohio, and at Spacehab in Cape Canaveral Florida. Photos courtesy of Angel Abbud-Madrid.

In October 2000 the payload crew spent time in Florida learning how to operate the Mist experiment.

The entire crew visited the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Ohio in January 2001 for Combustion Module-2 training.

More training in Cape Canaveral at Spacehab in November 2001.

Other Payloads

The astronauts spent plenty of time training on all of their payloads. In some cases more photos were available, in other cases not as many. Here's a variety of payload training photos.

Kalpana Chawla reviews procedures
Thumbnail for 12-KC reviewing procedures (01-2001).jpg Mike Anderson inside Spacehab
Thumbnail for 01pp1168 Mike Spacehab.jpg The crew learns how to operate the OSTEO experiment
Thumbnail for 00pp1839 crew OSTEO training.jpg The crew inspects equipment they're going to use on STS-107
Thumbnail for jsc2002e26018 inspecting crew equipment.jpg

Rick Husband and Laurel Clark inside the Spacehab trainer
Thumbnail for 01pd1881 Rick Laurel Spacehab trainer.jpg Kalpana Chawla reading procedures
Thumbnail for 02pd0053 KC reading procedures.jpg KC inside the Spacehab training module
Thumbnail for 02pd0051 KC Spacehab training.jpg The crew inspects equipment they're going to use on STS-107
Thumbnail for jsc2002e26019 inspecting crew equipment.jpg

Rick Husband practices with the BRIC injectors
Thumbnail for 01pd1885 Rick BRIC injectors.jpg The crew learns how to use BRIC
Thumbnail for 00pp1857 crew BRIC training.jpg The crew learns how to operate the Biotube experiment
Thumbnail for 00pp1847 crew Biotube training.jpg Mike Anderson examines the MEDUSA water distribution system for Biotube
Thumbnail for Mike examines Biotube medusa.jpg

A personal invitation from Rick Husband

STS-107 commander Rick Husband invited author Philip Chien to observe the crew while they trained at the Spacehab Processing Integration Facility (SPIF) in Cape Canaveral Florida on December 12, 2001.

When I arrived Rick and Ilan were busy working on a laptop computer as part of the MEIDEX experiment under the watchful eyes of trainer Lisa Anderson and flight activities officer Terri Schneider. Rick looked up and said "Hi Phil" and went back to his training. After the training was finished he came over to shake my hand and introduce me to Ilan Ramon. I was also introduced to Laurel Clark and Willie McCool that day (I already knew Dave Brown, Mike Anderson, and Kalpana Chawla).

I asked Rick to show me one of the experiments he was responsible for and he showed me OSTEO. He was almost embarrassed how simple it was for him to operate - just turn a couple of knobs, wait a specified amount of time, and turn another set of knobs.

Rick then took me on a tour of the training module, a full-size mockup of the Spacehab laboratory where the crew would work in space. We got on our hands and knees to crawl into the trainer. Rick proudly showed off the color-coded signs which would serve as the crew's calendar in space - red and black for his Red shift (Texas Tech's school colors), and Navy blue and yellow for the Blue shift. The training module was a busy place with astronauts and trainers working on experiments so we didn't stay inside very long.

It was a fascinating look behind the scenes at the little details that make a space shuttle mission possible.

Afterwards I waited outside with Ilan and Laurel. Laurel had noticed a pin from the "Star Trek" television series on my collar and noted that her husband Jon would enjoy that because he was also a fan of the show. It's little things like that which make the astronauts humans - not just mechanical beings.

Rick and Willie posed for a photo in front of the actual Spacehab module.

Author Philip Chien took these exclusive photos of the STS-107 crew in training.

Biopack training document from ESA.
Combustion Module photos courtesy of Angel Abbud-Madrid.
Spacehab tour photos by author Philip Chien.
Other photos from NASA.

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