The training

3\5\2009

Hi my name is Sonja Visada. I am from New Zealand, but I live in America and work for NASA, as a trainee astronaut. Today is my lucky day because I was chosen to go into space. My mission is to go to the moon and find an easier way to get water from below the surface. There are 3 more experienced astronauts coming with me. Their names are Fred Feris, Suze Silkvian and Bob Raiser. After I accepted the mission, my commander told me that my training starts this afternoon. I am so excited my first actual mission in actual space!!

The Afternoon
It is time for my first Space training!
In it I learned how to fly the T-34 which is a training aeroplane. We also went into a room with a zero gravity simulator, which is a machine that makes it seem like you are floating. Then we had to go into a space shuttle simulator, which helps you adjust to the speed that we will travel. After my long training, I went home feeling tired but excited and enthusiastic about my mission.

That evening at home I checked my emails. I had got one from NASA saying that I was to go into space in two days and I have to come in tomorrow and try on my space suit. I made some dinner and watched some TV. I had a shower and read for a bit. I felt tired after a while and went to bed.

The day of the launch

10:00
Before I go into space I meet my team. Suze Silkvia is first to arrive. She has been in space 6 times before. On this mission, Suze is the scientist who is monitoring the levels of water hidden beneath the moon's surface. Next is Fred Feris. He has been to the moon 3 times. In this mission he is our boss. Last but not least is Bob Raiser. He has been on a mission to fix a satellite, so on this mission he needs to build the machine that we will use to get the water. Suze and Fred seem nice, but I don't really like Bob because he is too grouchy. I tried my uniform on. It was a perfect fit, but it took a long time to put on. We got our equipment and more info about our mission.

10:30
In half an hour we get ready to launch!! I feel very excited and nervous at the same time. Our commander gave us a few last minute words of encouragement and advise. He said to us "This mission is very important to the world because one day we might be able to build a space station on the moon. We need the water because people are going to live there and we need water to survive. Good Luck! Have a safe trip." That made me feel determined to complete my mission to the best of my ability.

11:58
We leave in 2 minutes so we are boarding now. Bob starts the count down and the engine. We all start counting "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0". The shuttle starts moving with a roar of the engine. I felt thrilled and powerful. After about 20 minutes we got to the I.S.S. (the international space station Freedom). When we arrived at the I.S.S we met the Cosmonauts (astronauts) from Russia. After we looked at photos to decide on the best place to land the shuttle on the moon. For dinner we had beef and vegetables which is in a plastic bag mixed with a bit of water. Than we all went to bed. Our beds are sleeping bags attached to the wall and we have to zip them up very well so we don't float every where when we're sleeping.

The Mission

Today we start our mission. Suze starts the space shuttle and we fly to the moon. When we land on the Moon we unstrap ourselves and get out. We were curious, so we went to get a closer look and then we found a big dent in the moon. We went over to the dent and discovered that it was a hole leading down to the centre. We needed to found an easier way to get the water out the ground. So we all started thinking. Than suddenly it hit me! I had an idea about how to get the water out of the Moon. All we had to do was make a pump and put it in to the ground. We made our way back to the I.S.S and changed into something more comfortable and Suze started making the pump with Bob directing. While Fred and I thought of a way to get the pump into the ground. After we prepared the shuttle for tomorrow.
The next day we went back to the moon. Fred and Bob put the pump into the ground and we tried it out. It worked so we checked the water to see if it was clean. We put a special drug into the water to make it clean. Then Suze analyzed the water and discovered that it was cleaner than on earth. The mission was a huge success!!!!!!!! We went back to the I.S.S for our last day.

The Return

Today is our last 12 hours in space so we decide to play some games. We played charades because we can't play a board game otherwise the pieces would fly around. I win 12 of the games, so does Suze. Bob wins 3 and Fred wins 1. Than we each have an apple and then prepare to return to earth. I am so excited to see everyone again and tell them what I have done. I read for 2 hours and then pack.

We had a bit of trouble getting into our space suits!! Then we all boarded the shuttle and went to our seats. We leave the I.S.S and and get ready to return to Earth. We start the count down "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0" and take off. When we enter the Earth's atmosphere, it takes us about 10-8 minutes to get back to Earth.

We have now landed on Earth and the attendants carried us out on gurnies so we don't have a heart attack or break our bones because when you go into space your bones get softer. A few days later our boss told us that our mission was a great success and that we had done really well.

Resources

Books:

Life in space

Websites:

http://www.library.thinkquest.org/
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreductors/index

Field trips:

Noordwijk, Space expo