The European Astronaut Centre prepares for International Space Station operations.

The European Space Agency (ESA) contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) goes much beyond the delivery of hardware like the Columbus Laboratory, its payloads and the Automated Transfer Vehicles. ESA Astronauts will be members of the ISS crew. ESA, according to its commitments as ISS international partner, will be responsible to provide training on its elements and payloads to all ISS crewmembers and medical support for ESA astronauts. The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne has developed over more than a decade into the centre of expertise for manned space activities within ESA by contributing to a number of important co-operative spaceflight missions. This role will be significantly extended for ISS manned operations. Apart from its support to ESA astronauts and their onboard operations, EAC will have a key role in training all ISS astronauts on ESA elements and payloads. The medical support of ISS crew, in particular of ESA astronauts has already started. This paper provides an overview on status and further plans in building up this homebase function for ESA astronauts and on the preparation towards Training Readiness for ISS crew training at EAC, Cologne. Copyright 2001 by the European Space Agency. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission. Released to IAF/IAA/AIAA to publish in all forms.

EAC training and medical support for International Space Station astronauts.

The operation of the International Space Station (ISS) will be a global multilateral endeavour. Each International Partner will be responsible for the operation of its elements and for providing a crew complement proportional to its share of the overall resources. The preparations of the European Astronaut Centre to furnish training and medical support for the ISS astronauts are described.

Ten years of the European Astronaut Centre (EAC).

The European Astronaut Centre, the home base of ESA's Astronaut Corps, celebrated its 10th anniversary on 17 May 2000 with a media event highlighting the past, present and future of the Agency's manned space programme.

Simulation of space adaptation syndrome on earth.

The three Spacelab D-1 Scientist Astronauts were exposed to a 1 1/2 h 3 g centrifuge run in the supine position, resulting in a linear 3 g acceleration in the x-direction. They used their space experience to evaluate their readapting to normal gravity and compared their observations with 'Space Adaptation Syndrome'. After the centrifuge runs, the vestibular visual system appeared to be modified in a very specific and reproducible manner. Readapting to the normal 1 g environment took at least 6 h. During this period there was a striking similarity to the astronaut's experience during adaptation to weightlessness in space. A series of vestibular tests were then performed, confirming these subjective findings.

Simulation of Space-Adaptation Syndrome on Earth.

The three Spacelab D-1 Scientist Astronauts were exposed to a 1.5 h centrifuge run in the supine position, resulting in a linear 3 g acceleration. They used their space experience to evaluate their readaptation to normal gravity and compared their observations with 'Space Adaptation Syndrome'. After the centrifuge runs, the vestibular visual system appeared to be modified in a very specific and reproducible manner. Readaptation to the normal 1 g environment took at least 6 h. During this period there was a striking similarity to the astronauts' experience during adaptation to weightlessness in space. Vestibular tests were subsequently performed, which confirmed these subjective findings.