Training

How are the crew members going to be trained before their journey to Mars?

Swim training is used to ​train for spacewalks, astronauts go through practice sessions in a giant swimming pool, to experience weightlessness. They learn how to work in a team in tough conditions and how to work precisely and independently. They also learn how to use minimal communication to reach the same effects.

The astronaut candidates undergo two years of basic trainings that are focused on survival, language, technical skills and other things. When these candidates graduate the training programme, they get assigned for missions or roles in the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. During their training they learn how to spacewalk, how to do robotics, how to fly airplanes and how to operate on the International Space Station.

They learn spacewalking in the Johnson Space Center's 60-foot-deep swimming pool (called the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory). They also “catch simulated spacecraft using a practice version of the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2; learn Russian; and get basic training on space-station operations. Astronauts also deepen their leadership and following skills through geology and survival training. They additionally complete military water survival training, undergo swimming tests, are exposed to high and low atmospheric pressures, do flights in the "​vomit comet​" and get media and Russian language training, among other things” (Moskowitz, C. (2016)).

Before an astronaut goes on a mission, they need to read a lot of textbooks, have classes and do simulations. "Several full-scale mockups and trainers are also used to train astronauts. These mockups and trainers are used for onboard systems orientation and habitability training. Astronauts practice meal preparation, equipment stowage, trash management, use of cameras, and experiment operations," NASA stated (Howell, 2016).