Sunday March 12, 2006
No supermen, just spacemen
IN Lumut, the 27 candidates were first asked to fill in a self-report. “It was a questionnaire in which they described their own personalities and traits,” explains Dr Teoh Hsien-Jin, one of the clinical psychologists involved in the Malaysian Astronaut Programme.
Wouldn’t they simply lie and give the answers that will put them in the best possible light?
“Of course, they might lie ? in fact, we were sure they would lie,” Dr Teoh laughs. “It’s perfectly natural to want to put on one’s best face ? but, they then have to go through a week of activities and we observed them the whole time, even when they were sleeping, and their observed behaviour was matched to their self-reports.”
 |
Woo Pei Jun … ‘It’s all a compromise.’ |
Candidates were made to spend hours in pitch-dark jungle conditions to gauge whether they could endure long periods of isolation and sensory deprivation.
“It can be frightening if one is not used to the jungle but the candidates were never in any real danger ? what they did not know was that there were commandos assigned to watch over them at all times,” reveals Dr Teoh.
 |
Dr Teoh Hsien-Jin … ‘Of course, they might lie … in fact, we were sure they would lie.’ |
Do you make a face in disgust and shrink from the awful sight? Do you frown and get on with it? Do you complain incessantly? Do you tackle the job with gusto? Do you organise your team and tell each person clearly what he or she should do? Every action is watched and marked.
Ingenuity, or lack of, is also noted. Presumably, any team that succeeded in turning ox tongue and assorted Russian condiments into delicious nasi lemak would score highly for ingenuity but may lose points for tendency towards homesickness.
Once the dishes were cooked, however well or badly, the candidates in each team have had to eat the food prepared by the other team. Then, they had to critique the effort. How tactful or blunt they were meant more or fewer marks.
The idea was to determine how well each person coped and adapted when faced with the unexpected and the unfamiliar. Never mind the few days in space, the successful final two candidates have to endure 18 months of training in Russia.
“Even their aptitude for languages is a factor,” says Dr Teoh, “because they will have to learn to speak Russian.”
In another test, one member in each team was given a handicap – one couldn’t see, another couldn’t hear, the third couldn’t speak and the fourth could not walk. Together, they had to get around and over obstacles, including negotiating a staircase. One team which chose to have their “blind” member lead the way did not impress the experts.
 |
Confronted with a collection of unfamiliar ingredients, including ox tongue, the astronaut candidates have to prepare a meal. |
They were intended to find the most emotionally stable people with an ideal balance of personality traits.
“You want someone who is a go-getter but not too aggressive, a ‘nice’ person but not so nice that he ends up being a pushover, one who follows rules and procedures but is not so rigid that he can’t think out of the box in a crisis ? it’s all a compromise,” explains developmental psychologist Woo Pei Jun, who is Dr Teoh’s colleague at Sunway University College. “You want someone who is a team player and is not a square. We are not looking for Superman because he would want things his way all the time.”
The trick is to establish a person’s character on earth, and trying to foresee how he or she will react in space where everything – from the atmosphere to the gravity to the hours to the other astronauts to the food – is so different. On top of that, things can go wrong and life-threatening emergencies can occur without warning.
“There is no simple formula,” adds Malaysian Astronaut Programme technical committee member Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh. “For a fighter pilot during peace time, for instance, you’d want someone who follows rules, who does things by the book and the checklist. After all, safety is paramount.
“But there are times, like in a war or combat situation, when the aircraft may develop some technical problems and the pilot has to decide whether to abort the mission or push on, even if it means risking the aircraft and himself.
“A pilot who RTBs (returns to base) every time some warning light flashes will not be popular with his comrades. A maverick, like the character played by Tom Cruise in Top Gun, may not be an ideal person to have on your team in peace time but when the chips are down and aggressiveness is required, he may be the one you want on your side.”
Once the nation’s four top guns are identified, the reward that awaits them: A two-week stint in Star City, outside Moscow, Russia, for training.
Upon their return home, two will be shortlisted, with input from the Russians, for further training in Star City for 18 months to become full-fledged astronauts. But only one will finally be chosen for the mission with the Russians to the International Space Station in October 2007. So stay tuned, folks, our little space odyssey is only just beginning.
Related Stories:
Looking for the right bahan
The big sacrifice
Vacation in space
Bad food and dodgy plumbing
RSS
