Astronaut Training: and Cold Plunging

Panicking leads to mistakes. It creates stress and miscommunications. It steals your attention. These are dangerous liabilities when your job requires focus under pressure. Panic is not an option when you're a first responder, military personnel, CEO, and, of course, astronaut.

Astronaut training isn't just about technology. It focuses on exercising panic - or better yet, not panicking. Panicking when you're in a metal box so far from Earth that you can't even trust gravity, that's a death sentence. The only way to prepare for such extreme conditions? Simulate panic—and overcome it. These are my favorite astronaut training stories:

Backpacking in the Utah desert: A team of astronauts embarked on a weeks-long trek through the desert with only what they could carry in a backpack. Every group member was forced to rappel and climb up and down the great cliffs of the Canyonlands, Utah, until they mastered their fear of heights.

Battling the Alaskan Sea: That same group of astronauts was sent on a kayaking trip through the Alaskan Sea. The weather was disastrous, and storms went on for days. Cold and wet, the crew spent days spent days scooping out water - hoping to stay afloat.

Lost in the jungle: Four astronauts were dropped in the Philippines jungle with no provisions. The only thing they had was a guide who spoke no English.

Cold plunges: Astronauts were sent to Cold Lake, Canada, with only minimal provisions. Coats, hats, a tent, and a sled. It was minus 40. They still swam in the cold water.

I not only love these stories for their absurdity and the addition of ice plunges but also for their testament to the human mind. It is much more unbreakable than we can imagine. Perhaps the training is why America made it to the moon first.

Works Cited

Holiday, R. (2024). The obstacle is the way: The timeless art of turning trials into triumph. Portfolio/Penguin.

Mike Massimino. Mike Massimino - Astro Mike. (n.d.). https://mikemassimino.com/

NBCUniversal News Group. (2018, July 20). Panic in space can be deadly. here’s how astronauts train to stay alive in emergencies. NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/panic-space-can-be-deadly-here-s-how-astronauts-train-ncna892941