The Jobs of an Astronaut
Who is an Astronaut? And What is the Job of an Astronaut?
The term ‘Astronaut’ was taken from two Greek words “Astron” meaning “star” and “Nautes” meaning “sailor”.
The “star-sailor” known as an astronaut has become a popular name in the English language used to describe anyone that has been trained, equipped, and sent to space with a space shift.
The person could be a member of a crew on a human space flight program or be serving as a commander.
Before now, it is usually named after professional space travelers but it has recently been used to refer to anyone who travels either as a scientist, politician, engineer, or any profession including space tourists.
Astronaut has been a more popular word for space travelers in many countries, especially English-speaking countries.
But Russia or the Soviet Union has a different name for space travelers which is “cosmonauts” this name was also borrowed from the Greek word “kosmos” meaning “space” and “Nautes” meaning “Sailor”.
The term ‘space-sailors’ is a simplified meaning of Cosmonauts. It distinguishes the American and other nation’s space travelers from those of Russia or the Soviet Union.
The recent achievement by China regarding space travel has given rise to the term ‘Taikonaut’ which means “Spaceman”. It is an informal Chinese term used to refer to space travelers.
Recently, a new term “Commercial Astronaut” is being used to refer to privately funded space travels, an example is the “SpaceShipOne in 2004”.
All the above showed that in general terms, an astronaut is a space traveler as well as a cosmonaut and taikonaut.
THE SEVEN MOST IMPORTANT JOBS OF AN ASTRONAUT
As it has been rightly said that an astronaut is a space traveler in general terms even though we have those referred to as professional space travelers known as trained astronauts, the rest traveling to space for one reason or the other is also referred t as astronauts.
Meanwhile, some of such names could have a prefix attached to it such as ‘commercial’ astronauts.
For the professional astronauts, their job includes:
Space Research and Exploration
The one and foremost job of professional astronauts is to carry out space research and explore outer space to gather more information on what is out there away from us not just above the earth’s altitude but away from the earth and its surroundings.
Space research and exploration appears to be the main idea behind space travel in the first place. The quest to know more about the earth we are living on, about the stars, the moon, and some of the unexplainable cosmos activities being noticed on earth.
The idea to travel above the earth was to know more and to confirm if some of the assumed predictions and statements made by many scholars were correct.
It all began with the idea to travel t the moon. The human idea of visiting the moon is one of the greatest ideas that hovered over for many years until the coming of superfast engines and advanced technology which made it possible.
Though no specific expectations were given as reasons why humans should explore space, the need to know more about what is outside the earth and above the earth’s surface has really brought significant changes to the way we live as humans.
The modern life of the global community made possible through the use of the internet for data sharing and other uses is part of the benefits obtained from the idea of space exploration.
The discovery of other planets and hundreds of other space bodies/objects such as types of stars, hovering objects in space as well as a proper understanding of how the entire universe operates are also benefits derived from space research and its exploration.
Those behind these operations are the professional astronauts who have been on it and were sponsored by participating countries.
Scientific Experiments
The progress made so far in space exploration has made it possible to have suitable structures such as the international space station which is currently serving as housing for professional astronauts.
The facilities in it are well-designed so that numerous scientific experiments can be performed in it in other to discover more scientific revelations about the space behavior and the relationship of the space environs with many materials available to humans.
These experiments help engineers to design and manufacture better spaceships that could perform better and longer in space.
The Scientific experiments carried out in space is not limited to space study alone, rather, some of the experiment are health-based.
To see how foreign materials could improve human health. It also helps to understand how to combat the negative effect of the space surrounding on the astronauts.
Spaceship experiment
Spaceship experiment occupies most of the activities of the astronauts. They carry out experiments on the spaceship during flights to understand its behavior with the aerospace.
They also carry out experiments on material decay for better understanding of the impact of the space environs on the spaceship.
Their results are used as guide in making future spaceships production.
Installations of Space Facilities
Space today has been filled with many human installed facilities in the form of satellites, and space stations.
The astronauts are responsible in the installation of those facilities into space. The big among them all is the ISS (International space station).
Maintenance of space facilities
The numerous satellites and space station need regular maintenance and frequent support to keep them within their orbit.
The astronauts’ carryout maintenance and technical support to all the space facilities such as satellites and space stations including the spaceships.
For instance, there are satellites at different altitudes above the earth. These satellites sometimes deviate from their orbit and tends to travel towards the earth due to centrifugal force.
The astronauts usually use the spaceship to drive and help keep the satellites at their normal altitude.
Launching of satellites
The launching of satellites is a crucial task that involves the experts in the space travel. The astronauts play some roles in helping to deliver satellites into space and ensure they are positioned at the right place.
Satellites have become the most numbered human-installed facilities n the space. Though in a closer range with the earth orbit, these satellites help in many ways to make our social lives on earth to be simple.
From cable networks to telecommunications, internet connections, and lots more. The astronauts are the background engineers behind the launching and maintenance of those facilities.
Conveying of other space travelers such as astronauts traveling as a space tourist, space journalist, and lots more.
The recent lifestyle of traveling to the space for the fun of it either as an observer or just as a tourist has extended the job scope of professional astronauts to aiding such travelers into space.
They train and educate the intending space travelers on every areas they need to know and how to be safe while in space.
summary
From the above explanations, you could see the astronauts have been and will continue to be the backbone of our modern lifestyle. From all the functions they perform, our daily lifestyle of wireless communication can be sustained.
