 | | | | | | | | | | |  |  | | | | Space: X Prize's Canadian Arrow Announces its First Astronauts">3. Space News | | | | | | | 
3. Space News | News submitted by: MIB
A team of Canadian rocketeers announced its first six astronauts today, a big step forward in the project's hope to win an international contest to send people on suborbital space hops.
Three Canadian pilots, an aerospace engineer, a Ukrainian astronaut and possibly the youngest U.S. astronaut ever to fly -- if he can reach space before his 32nd birthday -- make up the initial spacefaring list for Canadian Arrow, one of 24 teams in the X Prize competition.
The X Prize contest is a $10 million contest to build a spacecraft that can fly three people to a height of 62 miles (100 kilometers), return them safely and repeat the mission within two weeks. The Canadian Arrow astronaut selection was announced during a ceremony at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in the project's hometown of London, Ontario Canada.
"The team we've got is an extraordinary group of people," said Canadian Arrow team leader Geoff Sheerin during a telephone interview. "We were actually looking for people who were a lot like [NASA's] Mercury Seven." The Mercury Seven were NASA's first batch of astronauts, and included John Glenn, Gus Grissom and Alan Shepard, the first American in space.
Last year, Sheerin's group launched a worldwide call for astronaut applications. After whittling the responses down to 100 viable applicants this spring, Sheerin interviewed about 45 and ultimately chose the initial six Canadian Arrow astronauts. The half dozen are starting to train for the eventual two-person test missions to launch once the Canadian vehicle is ready.
"This is fantastic and I'm honored to be with such a select group of people," Canadian Arrow astronaut Capt. David Ballinger (ret.) told SPACE.com. "It's a chance in a lifetime."
Finding the right stuff
All of the Canadian Arrow astronauts have at least some modicum of aerospace or flight experience. Ballinger, 40, and Canadian Forces Capts. Ted Gow, 34, and Terry Wong, 38 have all flown for aircraft for their country's military, meanwhile 31-year-old Jason Dyer, originally from London, Ontario, is an aerospace engineer by training.
Yaroslav "Yarko" Pustovyi, 32, is the only member of the six-member mini-astronaut corps with official space training. Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Pustovyi works at the National Space Agency of Ukraine (NKUA) and trained at NASA to backup Leonid Kadenyuk, his country's first astronaut, on the STS 87 space shuttle mission.
"I think I can bring some of my experience to this project," said Pustovyi. "I know what it's like working within a government-structured space program, and how the public sees space travel."
In addition to reaching space, Pustovyi said he hopes to help rejuvenate public interest in spaceflight. "This is not just a competition for new technology," he added. "I think it's about showing people that progress has made a huge step forward and that space is really close to us these days."
Rounding out the astronaut crew is U.S. commercial pilot Larry Clark, 28, who could be the youngest U.S. astronaut if he can hitch a ride aboard the Canadian in the next four years. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space was the youngest U.S. astronaut to fly, and was 32 when she rode left Earth aboard the Challenger space shuttle in 1983. The youngest astronaut ever accepted, though, is Tony England, who was just 25 when he was selected for the NASA's Astronaut Corps in 1967.
Sheerin said his only disappointment in the astronaut recruitment process was in the number of women who applied. Only four of the 100 or so qualified applications were from female engineers or pilots, and though Sheerin hoped to have as diverse a group as possible, he inevitably had to choose the most qualified.
Taking space seriously
Sheerin will not pilot the first Canadian Arrow flight. Nor the second, for that matter, but not because a lack of desire.
"I'm just not the guy to put in the cockpit," said Sheerin, an industrial designer by training. "If we're going to be going into space, we're going to have to act like some of the larger space programs."
NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe doesn't fly the space shuttle and the president of Canada Air doesn't fly the company's planes, Sheerin explained, adding that he also felt he might take more risks with his own life than a crewmember selected from outside the team.
Though it goes without saying that the Canadian Arrow leader plans to ride aboard a flight in the future. The question is when. Sheerin told SPACE.com there is a good chance his team could have a launch by the end of the year, although there are still engine tests to perform.
Meanwhile, the competition appears to be growing stiff. Sheerin's fellow X Prize competitor Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites in Mojave, California rolled out his entry, SpaceShipOne and its parent plane White Knight, in April. The effort appears the close to making a test-run on the X Prize, but Rutan, like many other teams, is keeping a tight lid on his project.
"We will make that decision when we get there," Sheerin said of when he plans to go public with a launch date. "I think we're going to wait until we think we're absolutely ready."
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/xprize_astronauts_030626.html
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