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Astronaut back on solid ground He will return to zero gravity for shuttle mission in 2010

By Tom Vogt, Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter
Published: November 27, 2009, 12:00am
6 Photos
NASA PHOTO
Astronaut Mike Barratt attired in a Russian Sokol launch and entry suit on the International Space Station.
NASA PHOTO Astronaut Mike Barratt attired in a Russian Sokol launch and entry suit on the International Space Station. Photo Gallery

Mike Barratt knew he was back on Earth when somebody handed him a bottle of water.

After seven months in zero gravity, that plastic bottle felt funny in Barratt’s hand.

“As we flew in the helicopter from the landing site, someone handed me a bottle of water and I was astounded how heavy it was,” the Camas native said by phone from Houston a few days ago.

“I just felt it, dropped it from one hand to the other. I must have looked like an idiot. I played with it for a half hour; the sensation was so foreign,” Barratt said.

That was about seven weeks ago, after Barratt, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and billionaire Canadian space tourist Guy Laliberte left the International Space Station in a Soyuz space capsule and parachuted down to a landing site in Kazakhstan.

Now Barratt is back on the job in a different work environment, the Johnson Space Center.

After a long-distance flight, astronauts typically have a three-part job description, the 1977 graduate of Camas High School said.

“Rehabilitation: getting back your legs and building your muscles.

“Debriefing: That includes talking with specialists about what it was like using their systems,” including space-walking technology and life support. “That can take weeks. You’re also writing a crew report.

“After the debriefings and rehabilitation are done, then you go on the public relations trail,” Barratt said.

But that last chore isn’t on Barratt’s job list. That’s because he’s been assigned to the final mission of NASA’s space shuttle program, which is scheduled for a September 2010 launch.

“It’s quite a surprise and an honor to be assigned,” Barratt said.

As far as recovering from his recent space station mission goes, Barratt said he re-acclimated quickly. That’s because of the focus on fitness aboard the International Space Station.

In space, “We exercise like crazy for two hours a day, heavy resistance and cardio, so I landed in pretty good shape,” Barratt said. “I was a little wobbly, but strong, and no orthostatic problems, maintaining blood pressure while standing.

“I started rehab the day after landing, stretching and power walking. Our rehab program is very good. We have a ‘30 days after landing test,’ and I’m probably in better shape than when I launched.”

There also were some orientation issues, returning to a gravity-bound environment, but “The body has an amazing capacity to adapt to changing circumstances,” Barratt said.

“Ten days after landing, I had to go diving so I could scrape barnacles from my sailboat. Getting in the water was an amazing flashback to zero gravity. It was just like being back in space,” he said. “For a while, it was hard to haul myself out onto the dock. I was wobbly again, and walking was almost like landing again.”

That feeling of weightlessness was one of the things he’s missed the most in the last few weeks, Barratt said.

“I miss my crew. As a team of six, we got along well. We gathered around the table a couple of times a day to swap stories.

“I miss looking out the window. I never got tired of it; if anything, I got to appreciate the Earth more and more. I was glued to the windows even more near the end” of the mission.

While NASA tries to prepare astronauts for life on the space station, “Nothing can prepare you for seeing our home planet from space. Even with stunning videos, the most eloquent descriptions, it’s amazing to look out the window and see that planet hanging there in space.”

And …

“I miss flying. There’s nothing quite like launching from one point, flying 50 feet while carrying big things and landing lightly. You feel like a superhero.”

The 50-year-old Barratt is a physician who spent his early years with NASA as a flight surgeon. His stint in zero gravity already is expanding the field of space medicine.

“I was having meetings this morning about revisions of the textbook,” Barratt said a few days ago. “In observing people during their first days of adaptation to zero gravity, there were some individual variations. Because I was up there during the arrival of two Soyuz crews and two space shuttle crews, I saw a lot of people during that adaptation. To see that many people, and how they ended up functionally, is incredibly valuable. I took a lot of notes and data tables.”

Barratt said he’ll probably start focusing on his shuttle mission in December. One of his shuttle crew mates, astronaut Nicole Stott, is scheduled to return to Earth today after three months in orbit. She has to go through the rehabilitation process before they come together as a crew.

Barratt also plans to work in a trip back to Camas.

“Maybe the third week in January,” he said. Barratt plans to visit Lacamas Heights Elementary, Liberty Middle School and Camas High School, as well as the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry.

Tom Vogt: 360-735-4523 or tom.vogt@columbian.com.

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Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter