NASA Astronaut Describes His Adventures

Last night decorated NASA astronaut Daniel C. Burbank provided a rare glimpse into life in space. The Coast Guard captain spoke about the space program and showed photos and videos of mankind’s most distinguished zero-gravity job, in a talk held by the Harvard College Aviation Club and the Paul Revere Battalion of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).

“I still have to pinch myself in the morning. I can’t believe all I’ve done is real,” Burbank said.

Captain David M. Gowel, a training officer in the ROTC battalion based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said the opportunity to hear the experiences and advice of a veteran space-walker of two shuttle missions developed entirely by chance.

“[Burbank] stopped by our office, given that we share the military thread, and asked for parking since MIT didn’t give him a space,” Gowel said.

According to President of the Aviation Club Emanuel Beica ’11, Gowel heard of the club’s December helicopter ride and asked if Harvard would be interested in hearing from Burbank.

Burbank’s enthusiasm for his job held the 25 students for twice as long as his given hour.

“It’s the best thing you can do. It’s absolutely delightful,” Burbank said.

He went on to detail the process of training and studying from veteran astronauts and the preparation required for a launch.

“It takes thousands of hours in the sim,” he said, referring to a machine that simulates outer space. He showed a PowerPoint slide of a three-foot stack of required manuals for skills like robotics.

After pointing out that the pilot on one of his shuttle missions was the real Maverick from the film “Top Gun,” Burbank said that actual shuttle flying is not daunting to a trained pilot.

“It’s a lot easier to fly in space than it is to learn to speak Russian well,” he said in reference to his stay in Russia integrating with Russian space systems.

Burbank’s videos showed the personal side of being in space.

“Surprisingly the food is actually pretty good,” Burbank said. “My favorite? Shrimp cocktail that has so much horseradish that back home it would most likely kill you, but up there it’s just about right.”

Burbank concluded with advice for aspiring astronauts, a difficult goal to have, considering that the space program is ten times harder to get into than Harvard College. It has a 0.7 percent admissions rate over its history.

Even so, he encouraged students who dream of space to pursue their goal.

“This is a phenomenal adventure. No day is like any other day,” Burbank said.

“No astronaut I’ve ever met could ever do an adequate job of describing looking at the Earth from space.”