This morning’s physiological training introduced us to the hazards of high-altitude training and prepared us for what will go on in this afternoon’s hypobaric altitude chamber exercise. In the hypobaric chamber we will put on oxygen masks and breathe oxygen while they adjust the atmospheric pressure to simulate flying at 25,000 feet. Then, when they tell us to, we’ll take our masks off and see how it feels to experience hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency.

The morning training is inside the Mission Control building so everyone is quite excited about that and taking team pictures in front of the entrance and Mission Control signs.

One of the areas covered in detail was the different types of hypoxia and what to expect. Some of the signs include faster and deeper breathing, cyanosis (bluing of the lips and fingernails), slurred speech, poor coordination, mental confusion and euphoria. So these are the things I’ll be paying attention for and making note of while I’m in the chamber without my mask on. When you start to feel uncomfortable you can put your oxygen mask back on and be just fine. Of course, everyone here wants to go as long as they can and experience all those cool sensations. After all, you only get this kind of opportunity once. So I’m going to hang in there as long as I can. If I go too far and pass out they tell me that’s OK. They’ll put my mask back on and I’ll be fine. I hope I don’t pass out, but I want to go as far as I can.

In the talk on trapped gases we learned what to do to relieve the pressure in our ears during altitude changes. Most of the tips were things I was familiar with like swallowing and opening and closing your mouth. We learned a trick called valsalva where you pinch off your nose, tilt your head back a little, take a deep breath, close your mouth and blow while your mouth and nose are closed as if you were going to blow your nose. I’ve actually done that before when I’ve had a head cold or sinus trouble, I just didn’t know that it had a name.

In the presentation about spatial disorientation and motion sickness there was a cool demonstration of some of the effects you might feel in weightlessness. Several students were selected to sit in a special chair that spins. The students were spun around and then asked to complete a task like pointing to a certain person in the auditorium or tilting their head left or right. Of course, the simple tasks the students were asked to do were not so simple after being spun around in the chair.

One last thing on motion sickness. The statistics say that the chances of me getting sick are kinda slim, so I found out. According to our presenter, only 5 percent of flyers get sick, and with about 60 or so students flying this week, statistically speaking only three people should get sick. I just hope I’m not one of those three.