. Simukanga

By BRIAN HATYOKA –
A SENIOR astronaut working for the European Space Agency (ESA) Paolo Nespoli recently visited Livingstone and shared inspiring thoughts.
Nespoli was part of a panel of judges, which included University of Zamba (UNZA) Vice Chancellor Stephen Simukanga and other judges across Africa, for this year’s DStv Eutelsat Star Awards competition.
This year’s Awards attracted entries from scores of pupils aged 14 to 18 across the Africa continent who wrote essays and sent pictures on what they understood on the Satellite technology.
The Awards are part of a partnership between MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat which has been in existence since 1999.
Coming from a humble background, the Italian who was born on April 6, 1957 has been to the International Space Station twice which is about the size of a football ground and located in the universe about 400 kilometres above Planet Earth.
The International Space Station is a house laboratory in the space where experts conduct scientific related activities which they cannot do on the ground of Planet Earth.
There is microgravity in the universe where the Station is located, which means that there is no force of gravity as everything is just suspended.
In the night, especially on a clear night, one can see the Space Station as it looks like a bright star moving slowly in the sky different from a plane.
“My advice to Zambians is that they need to dream impossible things and then wake up and start working hard on their ideas with diligence and learning.
“Let them beef up their knowledge and learn from their mistakes if they want to be successful in life,” Nespoli said.
He says 40 years ago, the chances of him being an astronaut were not there as he was born from a little known rural town of Italy.
Similarly, none of his family members or other people he grew up with went in the same area went to any College or University.
But for Nespoli, his poor background could not stop from him pursuing and achieving greater things in life.
The almost impossible and seemingly weird idea of being an astronaut came up when he was aged 26.
Nespoli later received his Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace engineering in 1988 and his Master’s degree in 1989 in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Polytechnic University in New York.
He also obtained another degree in mechanical engineering and he is currently a private pilot, an advanced scuba diver and a nitrox diver.
Nespoli joined the Italian Army in 1977 and due to his military background, he is also a master parachutist, parachute instructor, jump master, high altitude low opening and Special Forces operator.
He says he thought it was a dream to become an astronaut and he would only achieve it if he made an attempt to study.
“I started feeling the knowledge gaps and hence I got a Bachelor Degree and Master’s Degree aerospace engineering.
“Afterwards, started flying planes as well as going under water and doing all sorts of weird things and started challenging myself to go to areas where I could not go under normal life,” Nespoli said.
He later applied to be an astronaut but he was not accepted despite several attempts which he made.
According to Nespoli, it took him 10 years of studying and trying to be an astronaut but he could not be one.
“At some point, I was selected as one of the astronauts and again it took me another 10 years of studying to get appropriate qualifications.
“I was subjected to all sorts of strange environments but I demonstrated that I could do it and become an astronaut,” he said.
Nespoli says after extensive studies for about 20 years, he finally became an astronaut and flew into the space around the same time when Americans went to the Moon.
“The plant earth is clearly seen when you are in the space and it can be seen to passing under you in a fast manner.
“I am not a superman or super hero but a person from a little known town in Town. I did not speak English until the age of 26.
If I was able to do it, it is possible for others to do it provided that you believe in what you want to do,” he said.
Nespoli says the work which experts do in the International Space Station is extremely important as investigations can be done better in the universe.
“While in the universe, you can understand how our bodies work without gravity. You learn a lot of things and it is important to continue exploring by going into space.
“Eventually, I believe we will need to find another home in the universe where we can live away from Planet Earth,” he said.
Nespoli believes that the amounts of planets in the universe are almost infinite and it is important to conduct more investigations.
“I always tell students to take a lot of sand in their hands when they are on the beach and put it down and start counting the grains with patience.
“When they finish counting, they should throw them away and think that they should count all the grains of sand in all beaches of the world to make up the planets in the universe,” he said.
Nespoli is pretty sure that there are other planets similar to the earth in the universe and experts just need to research and find them because the Earth will become small one day.
He says space travel is possibility for future if all countries work together worldwide.
Currently, there are six people who are working in the International space station.
According to Nespoli, the International Space station has been in existence in the universe over the last 10 years.
“We have about 550 people who have flown into the space from the time the station was established more than 10 years ago.
“To become an astronaut, it is a long process as one has to be selected. It is almost a miracle and it takes a lot of time.
You need to be a millionaire or billionaire to buy a ticket to go to the space,” he said.
Nespoli says a person should have about US$ 50 million or US$ 60 million to buy a ticket go to the space which is very expensive.
“There is a reason why more people should go to the space station. It is an amazing feeling that you cannot find anywhere here on earth.
“I felt like a little kid discovering this new world in the space. As for me, I always wanted to do something crazy and I ended up doing it,” he said.
Nespoli says the way a person looks down on earth from the space is amazing as it gives pictures that would stay in his or her life for many years to come.
He says the space is outside the atmosphere and hence it is inhospitable, isolated and confined place where people only survive through machines.
“Without the machine processing oxygen, you will die. It is a dangerous place. The furthest you go, the more fuel it takes.
“In future, we will need to keep going to the Mars and the Moon.
Mars is the next big step we want to go. It is challenging but if we concentrate and do it as human race, it will take about 10 to 15 years and we will achieve it,” he said.
Nespoli says it was time the whole world stopped thinking that only certain nationals from developed countries can go to the Moon or Mars.
“The space is very important because it shows you we are all on the same space. Europe or Africa or America is connected when you view them from the space and we should start working together and make the world better.
“In space, you are able to see that the world is very delicate and almost nothing.
Everyone should go to space. Paradoxically, you become a better person when you go to the space as you will start seeing the earth differently,” he said.
In terms of how people survive in the space, Nespoli says the current period in which people stay on the space station was about six months and hence specific food was provided for them to survive for that period.
“The engineers, mathematicians and technicians make sure that you eat while you are in the space.
“The body doesn’t take microgravity very well because we were designed to work in the gravity environment. The body usually starts dissolving the muscles and skeletons when you are in the universe while the stimulus system doesn’t work well,” he said.
Nespoli says there is also a fluid shift where all the fluid comes up to the brain and a person start feeling that he or she us upside down on the earth.
“Usually the eyes are squeezed and the body start behaving in a funny way although we still adapt ourselves relatively fast to that environment.
“On earth, you can cook food but you cannot cook in the space station. There is no refrigerator in the universe and machines are the ones that are used to feed people,” he said.
Nespoli says there are a lot of technical issues that have to be worked out so that people can have food to eat in the universe.
“For instance, water is an important ingredient to the human body. In the space, we recycle urine and purify it to make water for drinking.
There is a special machine that generates and cleans water constantly,” he said.
Nespoli says people who work in the space always survive on machines failure to which they would die.
“In the space, we do normal work and the official working time is 07:30 hours in the morning and 09:30hours in the evening.
“You have a plan and follow what the control centre will tell you. You are in a new environment and always learning,” he said.
Nespoli says the universe helps experts to become useful not only to themselves but to the whole world.
In terms of his words of advice to young Zambian learners, Nespoli urged pupils and students to concentrate more on mathematics and science subjects to enable them pursue exciting and rewarding careers.
The astronaut says it was not true that the two subjects were complicated and unattainable as claimed by some sections of society.
He said there was need for pupils and students to have a new mindset by believing that they could excel in mathematics and sciences and pursues other seemingly ‘impossible’ careers in future such as being a scientist.
“Everybody thinks you need to be genius to pass mathematics and sciences. It is not true that the two subjects are complicated.
“We often project an image to children that they will be successful in life if they play soccer and yet we don’t tell that they will be scientists if they concentrate more on mathematics and sciences,” he said.
Like the case for Nespoli, Zambians may have seemingly impossible dreams but they should pursue them with perseverance and they will succeed.