nasa divers

[aqua-moon]

i'm a scuba diver and i'm currently in commercial dive school...i've been looking at NASA websites and notice divers in the dive tanks...anybody know who these poeple are i.e. military divers(seals/pjs) or civilian divers...any info would help,thanks

[LRSC Grunt]

The dive tank is a training atmosphere to simulate weightlessness. What you probably saw was astronauts training.

[aqua-moon]

grunt...thanks for the info

[jw]

You saw divers in the tank. They were Navy Fleet Salvage Divers. They are there as a safety measure while the astronauts train in that environment.

[aqua-moon]

jw,you said they are salvage divers/navy divers...how do they go about working for nasa...is it TAD or some special tour that you have to screen for...what are the qualifications/how long is the tour of duty for...thank

[RGV4]

I believe I have read that PJs also train to do sea rescues for NASA, but that's just something I got off of Jim Thede's Air Force Special Tactics page- www.specialtactics.com (http://www.specialtactics.com)

[Mike]

Were the sea rescues of astronauts coming back to the homeland the responbility of UDTs? When did the PJs took over the role?

[RAT]

The people diving in the tank are civilians.
Most have a military back ground. I belive when NASA went to a reduced budget they went to subcontractors to the diving for them. Ask around the commercial divers someone should have a hook-up. When I applied there it was hard as hell to get an interview. You have to be with the right people.
I'll try and find the web page and post it here.
RAT OUT!!!

[jw]

I had not heard that NASA went civilian. Doesn't supprise me though.
As far as PJ's go, I deployed a few years ago to augment some on a shuttle crash contigancy. Basically they deploy to different locations that the shuttle can make an emergency landing if necessary. they also plan for contingancies that they may have to jump in if the shuttle goes down.

[This message has been edited by jw (edited 11-21-1999).]

[RAT]

Here is the info:
http://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov/NASA.News/NASA.News.Releases/Previous.News.Releases/98.News.Releases/98-05.News.Releases/98-05-29.MSFC.Neutral.Buoyancy.Simulator

This is the official statement on the Neutral buoyancy Simulator.

Aqua-moon if I was you I would call Oceaneering after you get a commercial licence.

As for the Space program military sill does the search / rescue and recovery. Military divers are just not envolved in the safety diving or training of the Astronuts anymore. They only way a military diver would be on the tank or around the tank is if the Astronut is a military diver ie. Capt Shepard (SEAL). He would need a military dive sup to sup his dive and still be quailed. That is what I was told.

RAT OUT!!!

[This message has been edited by RAT (edited 11-22-1999).]

[This message has been edited by RAT (edited 11-22-1999).]

[USMC2531]

RGV You are correct. Pararecue Jumper do conduct the rescue missions for all shuttle launches. They have a PJ unit stationed right there in the area Patrick AFB just about 10miles from Cape Canaveral Air Station. I was there awhile back while visiting home and talking to them as they were preparing for a shuttle launch days later.
Semper Fi