LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — A Lynchburg retired astronaut is reflecting on his time in space and the intensity of what it takes to fly beyond Earth.
As Artemis II prepares to land at 25,000 miles per hour, Leland Melvin, a retired astronaut, said astronauts rely on years of training to stay focused in extreme conditions that may seem intense to us but are routine for them.
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“5,000 degrees and 25,000 miles per hour seems chaotic,” Melvin said. “But in the capsule you’re doing your job, and you’ve been trained to do that job from, you know, and I spent 10 years training to get ready to fly.”
Melvin added that astronauts spend a large part of their training working through highly advanced simulators that allow them to experience realistic mission conditions in a completely safe environment.
