Andre Douglas’ first three months as a NASA astronaut took him from training in Arizona to preparing for a mission to the moon.
Douglas, who became NASA spaceflight eligible in March, was named a backup for the highly anticipated Artemis 2 mission just weeks after completing two years of basic astronaut training. His experience with early development programs in space was likely a factor, particularly his time building spacecraft missions for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL).
Artemis 2 aims to send four astronauts around the moon no sooner than September 2025, in the first manned mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Douglas spoke with Space.com in an exclusive interview about what the crew is working on and what’s coming up next their training.
Related: NASA Announces Artemis 2 Lunar Backup Astronaut – Andre Douglas to Support 2025 Moon Liftoff
Space.com: The last time we spoke was during the day when everyone was out graduating astronaut class in March. What educational activities have you been involved in since then?
NASA Astronaut Andre Douglas: Graduation was in March, a big day. But a few months before that, I started doing my ground work. The first of these was a pressurized rover. That is this cooperation between us and the Japanese space exploration agency. With my background in APL, designing and testing vehicles, it was very applicable. The rover is not under pressure. It’s basically like a dune buggy and what they used on the Apollo.
Then I help with the spacesuits where I tested in Arizona. That was CONOPS – the concept of operations for all geology and how many EVAs [extravehicular activities] we were going to do It wasn’t specifically for suit testing, but it was really good at thinking about all the different tasks we’ll have to do when we do geology. And I could feed it [NASA astronaut] Kayla Barron. She mainly works with suit development and needed some support.
Then the next job was working on the lunar Gate. The gate is new space station around Moon. That’s what’s planned for Artemis 4. We’re trying to figure out all the things leading up to that, and then we’re trying to use our current ISS experience to understand what we might need in lunar orbit.
At the same time I was also working on my capsule communicator certification, so capcom. I got my capcom certification last week. And while I was doing that, we’re doing all of the crew’s prepared tasks. When you are not assigned, you are in the ready branch of the crew. This is mission support: I did NBL [Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a giant pool where spacewalks are practiced] running, flying jets, speaking Russian, the same thing we did in astronaut basic training. You just keep your expertise and your currency.
Now I’m doing Artemis 2 backup crew training on top of all that stuff. So I’m pleasantly busy. I just want to make sure I balance everything with having fun at home with my wife and two kids.
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Space.com: We’re excited about that because it’s important to make sure your family is a priority as well. Regarding Artemis 2: Can you talk to me about how you found out?
Douglas: That was a really wild experience. I remember pointing it out, “Andre, we need you to come to the office.” I think to myself, “I don’t really have anything I did wrong.” I was like, “Oh, it could just be exciting news or something out of left field. It’s probably related to an assignment.”
So I went to the office. It was like May 10th. I thought, “Man, this is close to my birthday. What a birthday present this could be. It’ll probably be either International Space Station [ISS]either a Dragon or the Soyuz.”
I go in there and talk [deputy chief of the astronaut office] Shannon Walker and [chief astronaut] Joe Acaba. They say, “This is an assignment. You’re smart enough to figure it out. But we wanted to let you know that you’ve been assigned as backup to Artemis 2.”
As soon as they said, “Art—” I said, “Wow, I didn’t expect that.” That was a pleasant surprise. In my experience and just the feel of the office, it wasn’t necessarily the primary goal to get a rookie on an Artemis flight anytime soon. So I expected everyone who had just graduated to go to the ISS first, acclimatize to space a bit, and then go to Artemis when we figured things out. I thought it was a very unique situation where they have someone who just dropped out of the program and jumped right into Artemis, and it’s exciting. So I feel very honored to be a part of it.
As I go through the work, I get it now [why I was selected]. It’s more than just flying. There is a lot of development. With my background, degrees and experience that APL [gave me] with him being an operator and a coast guard, that all comes into play. And it’s a really nice sweet spot for me to contribute early on.
Related: Elegant space suit! Artemis 2 lunar mission backup astronaut Andre Douglas tries on his lunar duds (photo)
Space.com: Can you explain what backup duties mean, other than stepping in and helping the main crew when someone can’t fly?
Douglas: You primarily do [training] that the main crew does. But most importantly, I learned that I will be helping to do a lot of closeout activities during the launch. So we become something called an ASP: astronaut support person. We really get together with the families and make sure everyone has what they need. We’re going to the launch pad. We’re going to help them [the astronauts] buckle up during the final closing procedures, close the hatch. And if there’s an unforeseen event, if we have to cancel the platform, we’ll be right there, getting them from the launch pad down the zip line [and] to the emergency escape device. Then basically get out of Dodge.
In the next few days we will go to Iceland, where we are doing geology training. Geological training is [two] advances and [four] the main crew works as one crew of six. So we learn from each other, which is important in the case of one of us [backups] must intervene. And another part of that is we’re trying to make sure that we improve the curriculum for geology training Artemis 3 and for.
Related: Lunar scientists welcome Artemis opportunities while still learning from Apollo
Space.com: How do you think your experience helps complement all the others, backups and first-timers?
Douglas: I think the first thing at the beginning is that having very strong or heavy development engineering experience at APL will be very important to the pioneering of the Orion capsule and the rest of the program. Everyone in this crew is trying to figure out the decision points, the milestones, the key things we need to focus on and balance the risk. I think [it helps] having a lot of experience in the undersea community and the space exploration community and trying to figure it out [not only] how to carry out plans, but how to get the most out of the mission. It helps shorten the learning curve, being able to understand what’s going on in these meetings where you really understand all the acronyms.
Being from the Coast Guard was very valuable: doing a lot of exercises as a damage control assistant where we are responsible for our own ship or at sea. Nobody’s coming to save you when you’re halfway across the Atlantic. You are responsible for extinguishing the ship, the stability of the ship. And then you’re really good at engineering and understanding the blueprint and configuration. You do a lot of exercise. You start by reviewing your systems and understanding what the next steps are, understanding emergency procedures
I think the combination of operational-slash-development will help complement it Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover; because they are pilots and test engineers, I can support them there. Jeremy Hansen he has a lot of experience flying in a jet. Christina Koch is another APL [veteran], so they understand the requirements and procedures. I think I’m a unique complement to all of them in different ways. It should be a lot of fun.
Related: Watch Artemis 2 Astronauts Explore Lunar Crater in Canada (Photos)
Space.com: Besides Iceland, what other activities does Artemis 2 do for training?
Douglas: Another thing in August is all the support for the lockout. That’s the backup crew. The main crew is going to do something, probably next spring, where they will practice [again] launch pad operations. This time [the Canadian Space Agency’s] Jenni Gibbons and I, the backup team, will focus on what we can do for closure. Recovery operation — I think [that will be] next year if I was involved. Then it’s just a lot of sims specific to Artemis, human testing in a loop. Getting the vehicle ready for flight is the biggest hurdle.
It’s also very overarching as we try to make sure we get our message across. We’re trying to get out into the communities. When I was first assigned, that was one of the things they said was unique about this particular assignment: There would probably be a lot more PR [public relations] than usual. We usually try to focus on space flight, but [in Artemis] it’s maybe 10% to 20% more [PR than for ISS missions]. I have some things planned as we speak. Like next week I’m going to reach out to some of the vendors that helped me Artemis 1and talk to them and thank them for all the hard work that went into it.
Space.com: Anything else you want to include?
Douglas: It’s exciting because I’ve wanted to do this since I was a kid – since I was seven. It’s amazing to see where we are now. I never thought I was looking at a new space station around the moon and building a deep space transportation system and trying to move on. It’s pretty disheartening. It will take a while.
But at the end of the day, like everyone at NASA and its contractors, we’re all moving forward as best we can. And we want to make sure everyone gets where they need to go safely. Whether it requires more time, whether it requires more grain, more detail – that’s what we’re pushing for.
This interview has been edited and condensed.