Move over OK Go: This is what real astronaut training looks like

The Johnson Space Center in Texas is where new astronauts are put through their paces. The US has a training tradition at this facility stretching back to 1961. Astronauts have prepared here for many projects, including the Apollo missions.
Costing approximately $1.5 billion to develop, it is one of the largest research centers at the disposal of the space agency.

Astronauts don’t need to go into orbit to experience weightlessness. Since the late 1950s, NASA has used planes to replicate zero gravity. By climbing in mid-air at a steep angle and then leveling out, the Weightless Wonder, or KC-135 aircraft, gives astronauts a 25-second feel for space. (Unsurprisingly, the training has left many feeling queasy).

Another way astronauts can reproduce the stresses of space is by training in one of the world’s largest indoor swimming pools - as demonstrated by Whitson in her ISS preparation. The massive water tank holds 23.5 million liters (6.2 million gallons) of water, and astronauts are often submerged along with their equipment to simulate space walks.

A space cadet can spend up to two years in training before stepping on board a real-life shuttle to the stars. According to NASA, they use “highly realistic” mock-up machines to practice being behind the controls of space shuttles, or managing the ISS. Here, NASA astronauts test the Orion module, which is one day expected to transport crew on long haul missions to Mars.

For ISS missions, astronauts must learn the lingo of their fellow crew members. Since the ISS mission control is shared between Russia and the US, those traveling to the artificial satellite must have a grasp of both English and Russian. Pictured above at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center are Yuri Malenchenko of Russian Federal Space Agency, Englishman Timothy Peake of the European Space Agency (ESA), and Timothy Kopra from NASA.

Astronauts can often experience up to eight times their own weight pushing down on them as they plummet back to Earth.
To give future space travelers an idea of what that force feels like, NASA uses the spinning Centrifuge. In the past it has been used to study the effects of gravity and acceleration on the body.

So that things don’t get out of hand when moving large objects in space - now free from the constraints of gravity - astronauts have to go through what you might call intergalactic manual handling training. Spacemen and women use a system called precision air-bearing to control the movement of equipment with compressed air. NASA compare it to air hockey.

OK Go added an artistic flare to zero gravity with its new music video this week - and they probably could show Commander Whitson and her crew a few moves. Plus, the science behind their weightless wonderment is just as impressive, as Wired magazine explains http://bit.ly/1O6S59m.