Evan Datuin, Ramil Santos and Chino Roque are the country’s representatives to the Axe Apollo Space Academy global competition, which will send 23 people from 60 countries on a suborbital space flight starting mid-2014. Of the three Filipinos, only 24-year-old Datuin was able to complete and win all the tasks during the national challenges round. Santos, 29, got his slot via an electronic raffle, while Roque, 22, replaced Air Force Lt. Mario Mendoza Jr., who opted to drop out of the competition to serve the military as a pilot-in-training. They must beat each other in a four-day, fast-paced Space Camp training in Orlando, Florida, in December, with the more than 100 winners from participating countries.
To prepare for their space flight, they will train like professional astronauts. First is the G-centrifuge training, where they will be subjected to hypergravity. This will allow them to feel the effects of gravity on their bodies. To simulate weightlessness, parabolic flights will be conducted. Aboard a spacecraft that free-falls at the speed of gravity, astronaut aspirants will experience repetitive periods of 20 seconds of weightlessness.
The hyperspeed flight, on a jet that will fly at twice the speed of sound, will be akin to that of a rocket liftoff.
Among 60 countries in the competition, in the number of applicants, the Philippines has the fourth biggest number. In Asia, it has the biggest. Apart from getting an additional slot for the Space Camp, the country was also given the guarantee that of the 23 individuals going to space, one would be a Filipino.
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