Astronauts4Hire, Survival Systems USA Enter into Training Partnership

Online, April 1, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Astronauts4Hire is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive training partnership with Survival Systems USA for the purposes of emergency spacecraft escape and surface water survival training. Survival Systems USA will provide A4H members with the knowledge and skills necessary to react appropriately to post-landing emergencies and successfully perform an underwater egress with and without an Emergency Breathing Device, and to care for themselves in a sea survival situation.

"Spaceflight missions are still a long way from becoming routine, and there is always real possibility that a failure in the launch vehicle or the de-orbit operation could occur," said Astronauts4Hire Chief Operating Officer Jason Reimuller. "Though manned spaceflight systems cover such contingencies with abort systems, the resulting abort trajectories often lead to a post-landing situation that might require the crew to egress the vehicle in one of a variety of environments, some of which may be hazardous and time-critical."

Emergency egress training is a required element of the training program that Astronauts4Hire astronaut candidates must complete to earn their qualification as Research Specialist Astronauts. After an extensive review of training providers, Astronauts4Hire chose to partner with Survival Systems USA because it offers the most comprehensive and applicable training program available.

"Underwater egress has long been recognized by the military aviation community as a necessary component of training. It has only been in recent years, that the commercial aviation industry began adopting similar training standards," said Survival Systems USA President Maria Hanna. "Although commercial space flight is in its infancy, we are excited to be part of this ground breaking effort with Astronauts4Hire in order to set the example that will affect this industry in the future."

The first Astronauts4Hire emergency egress training class at Survival Systems USA is scheduled for July 2011.