Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The Chilean miners were trapped on August 5th, 2010, when a mega-block, estimated at
some 700,000 tons, shifted underground, cutting off all entry and access or exit routes from
the mine itself, trapping the men some 2300 feet underground, in temperatures of 90 degrees
Fahrenheit and humidities in excess of 90 percent.
The Chileans felt that NASA’s experience with long duration space flight, and the fact
that our astronauts are confined in very remote environments might have something to offer
them in terms of how they cared for the miners.
It’s very important in terms of a trapped group or a confined group, to make sure that
they all stay functioning as a unit. It was very important to begin with to understand
what the condition of the miners were. Were there any injuries? What was the status of
their nutrition? Did they have a good water supply….those kinds of basic things.
There was a lot of road ahead of us, in terms of being able to get the miners up to the
surface alive. Our expertise in behavioral health support probably was the most important
factor that we were able to consult with them on.
When we were at the mine site, we heard about their plan for developing a type of capsule
that would be able to extract the miners.
One of the things that we do quite a bit of at NASA in spacecraft design is to define
engineering requirements, and so we felt that maybe there were some things that we could
offer them, suggestions that they can incorporate into their design.
I think it was a success because of the Chilean tenacity to succeed. The miners had a certain
will to survive. That was quite evident by their ability to survive those 17 days without
contact on the surface.
I actually was fortunate to be at the Chilean Embassy here in Washington, DC. When the first
miner came to the surface…the Chileans were going through their cheer of, “Che che che,
lay lay lay, mineros de Chile.” They were dancing, they were playing music, and it was
just wonderful to be there and experience that with them.