Michael Curie
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
michael.curie@nasa.gov

Kelly Humphries/Brandi Dean
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov / brandi.k.dean@nasa.gov  

RELEASE: 11-384

NASA SHARING UNDERWATER TRAINING FACILITY WITH PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

HOUSTON -- Astronauts and oil field workers will share a training
facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston thanks to a new
agreement that takes advantage of excess capacity at the agency's
underwater training pool.

Raytheon Technical Services Co. of Dulles, Va., NASA's contractor for
operations at the Sonny Carter Training Facility Neutral Buoyancy
Laboratory (NBL) near Johnson, has signed an agreement to partner
with Petrofac Training Services in Houston.

Petrofac will use the NBL to provide survival training for offshore
oil and gas workers. NASA will continue training International Space
Station crews there for space walks. With the end of the Space
Shuttle Program and the completion of space station assembly, the
time required for NASA spacewalk training has decreased.

Oil field worker survival training is expected to begin in December.
The NBL will provide trainees with one of the most realistic
environments available to learn critical aspects of water survival.

The 202-foot-long, 102-foot-wide pool at the center of the NBL was
designed to support spacewalk planning and training using full-scale
mockups of the space shuttle and space station. While the 6.2
million-gallon, 40-foot-deep pool will continue to support NASA's
activities, a transparent 12-foot faux floor will be installed in
designated areas to support survival training.

In 2010, NASA selected the Raytheon team to manage and operate the
facility under the NBL/Space Vehicle Mockup Operations Contract. NASA
allowed Raytheon to use the facility when it is not being used for
agency activities. The partnership will efficiently use NBL resources
while combining the expertise and capability of Raytheon and Petrofac
to create a center of excellence for survival training.

The Raytheon team has managed operations at the facility since 2003.
The partnership initially will focus on three core survival courses
applicable to the worldwide oil and gas industry.

The core courses are helicopter underwater egress training; basic
offshore safety induction and emergency training; and further
offshore emergency training. The partnership also will expand into
the delivery of emergency response and crisis management training for
oil, gas and other industry sectors by using the NBL's on-site test
control rooms.

The announcement highlights NASA's efforts to find new and innovative
partnerships. By opening Johnson Space Center's facilities and
resources for use by non-aerospace industries, NASA hopes to find
areas of common interest where both parties can help each other
foster new technologies that not only improve life here on Earth, but
also pave the way for future human exploration in space. The NBL is
just one facility with the potential for use by outside industries
with special needs for design, development, testing, operations or
training, especially in extreme environments.

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov