TYLER, Texas — A group of pilots got a chance to go through extensive aero training for the next SpaceX program, the Polaris Dawn mission.
Crew members will spend up to five days in orbit to conduct research that SpaceX hopes will pave the way for travel to Mars.
One of the trainers conducting the aerobatic training at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport is the No. 1-rated jet aerobatic pilot in the country, Randy Ball.
“I think it was kind of a high-stress deal for me. I knew it was extremely high profile. A lot of people from Washington DC on down were watching everything we did in Tyler,” Ball said.
Ball is one of three aerobatic competency evaluators certified to provide air training to first-class Air Force and Thunderbolt pilots planning to go to space.
All pilots were trained to fly and maneuver a two-engine fighter aircraft, the MIG-29.
“The ability to train and evaluate and ultimately certify for the type of close-in formation flying, they'll be doing acrobatically as well,” Ball added. "I just wanted to make sure every maneuver and everything was perfect."
Crew members spent about a week in Tyler practicing different maneuvers until they reached perfection.
“We did maneuvers over and over and I would critique and debrief and then brief up the next flight and go again and talk about what we did good, what we did okay, and how we needed to get to perfection,” Ball said.
Ball hopes after completing this training for SpaceX, Tyler becomes the next permanent location for training.
He also hopes to one day join a group of astronauts among the stars.
“I would love to go into space, that would be the ability as they described, to look down, you know, from God's perspective and see no borders and see no countries, it's just all one Blue Earth,” Ball said. “If given the chance I would be, I would sign up in a second.”
The Polaris Dawn mission will launch this December from the Kennedy Space Center.