Astronauts Train for Lunar Olympics

(ATR) The conquest of space travel may not be much different than athletic conquests at the Olympics.

Speaking to 350 athletes, many of them Olympians, astronaut Yvonne Cagle describes the next chapter of space travel as the "Lunar Olympics" for the strength and endurance that will be needed to succeed.

Cagle was the keynote speaker at the opening day of the ninth annual IOC International Athletes Forum in Lausanne. She came to Lausanne with the intent to inspire.

"What is your dream – are you ready for launch because the only way that you can truly go for lift-off is you’ve got to let go," Cagle asked.

"You’ve got to reach out, and believe in yourself, in that place of readiness, where greatness is not measured in medals, but in grit," she said.

The three-day forum is the largest ever held by the IOC with athletes from 185 NOCs taking part.

IOC Athletes Commission vice-chair Danka Bartekova said the goal of the IAF is to provide each athlete with the tools to feel "empowered, excited and united" about their role and responsibility as athlete representatives.

"We want to hear from you, talk to us, ask questions, be active, engage, that is why you are here and that is what is expected from you," Bartekova, an IOC member and three-time Olympian in skeet shooting from Slovakia, told the forum.

Bartekova spoke on behalf of IOC Athletes Commission chair Kirsty Coventry. She is not able to attend the forum as she is a few weeks from giving birth. But the swimming legend from Zimbabwe connected with the athletes via teleconference late in the afternoon.

IOC President Thomas Bach, attired in Saturday casual gear, urged the athletes to speak out.

"I am encouraging you to be in the heart of the action, speak up here during this forum, make your words heard, express your opinions openly, but also listen to the others that may have a different opinion," Bach said.

Bach, a member of the inaugural IOC Athletes Commission established in 1981, hailed the adoption last year of the Athletes’ Rights and Responsibilities Declaration.

"When we formed the first IOC Athletes Commission, back in a year when most of you were not born, in 1981, this declaration was our goal, this was something we were fighting for," Bach said.

Bach used anti-doping as an example of rights and responsibilities.

"It must be the right of every athlete to take part in a clean competition, but this also brings the responsibility for the athlete to be clean, only then you can enjoy the right," said the 1976 Olympic gold medalist in fencing.

Astronaut Cagle, 59 and no longer eligible for space travel, is now a specialist who prepares her younger colleagues to go to outer space. She says there are parallels to training for elite level sport.

"Ways to monitor our performance are things that we can share by looking at sports innovation," Cagle said.

"Everything from athletics to medicine, commerce, climate, education, entertainment, environment, exploration all comes together at the exciting intersection of sports and performance."

Calling it the "Lunar Olympics" Cagle described some giant leaps into space that are coming.

She anticipates astronauts will be returning to the moon for two missions, the first in 2024. Cagle says those will be critical steps towards a mission to Mars in the not so distant future.

"We are going to Mars – mark your calendars, 2035," she predicts.

Written and reported by Brian Pinell in Lausanne.