“We’ve all had situations in our lives where if we could go back and do it differently, we wouldn’t have freaked out as much about something or gotten so wound up that we lost sight of what the problem even was,” she told the Space Boffins podcast. “Everything doesn’t have to be fast, it just has to be done at the appropriate time and appropriate speed to allow us to digest what’s going on and respond effectively.” 

In practice that means reacting to the alarm, assessing what’s gone wrong, following the checklist and dealing with the issue methodically as a team. A fire, for instance, would mean locating all the crew, putting on respirators, activating fire extinguishers and sealing-off modules.

The escape capsule is not only an escape capsule, it’s also your safe haven – Meganne Christian

“You’ve trained so much that you just know, ‘Okay, I have to immediately do these in response to this alarm that’s going off’,” says Stott. “There are things you know you just need to immediately to do to make safe the situation, take care of all of your crewmates and make sure that no one’s left behind – you don’t do yourself any favours if you’re freaking out.”

So, within minutes of an alarm, the crew can get to their ferry spacecraft, seal the hatch and assess the situation.Â