Before NASA astronauts embark on spaceflights, they must prepare their bodies for the physical stress of living and working in microgravity. Fortunately, they have customized training programs and astronaut fitness trainer Corey, who shares his decades of strength and conditioning expertise with astronauts every day at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.・I have received a lot of help from Twine.
Twine’s official title is “astronaut strength, conditioning, and rehabilitation specialist.” He works with a team dedicated to ensuring that NASA’s space probes are in peak physical condition by launch day, and during missions such as during flights to the International Space Station and during trips around the moon. I know how to keep my body healthy.
We caught up with Twine to find out how he started his career and what it’s like to receive a call from an astronaut in space.
aspiring athlete
“When I was a kid, I never imagined I’d work for NASA,” Twine said. “I envisioned myself working in the NFL or professional baseball or all the other dreams that a lot of kids have.”
Twine was an athlete in high school and intended to play at the collegiate level. But things changed when he started classes at Norfolk State University in Virginia.
“One of my professors was the first strength and conditioning expert I ever knew,” Twine said. “I learned that there are people who just train others to improve their own performance. And from that moment on, it became clear to me what I wanted to do.”
Driven by his passion for strength and conditioning, Twine earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and exercise science from Norfolk State University and a master’s degree in kinesiology from Michigan State University. He worked with several college and professional teams while taking his career to new heights.
From weight bench to zero gravity
Twine was a graduate assistant coach for the Michigan State football team when he first learned that NASA was looking for a strength and conditioning coach. Until then, he had only been into sports, but he was excited about the new opportunity and applied. He got a job at NASA in his 2002 year training Space Shuttle astronauts for missions. Then his path changed again.
He spent the next 15 years as a college football conditioning coach, first at West Virginia University and then at the University of Michigan. From there he began working in the US military.
“It was a great opportunity to work with the soldiers who go to great lengths to protect and serve,” Twine said.
Twine returned to Johnson Space Center in 2018. Currently, he is preparing astronauts for the flight to the space station and the Artemis mission, which will bring a crew that includes the first woman and the first person of color to the moon.
Astronauts know that Twine is always happy to provide guidance. He took his support to a new level one day when he received a mysterious call on his cell phone from the “U.S. government.” To their surprise, it turned out to be an astronaut aboard a space station about 400 miles above Earth.
“They had questions about training,” said Twine, who spoke with the astronauts. They worked together to come up with solutions in real time. “This was a huge asset because we were able to adjust and do some things to help with their training, rather than just communicating via email.”
Advice for students: Success requires effort, but it can be done
Twine recalled struggling academically in middle school and high school and feeling anxious about college. Fortunately, a friend who was a few years ahead of him gave me some simple but meaningful advice: “If you study hard, no test will be difficult.” If you work hard until you understand the content, you will definitely succeed.
“I still remember my first test as a freshman in college, the first time I studied for a test,” Twine said. “I read everything in that chapter. I read everything in the back of the book. I read all the information the professor gave me.”
His hard work paid off in that test and he vowed to continue working at that level.
“I carried that behavior through undergrad and into graduate school, and it worked every time,” he said.
Twine warns against thinking you’re not smart enough and says you just need to work hard.
corey twine
astronaut fitness trainer
Learn more about Corey Twine and how he helped keep NASA astronauts ready for spaceflight on this episode of Amazing STEM.
