Found in Translation

Houston, We Need an Interpreter
Translation is also important for people who wish to travel beyond the realm
of Earth. Huh? Yes, translation even happens in outer space. We’re not talking
about science fiction, though translation has certainly made a splash there, too.
We’re talking about interpreting for the International Space Station (ISS).
For many of us, a trip into space is the stuff of fantasies. Not for Irina
Yashkova, a graduate of the prestigious Monterey Institute of International
Studies. In the fourteen years she has worked for the ISS, she has interpreted
for thirty expeditions into space, and more than fifty space walks. When
someone says, “Houston, we have a problem,” it might just be Yashkova’s
voice that interprets that message.
14
Yashkova is a member of an elite team of highly trained interpreters who are
certified flight controllers and work around the clock supporting real-time
operations in orbit. Mission control centers in Houston, Tsukuba, Huntsville,
Munich, and Moscow regularly communicate with each other to coordinate
activities on the ground and in space. When Russian crew members speak in
Russian to each other, the remaining mission control centers listen in on the
conversations, which are simultaneously interpreted into English by Yashkova
or one of her colleagues.
Yashkova’s job description might strike many people as unusual, but her
daily work is quite regimented. Each morning, she interprets for
teleconference and videoconference calls, enabling specialists in Russia and
the United States to communicate. The people who require her services may
include engineers, medical professionals, trainers, designers, and managers. In
the afternoon, she typically interprets for face-to-face meetings between
individuals involved in the ISS from the sixteen different countries
participating. Often, the primary language used for meetings is English, so she
interprets into Russian and transfers the Russian-speaking participants’
comments and questions back into English.
In spite of having access to interpreters, international crew members are
actually required to have a certain level of proficiency in both Russian and
English before they are allowed to go into space. They must have a basic
proficiency in both languages because they will need to communicate with
ground staff in either language. Those who do not already speak Russian must

---