There are tons of astronaut manuals. They tell you everything you need to know about controlling the shuttle. There are over twenty of them. It seems like a lot, but there are tons of buttons you have to know how to use in the shuttle. We could barely move in the stationary simulator because there were so many buttons we couldn't touch and it was such a small space.
Training takes about nine months or more.
By the time that training is over, you have to make sure that you understand everything and won't panic in any situation. You have to be a very strong person, not only in flight, but to survive training. We met Gail Barnett during lunch. She is in charge of crew training and told us a lot about her job. I wrote about her.