Lunch 'N Learn

John gives a lesson in the finer recreational skills that all budding astronauts must know.  Oh, and John's team LOST (to Aliya, Andrew, and Adam, AKA the A-Team)! Photo and text by Adam Cohen

Physiology, Real Astronauts, and the Space Cowboys

By John DeLooper

Today we gathered at 7:20 a.m. to go over to the NASA facility. Amost everyone was on time. When we got to the field there was a change in plans and we had to move to another facility -- they were planning a special event that I'll describe later. We got our badges and then we were welcomed to the facility by Cynthia McArthur.  Because half the plane is DOE experiments, Andrew also got to welcome the group.

We then had a two hour briefing on physiology. Everything you wanted to know about hypoxia, hyperventilation, protective breathing equipment (see the picture of Nick Guilbert below, one of my Space Cowboys teammates), trapped gases (you don't want to know how many cavities the human body has....) and finally, disorientation and motion sickness (the instructor has a few volunteers demonstrate how easy it is to fool the mind.)

Our next briefing was on safety. Their culture here is very similar to PPPL - lots of rules and procedures - and fully enforced. If you violate the rules, you basically have a two strike window - get the second  strike and you do not fly your experiment. After filling out some more forms, we got to go to lunch. After lunch we were in the hangar where we will put our experiments together (the hangar is shown in the picture below). More instructions and oh, by the way, instead of having about 3 hours to put your experiment together they cut it down to two hours.

Seems like NASA is going to welcome back the astronauts from the last shuttle flight - right where we are building our experiments....! So we finished at 2:30 p.m. and we had to leave the property and get in line to come back into the hangar. Only problem - we had to stand in the sun for an hour. 

Once we were back in - more waiting and then the event. This was a ceremony to welcome back the last four astronauts that flew a shuttle. Senator Hutchinson, the mayor of Houston, and many other dignitaries attended (picture below has the Senator speaking). The astronauts expressed their thanks to the NASA folks in the audience. This, after all, is where they trained over the previous nine months to get ready for their adventure. This was a big crowd and had lots of press coverage. There were at least six satellite T.V. trucks. 

Shuttle astronauts return -- and we are there

At the Atlantis shuttle return celebration.  The end of an incredible era.  Very exciting to be part of it.  Boyhood dream to hang out with astronauts!
Photo and post by Adam Cohen

The Set Up

PPPL staffers and participating teachers readying experimental equipment that will fly on NASA's Weightless Wonder. The teams will be studying the effects of microgravity on motion, surface tension in bubbles, hydrophilia, burn patterns, and complex fluids.
Photo by Adam Cohen

Rise and Shine

Andrew Zwicker briefs the PPPL team before training starts today at Johnson Space Center. John DeLooper is at far left.
Photo by Adam Cohen

Travel Day

Well, today was a travel day. Our support staff (Kathleen, Deedee, and Lynda) did wonders to move 33 individuals from New Jersey down to Houston (the last plane comes in after 8 PM tonight). Tomorrow is the first day of the NASA experiment. Everyone that I've talked to is excited to be here - especially our teachers. Andrew and his team (as well as many individuals supporting this effort - Engineering, Business Operations) have arranged for six teams of teachers to fly on NASA's Microgravity flights.

Some of us, like me, get to be mentors and help the teachers with their research. I've been working with my team, the Space Cowboys, since May 26th to develop  a research project, build the experiment, file the safety documentation with NASA, and now try to make it work in microgravity.  I'll describe the teams and their experiments in later posts, hopefully with pictures. We'll also use this opportunity to see how NASA conducts their operations. There will be plenty to see and, hopefully, we'll get some good ideas that we might consider in our operations. 
                           --- John DeLooper
                                                                    

Au Revoir to those bound for the Weightless Wonder!

What do you say to friends and colleagues when they are headed for a NASA voyage?

Actors, a superstitious lot, often ask wellwishers to avoid saying, “Good luck” and actually prefer “Break a leg.” That doesn’t seem especially apt for the case we have on our hands. What should you say to a group of PPPLers who are headed now for Johnson Space Center in Houston for a ride aboard the “Weightless Wonder”?

Katherine Trinidad, a press officer at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., did not offer specific answers. “I don’t really know if there is any special etiquette for this,” Trinidad said today.

Okay, if formal rules do not exist for this occasion, we can wing it. So here goes: For our colleagues at PPPL and the team of teachers joining them – all of whom are about to train for and ride the legendary “vomit comet” as part of the NASA Reduced Gravity Research Program -- we’re wishing you a wonderful voyage. We look forward to the stories you will blog about here and the ones you will bring home.

--- Kitta MacPherson