Almost there!

Almost there.  Heading to plane now.  All systems a go!

Photo by Adam Cohen 

Day 5 -- The Test

Making the grade so the experiment can fly 


Text and photos by John DeLooper
 
Our goal today was to pass the NASA safety review so that our experiment could fly. We completed our assembly, solved some problems (missing power supply for  a camera and broken support) and set the top of the glove box into position. As we were working, several of the folks who would later be part of the review stopped by and asked questions - the Electrical Safety engineer reviewed each of our power supplies and how much current was required. Some time just before the review, we were required to go to the flight line to take a class photo in front of the Zero-G plane.

Our team mate Darrell was responsible for presenting the experiment and our safety documentation to the 20 NASA folks performing the safety review. After the review, the entire glovebox had to be weighed - we did have a weight limit of 40lbs for all of our experimental gear - and we had to put the gloves on the box since we have more than 6 fluid ounces of soap and water solution (we are going to make bubbles and experiment with oscillators).  We met the weight requirement and loaded our box onto the forklift that would bring it to the plane. Darrell and Nick then went on the plane to help load the glovebox.

During the afternoon we received additional briefings - primarily trying to make sure we are prepared for the event and do everything we can to make sure this is a "nominal" event - in other words - we don't hurl anything.  Nominal is the "NASA" word.... Instructions were also provided on how to properly place any extraneous materials into one of two plastic bags each of us will carry. We also signed more releases - I've given away my firstborn away several times already -  and were issued our flight suits.  We have to give the flight suit back but we get to keep our official name tag. Adam is shown modeling the  flight suit in front of a NASA experimental aircraft in the hangar where we are assembling our experiments.  He's gone from the depths (subs) to the peaks.... 

Tomorrow is the big day - half my team will fly - I will fly on Wednesday. This should be good!

First look inside

T-17 and counting

Experiments loaded up and the teams were given a chance to check the access to their gloveboxes.  Inside has regular seats in back and padding in front. We also were fitted for flight suits.  T-17 hours!
Photo and text by Adam Cohen

July 24 -- Sea Legs

Sailing into Flight Week

By Patti Wieser

Sunday was a free day. Some of us spent it relaxing with an activity that tested our motion sickness. We went sailing.

The Sunday sailors from the PPPL-NASA microgravity week are, from left, Bob Corell, Sophia Gershman, Tim Anderson, Joy Barnes-Johnson, Patti Wieser, and Andrew Zwicker. Darrell Williams also sailed. — Photo by Darrell Williams

Seven of us from the PPPL teams rented a boat at Clear Lake. We loaded it up with refreshments and sunscreen, and set sail. Green waves glistened in the sun and lapped the sides of the sailboat, and the gentle Gulf breezes gave us relief from the humid 95-degree weather. We left gray skies and distant storms behind. “Captain” Tim Anderson (a Princeton High School teacher on one of the PPPL teams) and his “crew” steered us out of the channel at Clear Lake and raised the sail when we reached Galveston Bay. The water was smooth, but the waves and the movement of the boat as it occasionally heeled over — leaning to one side because of wind — reminded me of what could be in store on the zero-G flight. The movement was different than that caused during parabolas (steep climbs, followed by descents), but motion sickness is motion sickness.   

My sea legs gave out about a half hour before returning to the dock. Maybe the Mexican brunch, with all those jalapeno peppers in the eggs, hadn’t been such a good idea.

Taking a spin

Two days earlier, NASA’s Javier Roque called me to the front of the room to test disorientation and motion sickness principles during the Aerospace Physiology Briefing for the zero-G flight teams. He had given us prevention tips. I wanted to keep my equilibrium during the parabolas.

I took a seat in a rotating chair and he began to spin me around. When the chair stopped, I was to bend down, touch my toes, bring myself up, and point to the candy machine at the back. I watched the faces — about 80 — swirl by. The ride was slow. I lost count of the spins and the chair stopped. I touched my toes (or at least my ankle area), sat up and pointed to the candy machine. I did OK. Javier said my hand wavered a little. For a few seconds after the chair stopped moving, I felt a mild sense of vertigo. Some other zero-G participants told me later I had nailed the exercise. I entered the weekend — and the sailing expedition — confident.

What’s a little seasickness? When I felt wobbly on the sailboat, I went below deck, rolled an icy water bottle over my forehead, and steadied myself on the bench.

I am now following all the dietary and rest recommendations meant to keep motion sickness at bay during the zero-G flight. The pre-flight meds should help, too.

My small plastic bags will be empty when we land Wednesday.

Galveston...briefly before The Big Day

By John DeLooper

Several of us decided to go to Galveston today to see an oil rig museum and visit the town. Galveston is about 35 minutes south of our hotel. The oil rig was previously used in the Gulf of Mexico and has since been turned into a museum to show the public about the oil industry. Unfortunately, Kathleen and Adam had to be rescued.....(just joking....)

After some lunch, we went to the beach to put our toes into the water. While some practiced retail shopping therapy, others rested in the rocking chairs.

Tomorrow is the big day. We plan on getting in as early as possible, since we need to have our experiment ready for the safety review by 10:30 AM. We've been told that 20 NASA folks will be checking out our experiments to make sure they are flight worthy. We will see....

Day 3 - Saturday - Teacher Education Curriculum Workshop

By John DeLooper

Today is devoted to having the teachers develop their ideas on just how to bring this wonderful experience to the students in their classroom. How can they take this event and the research they will conduct next week and communicate that in their classroom?
In the morning, the teachers developed curriculum and created posters and then described their experiments to the other teams. The teachers reviewed each other's work and voted for the "best" poster - the Falling Tigers team (Princeton) won.

In the afternoon, the teachers developed curriculum using experiments designed by other teams and created a poster sharing their new ideas. The teachers congregated around the six experimental ideas that they liked - each forming a new team based on their interest.  Each "new" team was allowed two minutes to "sell" its poster (some infomercials were more effective than others.... kinzo knifes included... and if you act now, we'll double your offer....). The teachers reviewed the posters and voted again for the "best" poster. The "slick spheres" won.

Each member of the winning teams gets a $20 coupon for the NASA gift shop.
Tomorrow is an off day. My team is going to Galveston to see the city and visit an oil rig. Now, off to dinner....

Teachers at program: Inspired and inspiring

By Patti Wieser

We are at the Johnson Space Center today, where six teams of K-12 educators are developing curricula using their microgravity experiments. Next week, the teams will launch these experiments aboard NASA’s zero-gravity flights through a collaboration between PPPL and NASA under the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program, thanks to the efforts of PPPL Science Education Head Andrew Zwicker.

The collaboration provides a unique experience for teachers to propose, design, fabricate, fly, and evaluate a reduced gravity investigation of their choice.

NASA’s Cynthia McArthur, addressing 80-plus program participants during an orientation session yesterday, emphasized that one of the goals in NASA education is to inspire students. “I want you to leave here empowered,” she said.

And how better to inspire students than to inspire their educators. The NASA-PPPL partnership exemplifies this mission — training the next generation of scientists, as well as those responsible for training the next generation — and mirrors the mission of PPPL’s Science Education Program and its head, who is the NASA team mentor to the six teams supported by PPPL. Each team is made up of about six teachers and one team leader.

Yesterday, we found out some fantastic news first thing in the morning — we were invited to the welcome home party for the crew from the final space shuttle. The ceremony took place at Ellington Field’s Hangar 990, in the open space right next to where the PPPL-affiliated teams had set up their zero-G experiments for pre-flight reviews.

The four STS-135 (space shuttle) astronauts had landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida the day before, completing the Space Shuttle Program’s last mission. We joined about 2,000 others who had gathered on the hot (95 degrees) and humid day for the ceremony.

Our teams had wrapped up their experimental set-up in record time, left the hangar through its rotating gate, and turned around to wait in line to enter the party inside the hangar. Enthusiasm mingled with the heat as we shared in this momentous day, which was — in the words of one NASA employee — “bittersweet.”

The STS-135 crew consisted of Captain Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. Walheim told the crowd that he had seen a sign when they landed at Kennedy that summed up the last 30 years: “Don’t cry because it’s over, but smile because it happened.”

The shuttle program began in Houston three decades ago, and concluded at the place where it all started.

We had waited in the blistering sun, dripped in perspiration, and — once allowed to enter after a security sweep of the area — found shade under the roof of the hangar. It was worth every drop of sweat and cramping leg muscle to steal a glance of this valiant crew, whose sweat — along with courage, brilliance, and determination — fueled the shuttle mission. Standing near PPPL collaborator Nick Guilbert (a teacher on one of our zero-G teams) and me were two young NASA coop interns. The aerospace engineers had taken a break to witness the final welcome home — a farewell — to the last shuttle crew. The young female engineer said she could not remember a time when there wasn’t a space shuttle. Yet she and her male colleague glowed with optimism for the future of the space program, and for a future filled with scientific challenge and discovery. It is these very kinds of young people who our programs — the education programs of NASA and PPPL — hope to continue to inspire and who become inspirations themselves.