well good afternoon houston
i'm tom jones mission specialist on the
space shuttle columbia
on mission sts 80. i'm here on the
flight deck of columbia we're about 220
miles above the surface of the earth
eastward across the western pacific
ocean now
at a speed of about
five miles every second about 17 000
miles an hour
we're on the fifth day of our mission
had a very successful deploy of two
satellites so far in the flight they're
trailing us in formation out there
behind us we just saw them in the
windows a few moments ago
one's an astronomy satellite and one is
a material science satellite
helping us understand how to make
higher performance semiconducting
materials
for the electronics industry in space
our astronomy mission is out there
looking at stars throughout the universe
looking especially at
very hot objects in the universe black
holes white dwarf stars and the
cool gases that float in between those
bright hot stars and our own uh
world we're finding out a lot about the
universe and our own future in space
with those two satellites out there
columbia also is a flying research
laboratory in its own right we have a
lot of experiments going on downstairs
even as we speak
in the middeck
we're looking at an experiment called
ucpl
and that's a
heat transfer device that could be used
on future satellites
out in the payload bay we have
some research experiments going on too
one in particular i'd like to talk to
you about today is called space
experiment module or sem
and the purpose of the space experiment
module is to inspire and excite the
young people down there on our own
planet today
to look for a better education for
themselves and perhaps careers in math
and science and space exploration one
day
but we have a more direct way to inspire
people today by using our research
facilities on the columbia that's with
the space experiment module it gives
students a chance to actually
participate
in experiments in space
and we hope that that will give students
around the country a hands-on
opportunity
for
a learning experience that will inspire
their future careers in math and science
and space exploration we hope then
hope the space experiment module work
will spur them to a greater interest in
career fields that we'll all benefit
from one day and generally we hope that
this will just lead students to perform
better in school and take a greater
interest in their own education
now let me give you some facts about the
space experiment module it's about the
size of a large trash can and flies out
in the payload bay of columbia it weighs
about 700 pounds and has about five
cubic feet of usable volume
inside the sealed canister which is just
like a getaway special that we find on
other missions
is a
pressure of one atmosphere so inside the
can we have a weightless environment but
one that's pressurized to the same
atmosphere atmosphere we have on earth
and the space experiment module
teaches kids to use the tools of science
to
explore the world around them
and it gives teachers the opportunity to
use a new way to teach science and math
and inspire their students with real
space activities
students use this lab on columbia to do
experiments in the payload bay
and they as a result get hands-on
experience with
a real working experiment that they
construct themselves with nasa's help
now nasa provides the laboratory
if you will
we provide the laboratory workbench the
bunsen burners the test tubes the
electricity even the computers for the
students to do their experiments just
like we would in a laboratory on the
earth here those facilities are in the
space experiment module and the students
then provide the imagination the ideas
for the experiments and the energy to
carry them out
and we hope after these 16 days in orbit
the space experiment module
will return a lot of successful and
exciting results to all of the young
experimenters across the country that
are participating
now
nasa here
provides
some basics for the space experiment
module we'll give the students a small
module we have 10 of those that fit
inside the can outside the payload bay
it's a mounting plate really that the
students can build their experiment on
and we also provide a ground electronics
module that interfaces the computer
commanding or the electronic
measurements back into the recording
devices and computers aboard the space
experiment module
and the students can use that mounting
plate and electronics capability to
construct whatever kind of experiment
they'd like we have ten experiments on
sts-80 seven of them are active in that
they use the microgravity environment of
space to record actual measurements
about their materials in the environment
and three of them are passive
in other words we're just testing the
effects of microgravity on some
materials and they'll be examined upon
their return to earth
let me give you some examples of the
kinds of material we have on board
from albion junior high school in ohio
we have a heat transfer experiment where
students heat up one end of a copper rod
and the copper rod is actually
instrumented to measure heat flow down
the
length of the metal rod the metal rod is
actually made of stacks of pennies so we
have some pennies stacked up that we're
heating up out in the cargo bay right
now
we also have a group
from
albion that's flying some bacterial
experiments we're looking at bacterial
growth in a series of six test tubes
and the
growth changes in terms of color can be
recorded
in the module during the flight here
we have a can do group of experimenters
from charleston south carolina and they
have a series of experiments
one is measuring the shuttle's own
accelerations in space by using a
pendulum that's balanced very carefully
and it can measure the shocks and shakes
on the shuttle
from their thruster firings as we
station keep with our two satellites
we have some more bacteria growth
cultures provided by that group and
they're also growing some crystals in
microgravity using solutions of salt and
alum some common household materials we
have on the ground and those crystal uh
growth patterns will be recorded in the
module we're even measuring earth's
magnetic field with a series of iron
filings that are shaken up in a small
chamber and that we hope will align
themselves in the magnetic field of the
earth and they can be imaged while we're
here in microgravity to see if those
field lines are visible
from
norfolk virginia and pakistan virginia
we have a group of experimenters that
are
looking at how immiscible materials
materials that don't mix on earth like
oil and vegetable vegetable oil and
water behave in the microgravity
environment of space so they're mixing
salt water and vegetable oil and then
seeing how those two materials separate
out
and from
greenbr greenbrook north high school in
illinois we have a surface tension
experiment where fluids are spread on a
slick surface of paper and we're
watching how that fluid beads up and how
surface tension drives the behavior of
that liquid these are all active
experiments that we have on space
experiment modules we have some college
experimenters from purdue university
looking at fluid thermal convection and
how fluids transfer heat without gravity
to cause convection as we know it on
earth and they also are raising some
brine shrimp on a little shrimp farm out
in the space experiment module
some of the materials in our passive
experiments include seeds from both
trees and tomato plants
we have some yeast cells out there
popcorn
soybeans soil and even some materials
that are going to interest our youngest
experimenters some crayons and some
silly putty and they'll be examined for
how the microgravity environment
changes those materials while they've
been in flight
here's some
silly putty i've brought on board myself
to show you some kinds of behavior that
we might expect to see
in a putty type material on orbit
you see it's
pretty easy to manipulate
and quite interesting to watch
i hope the space experiment module
experimenters will get some
sort of similar satisfaction when they
get to watch their experiments on return
to earth
well that's a short summary of what the
space experiment module does and what we
hope it will do for our useful
experimenters back on earth
we know that the space experiment module
experiments will fly again with
different groups of student
experimenters from across the country we
look forward to those opportunities on
the shuttle in the future
space experiment module is a good
example of how the space program
inspires our young people to better
education how they can improve their own
academic performance by using some
exciting experiments that they can
really get involved in
and i think it is just a nice example of
how the space program in general can add
educational opportunities and excitement
to all sorts of subjects across the
disciplines that we study in elementary
and high schools and even college in our
country so it's a pleasure to work with
the space experiment module on sts-80
and this is tom jones signing off to
have some more fun with my own silly
putty up here
now
i understand you had some excitement
last night when you were attempting to
launch a satellite that came within 10
feet of the crew's cabin
was that a close call
i know that was not a close call off
this vehicle is an incredibly good
flying machine in terms of relative
motion we have flown satellites like
intel sat right down in the payload bay
and we routinely in terms of rendezvous
and proximity ops we bring objects right
down into the payload bay if during a
space
walk we drop some tool we were able to
fly that tool right down to the hand of
the space walker so the hand can reach
out and grab it we have those kinds of
capabilities the thing we were up to
yesterday was that for seven straight
hours we did not fire a single jet on
this vehicle to keep a pristine
environment for the wake shield facility
we could have flown away at any time the
reason we hesitated and did exactly what
we did was not to fire a jet
and we had good view on that television
cameras and we let it float on by
you were told by nasa before you took
off on this mission that this would be
your last space flight
in the program
knowing that has it approached the
change the approach of the way you have
viewed this mission emotionally
surprisingly it has not i'm such a
long-term investor in this program space
is my calling
uh whether i'm on the ground or in
flight or whatever my next participation
in space flight will be i'm such a
long-term investor
that i know there'll be a continuity to
it
it's been an incredible privilege to
work for about 30 years both on the
ground and in space
and i also have the kind of imagination
that i've had enough experience up here
that my imagination will be able to put
me up here in the future
are there certain images of space though
that you're trying to freeze in your
mind so you simply just don't forget the
magic of all of this
well i worked very hard in that all the
time and not only to technically do the
job i need to do but to be in a way a
parallel processor that has an
experience of space uh what is going on
in the head what is going on in the
heart what is going on in the soul so to
continue up in space you are having a
human experience
i try to catch those experiences and
bring them home and express that to
other people such that they can
vicariously
also
get into space and so that we as a
species can evolve into being
space creatures which we actually are
and so even on this flight here too now
there are some images i could go over
hundreds of them but just a picture of
the baja california the picture of
mexico
is being embedded in my mind right now
even though i've seen it many times
before
the look of saudi arabia the near east
the now swinging over the himalayas as
we've done multiple times those images
are being implanted those experiences
are being carried forward
as you look out the windows of the
shuttle uh are you trying to concentrate
on different things this time around for
your collective memory
and have an experience you look at what
opportunities
are available to you that may be that
maybe weren't on earlier flights but you
tried to enrich the previous ones you've
had
it's spectacular to look out there to
sunrise uh and to see our two satellites
out there trailing behind us to look at
the two bright stars that are out there
um we've never flown a poor body problem
we had an earth a spaceship two
satellites before so to look out behind
you and see uh the two satellites that
you're working to see them follow along
behind you is a unique experience
we recognize how fit you have to be to
participate in this program but a lot of
a lot has been made of the fact that you
are 61 years old do you feel any
differently physically on this mission
than let's say you did on your first
mission 13 years ago in space
um i think it's pretty much the same uh
as i as i told my colleagues here uh one
of them tom jones was working over here
that you spoke with on an earlier
mission uh he was sitting next to me i
had the easiest launch i've ever had
i am uh usually pretty frightened during
launches because i'm not a risk taker
and i was frightened before this one but
once we got underway uh i had total
faith and confidence that it was going
to take me into space i had the easiest
launch i've ever had this time
does that mean you completely got rid of
your butterflies as as you lift it off
well i don't get butterflies i just get
scared
i don't blame you
i understand that that one of your
favorite things is is to enjoy the the
weightlessness that that you feel in
space i'm wondering if if you can give
us any sense of
what that might feel like or or look
like from this perspective
yeah floating is a delicious kind of
thing to do because we as creatures are
created and evolved here on earth we
have been designed by the force between
us and earth and now you have a unique
environment
that maybe we weren't designed to
perceive or to live in
and so that's what makes it totally
unique but the the three-dimensional
orientation in which you can make that
direction
uh the down direction you can feel that
this is down and feel that that is the
ceiling and put that anywhere you would
like eventually
the idea of uh just as the engines are
shutting down
you can close your eyes just before the
main engine shut down and then you can
free fall through the dark and i don't
know if you've ever free fall through
the dark
but that is one delicious experience to
be able to simply fall through a dark
environment forever
i think i've done that in my dreams uh
can you give us a a demonstration
uh right now of of what weightlessness
looks like
oh i don't have much you want but
there's a real art in how you uh
in how you drop things perfectly
once you put the model out to tom
this is the best example i got you've
seen us spin things around and you've
seen us throw things but i think there's
still this kind of drop
you do a good job tom
yeah that's uh that says as much as
anything right there you've seen us play
with uh
water that's another good way to do it
these things are moving now because
there's an airflow
oh it looks extraordinary from here uh
have any of the scientists at nasa been
able to figure out
what impact all this weightlessness
you've experienced has had on your own
body
we're working on that all the time but
it's basically uh the free flow
condition in which your cardiovascular
system the air is picking up the bottom
of the shuttle there
things such as not having to use bones
up here the cardiovascular system not
having to move blood uphill and those
kinds of things
what maybe we could study more is the
cognitive psychology of space
different kinds of perceptions
of what's up and what's down i think
that's where some of the exciting areas
that we haven't explored too much
that date will be really exciting
one of the things that you have been
quoted in the past about is being
receptive to extraterrestrial life
do you have any indication that exists
or is that just an extension of your
imagination
i have no physical evidence i've never
made any i've never seen a signature of
of intelligent beings out here
i think it's a common sense rational
individual as a scientist i know it's
out there because you're dealing with
billions and billions of galaxies
i know there are other universes other
than our own and a lot of this has been
around for billions of years the
probability is a certainty that it's out
there
and myself in terms of
a human being who is
part of the human species which is
evolving to recognition of their place
in the universe and what the universe is
all about
um
i try to acknowledge those living
creatures out there and just simply take
quiet moments and say yes yes i know
you're out there and i also communicate
in ways such similar to prayer that uh
if you hear me come get me
but i have no
physical evidence i have seen no
signatures i'm also as grounded as
anyone around i know that the
probabilities are one trillionth
trillionth or less that anyone is going
to hear but i think it's important in
terms of our evolution the way we think
of ourselves to recognize
uh that we are not alone
we also recognize even though you will
not fly in any more of these missions
you will continue to be involved with
nasa on an ongoing basis what is it that
you think americans should understand
about the future of the space program
particularly at a time when a lot of
americans seem to have doubts as to
where this really is taking us
particularly when they look at the vast
amount of money that are spent on it
i think we need to have a very far
reaching vision
i think we need to conduct space where
space is safe and not for any other
reasons when it's used for other reasons
under the pursuit of space i think then
we get off the track
for myself
i'm always working kind of at the
philosophical level i'm interested in
the great big very long term pictures i
think space is very important for us as
human beings to show us what our place
in the universe is what it means to be
human i think that is one of the most
important reasons that we're into space
is the quest the reach out there for
meaning down here
so i think we need to not only do the
practical things but i think we need to
have a very very far-reaching vision a
unified vision and have that
communicated and have a very solid path
to pursue
in closing tonight what is it that you
think you will reflect upon most when
you come back to earth
at the end of this mission knowing that
that this was your final mission in
flight and that you are in fact the
oldest astronaut to attempt what you
have just
done i'm very glad to be in space and be
doing the other things that i am
at the age that i am
but the the age is only coincident with
the fact that i have had the incredible
privilege of pursuing my calling for
almost 30 years
a space is not just a job and a life for
me it's a calling it's something i
believe in
and it's something i have a passion for
i have a heart for it and i've had the
privilege an opportunity to do it for 30
years
and so i love doing these kind of things
at my age but the important thing is is
that i've had the privilege of doing it
throughout my entire lifetime that i've
had something which which is a calling
that i have had something in which the
passions could push me and give me the
energy to attempt to always do things
perfectly
columbia for story a surgeon tells us he
has your albedo for your head on file
we'd like to compare it to
your current albedo so if you can if
everybody else can stand back a little
bit we'll get a good feeling for it
he says it's increased substantially
i tell these uh sts
80 folks are real magicians uh they can
work on something which isn't there
good teamwork
well we're good for another five days
this again is from the students at
thames elementary school hattiesburg
mississippi
story musgrave ms3 in this fight
we hear that being in space decreases
the size of your bones and your heart do
you feel any different when you come
back to earth
we certainly do
uh out here floating around in zero g we
don't need the bones that carry our
weight
they carry that force between us and uh
and the earth they carry our weight down
there because we don't need the bones
it's just like a muscle if you don't use
your muscle the muscles tend to get
smaller and weaker and so now using your
bones
out here
they tend to become smaller and a little
less
strong like bites with a heart the heart
doesn't have to pump blood uphill
against gravity and you don't need to
carry as much blood by them so those
things diminish in size too when you
come back to earth just like when you
come into space you have to adapt to the
space environment when you come back to
earth
you've gotten very used to space
balls muscles and hearts have started to
adapt to space and so they have to
re-adapt
to earth
and my name is ken cockerell and the
third question the final question we
have today from
thames elementary in hattiesburg
mississippi
is um
we have played the cd-rom software the
magic school bus in the solar system to
help us learn about space
do you ever use computer for learning
well i'd say that we are surrounded by
computers the space shuttle is run by
five computers and in addition to that
we have
eight laptop computers that run various
other aspects of our mission uh here
with us on the flight deck so when we
train for this mission we use computers
all the time
we use similar computers to the ones
that are in the space shuttle in our
simulators on the ground
and we also can use the computers that
we have at our desk to run various
training programs that help us learn the
details about our mission and about how
the space shuttle operates so we
certainly do use computers we use them a
lot
thanks for your question
you