April 14, 1994 Flight Day Six

Student Report Four

The mission is still moving along according to plan. The shuttle, as always, has had minor problems, as is to be expected of anything that complex, but nothing big enough to bother the mission. In fact, the biggest problem so far has been bubbles in the crew's water supply. We are continuing to locate target sites of opportunity, and monitor what's going on in the world. Yesterday, (because of Alicyn's spectacular talk with the crew) we were fortunate enough to get to see the Mission Control Center up close. We were escorted in, and were able to sit and listen in with the CAPCOM and ask questions. The CAPCOM is the only station besides POCC COMM where individuals on the ground can talk to the crew in space. While POCC COMM's are usually scientists from the project, CAPCOMs are astronauts. CAPCOM is a crew/ground relations position; CAPCOM, being astronauts themselves, know intimately what it's like up in the shuttle, and can better understand the needs of the astronauts. The CAPCOM on duty had flown twice before, and also was a CAPCOM on the Hubble repair mission, as well as being one of the backup astronauts for that mission. We were really lucky to get to go in to the Mission Control Center, and it was an amazing experience. We work pretty long hours, but the rewards are worth it by far.

We've given you a lot of background on our mission, on what we do and why we've been doing it, but two things we haven't mentioned are the two most important people on our trip. The first is Scott Milroy. He works with CTY, the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and he coordinates the Challenge Awards, the program that got us all started along the road that eventually led us here. He's in Houston with us, as both a chaperone and as a friend. Plus, he's the only one old enough to rent a car.

The other person is JoBea Way, whose name we've mentioned several times in the past but whose role we've never fully qualified. She's the JPL scientist who has been our sponsor and our mentor for the last several years. Alicyn started working with her three years ago, for her original Challenge Awards project in Alaska. Alicyn and Jon both worked with JoBea two years ago, for their first Challenge Awards Graduate project, for a week here at JSC and a week at JPL. The year after that, Aaron (as well as four others) joined them for six weeks at JPL, putting together one of the training notebooks that the crew used for this mission. JoBea is incredibly enthusiastic about everything she does, and especially our involvement in this project. She has been working up to this mission for years, and seems to be about as excited as we are about being here. If it wasn't for her incredible support and dedication, we would never have had this chance. Honestly, not enough can be said in praise of either Scott or Jobea, as well as Ben Holt, an oceanographer at JPL, who has worked very closely with us; the Durfee Foundation, a philanthropic organization which has funded this experience from the start; or any of the hundred and a half other people who have helped make this what it is.

Yesterday JoBea participated in a press conference updating the progress of the ecology sites on the mission. She showed some of the SIR-C images that have been downloaded so far, and they looked great. She also used some of the things that we've put together (maps, photo mosaics, etc.). It was really exciting to see work we did contributing to the mission, and to see someone we know so well giving the press the mission status update.

Another exciting event will take place this evening. At approximately 5:26 PM CDT, or Mission Elapsed Time 05/13:20, our second student/crew discussion will take place. This time it's Jon's turn, and everyone expects him to do wonderfully. For those of you who happen to get it, the cable channel NASA Select carries our conversations live. In tomorrow's student report we will have Jon's report from his discussion.

Meanwhile, we're putting together a videotape from all the footage that the Shuttle has beamed down. There's a video camera on board Endeavor, and through the two TDRS satellites we can (and certainly do!) receive live video of the Earth (and happenings on-board the shuttle) much of the time. So we're going through the tapes to find the best views, and assemble them into a coherent videotape to be sent out. If you have any interest in that kind of thing at all, we're going to try to make the tape available to the public -- you'll get more updates on that as it develops. All I can say about it is that the sunrise over the edge of the Earth is one of the most incredibly beautiful sights I've ever seen. Maybe someday I won't have to watch it from a video screen...