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dl% Collegian
www.collegian.psu.edu
r 01.99, No. 77 18 Pages ©1998 Collegian Inc.
NASA nervous as Glenn'
By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —The
stakes are higher than ever for
NASA as it counts down the final
hours to John Glenn’s heralded
return to orbit today, and the man
in charge of spaceflight knows it.
“As a person responsible for this
mission, I feel an awesome respon
sibility and apprehension that
everything goes well. This is spe
cial,” Joe Rothenberg said after
having lunch with the 77-year-old
Glenn yesterday.
As always, Rothenberg said,
NASA has done everything possi
ble to ensure the safety of space
shuttle Discovery and its seven
member crew. But the fact that one
of them is Glenn, the first Ameri
can to orbit the Earth and a senator
for the past 24 years, has upped the
ante if anything goes wrong.
“Would it be any different from
any mission? Sure,” Rothenberg
said. “Because like having a
teacher on board, it really has got
Rich Schaller (senior-electrical engineering) wires a circuit board into an experimental module for NASA’s
Get Away Special program in EE East. The program’s participants hope their experiments will be part of a
space shuttle mission sometime this spring.
Get Away
puts experiments
Penn State students are
getting the chance to put
payloads on the shuttle,
testing experiments begun
here on Earth.
By ALISON BALMAT
Collegian Staff Writer
As John Glenn prepares to blast
off on the shuttle Discovery today,
a team of Penn State students will
be finalizing details on experi
ments that will rocket into space in
the near future.
Working in cooperation with the
NASA Get Away Special program,
4S graduate and undergraduate
students have assembled three
payloads, or canisters, with experi
msnts to be tested in space this
spring.
“This is a great opportunity,”
said Jason Soloff (senior-electrical
engineering), assistant payload
manager of Penn State’s Get Away
Special program. “It gives you
some real-world experience with
cutting-edge stuff.”
The first experiment will grow
plants in space, testing their ability
to develop and germinate normally.
Edie Sears (graduate-agricultur
al and biological engineering) is
the payload manager of Penn
State’s Get Away Special program
very high visibility and an awful
lot of people would look at it as
something happening to an Ameri
can hero and we were part of the
process. There’s no question about
that.”
Glenn was so beloved by Ameri
ca after his 1962 flight, in fact, that
President Kennedy reportedly
instructed NASA not to fly him
again he didn’t want to risk the
astronaut’s life. Glenn never got to
ask Kennedy if this was true; the
president was dead by the time
Glenn heard about it.
Schoolchildren around the coun
try will be watching Glenn’s return
to space, just as youngsters
watched on Jan. 28, 1986, when
schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe
soared aboard Challenger. She and
the six others on board were killed
when the shuttle blew up 73 sec
onds into flight.
Up to a quarter-million people
are expected to converge on the
area for a glimpse of the launch.
That doesn’t count the 3,800
reporters expected for liftoff, or
Special program
and the head of the germination
project. She hopes the experiment
will bring new insight into the biol
ogy-space relationship.
“If we’re ever going to colonize
the moon or planet, we can’t do it
without plants,” she said.
When the shuttle hits 50,000 feet
above the atmosphere, a second
experiment aboard will be activat
ed to map the earth’s magnetos
phere. A third trial will measure
the impact and force of orbital
debris, such as meteors.
Penn State has sent experiments
into space on two prior occasions,
yet glitches caused both missions
to fail. After working on this pro
ject for two years, these students
are ready to see their work pay off.
“We’re building on a lot of mis
takes. Hopefully by the time ours
is up there, it will be a success,”
Rich Schaller (senior-electrical
engineering) said.
In 1982, the program began as a
way to utilize extra cargo space in
shuttles while creating opportuni
ties for experimentation in space.
To date, 152 Get Away Special
payloads have flown, with about
one-half of those payloads coming
from universities, said Dave
Wilcox, NASA Get Away Special
mission manager. More than 400
organizations are on the waiting
list to fly their payloads in space.
Wilcox said flight opportunities
the 70 members of Congress, or
President Clinton and his
entourage.
Everything seemed to be in
NASA’s favor heading into the final
hours the countdown was hum
ming along and perfect launch
weather was forecast.
“It looks like Mother Nature
wants John Glenn to return to
space as much as the rest of us,”
said Air Force Capt. Clif Stargardt,
a meteorologist.
Glenn spent yesterday, his last
day on Earth for the next IV2
weeks, reviewing flight plans and
greeting well-wishers from afar.
The seven astronauts stood near
their launch pad, waving and shout
ing to relatives and friends kept 20
feet away to prevent the crew from
catching a cold.
“A little different trip this time,”
Glenn called out in response to a
question. Then: “Oh, don’t worry,
I’ll get some window time.” On his
five-hour Mercury flight, Glenn
had almost no time for sightseeing.
Please see GLENN, Page 2.
Collegian Photo/Shawn Knapp
in space
"We're buiiding on a
lot of mistakes.
Hopefully by the time
ours is up there, it will
be a success."
Rich Schaller
senior-electrical engineering
are the breeding ground for bigger
and better things for experiments
and experimenters.
“(NASA) wants to give more
flight opportunities to the educa
tional community,” he said.
To encourage university partici
pation, NASA charges them just
$lO,OOO per canister, whereas pri
vate industries must pay $27,000.
Lockheed Martin helps fund a
large portion of the fee for Penn
State.
“I think (the program) offers a
very low-cost, hands-on opportuni
ty for students to participate in the
space program,” Wilcox said.
Keith Soldavin (senior-electrical
engineering), debris experiment
team leader, has been wanting to
do research like this his whole life.
“We get to hob-knob with NASA
engineers and get to build some
thing practical instead of just theo
ry in classes,” he said.
Thursday, Oct. 29,1998
s historical launch nears
STS-95 pilot Steve Lindsey, right, reaches out to help Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio with his launch and entry suit
Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center’s Operations and Checkout Building. The seven members of the shuttle
were preparing for today's planned liftoff on the shuttle Discovery.
Seeds, sleep
take off with
By JENNIFER NEJMAN
Collegian Staff Writer
Pieces of Penn State research will be launched into
space today if the shuttle Discovery lifts off as
planned from Cape Canaveral.
In addition to research on aging, the deployment of
a satellite to study the solar corona, the outer part of
the sun’s atmosphere and other scientific projects,
astronauts aboard Discovery will conduct experi
ments connected to Penn State. Two experiments on
the mission involve the research of Penn State profes
sors, one the continuation of a sleep study, and the
other a study of the effects of gravity on plant growth.
Seeds in space
About 100 cucumber seedlings will make the jour
ney and return frozen to Penn State biology profes
sor Daniel Cosgrove and Bruce Link (graduate-biolo
gy)-
“We’re sending up some seedlings and we’re ana
lyzing the effects of microgravity on certain genes
involved in gravity-dependent developmental
processes in plants,” Cosgrove said.
Cucumber seeds were chosen because of their
biological characteristics. As a seed germinates, it
is covered in a seed coat. An outgrowth of the stem
called the “peg” catches the seed coat and holds the
plant down, he said. Cucumbers
have a gravity-dependent out
•>wth of the peg tissue, he
1, which makes them an
tl candidate for the gene
ly.
Gravity influences the
'elopment of plants in sev
-1 ways,” Cosgrove said,
laining it directs plants on
:h to grow up through hor
lal distributions. “They have
>st no gravity when they are
here orbiting. So they don’t
that growth vector to guide
ir growth patterns.”
Men Stopping Rape reorganizing
The group hopes to
reband and begin work
on educating students
on rape issues soon.
By PATRICK GRIFFIN
Collegian Staff Writer
Because men commit the
majority of rapes, they have the
power to stop them, according to
a mission statement of Men Stop
ping Rape.
Men Stopping Rape, a group
that disbanded due to a loss of
members two years ago, is reor
ganizing and hopes to begin work
educating students about issues
regarding rape.
The group will hold an organi
zational meeting at 7 p.m. today
in 120 Boucke.
S £ jf
h Low
with scattered afternoon clouds.
•age 2 for the extended forecast.
Campus Weather Service
experiments
shuttle today
On the whole, plants grow fairly well in space, he
said, explaining they carry out necessary processes
with slight alterations.
Some day, plants may be needed for missions to
Mars to supply food and recycle gases for extended
space existence, Cosgrove said.
Sleeping on the job
In addition to the seedlings, another experiment
aboard Discovery will focus on sleep and the hormone
melatonin.
Penn State professor James Pawelczyk, who worked
aboard the space shuttle Columbia’s STS-90 Neurolab
mission for 16 days last spring, participated in four
nights of sleep experiments.
During the study, he wore a sleep net over the
head and body suit that measures respiration,
Pawelczyk said. He also swallowed a pill sensitive
to temperature and wore a tube tapped under his
nose.
“Try going to sleep with masking tape under
your nose,” he said.
Sleep in space is in many ways similar to sleep
on earth, he said. Astronauts, like people who
work in professions which require long hours and
unusual schedules, can become drained due to
lack of sleep.
“Having a well-rested person is important for
having safe conduct,” he said,
explaining that accidents are
more likely to occur when
individuals are tired.
\ About 60 percent of
astronauts, Pawelcyzk said,
experience some form of
sleep deprivation. Astronauts
on his mission were forced to
work strange hours on little
Topics of discussion will
include the reactivation of the
group and the role of men and
society in date and acquaintance
rape.
Doug Fisk (senior-music)
hopes to talk about the recent
alleged rapes in the State College
area at today’s meeting. The
meeting is not only for men;
women also can attend.
“It is necessary to stand up
and oppose the injustice of these
incidences,” Fisk said.
Fisk emphasized unity is
important for the group in order
to discuss the issues effectively.
“It is important for this group
to exist in the community as (a)
voice,” he added. “It is my hope
that this group can engage others
in dialogue so that we might
learn to better live with our fel
low human beings.”
Published independently by students at Penn State
sleep.
It is possible melatonin could
facilitate the development of s
sleep rhythm in the course ol
the day through blood pressure
Please see SHUTTLE, Page 2.
Penn State’s large size may
affect the organization, said Tim
Rementer (sophomore-kinesiolo
gy), but added “any program that
deals with rape in this way will
always have a positive influence
on students.”
Linda LaSalle, assistant direc
tor for the Center for Women’s
Studies, said the group per
formed on-campus workshops
and programs about sexual
assaults when it was active.
In order to become recognized
as a student group again, they
must reactivate their constitu
tion with the Undergraduate Stu
dent Government, she said.
LaSalle added men who live in
a college setting should discuss
the problems of rape and sexual
assault with other men, making
this group an essential part of
the university.
AP Photo/Georg* Shelton