Last February, 10 students representing CMC and neighboring campuses boarded a plane for Houston's Johnson's Space Center. NASA was giving them access to the Space Center's model space station, which the students had been studying as a part of a class project supervised by professor emeritus Harvey Wichman. The project was for SpaceAvailable, a program run by Nancy Conrad (widow of astronaut Pete Conrad), and involved designing the interior of a flight simulator. SpaceAvailable's intent is to place simulated space stations in space museums around the country, making it possible for the public to one day soon "experience" a virtual-like flight to the space station and a short stay on the space station itself.

We asked one of the students, Joshua Milberg '02, to chart with diary entries his trip to Johnson's Space Center, hoping to share this rare glimpse of space, ironically seen from Earth. Although Milberg graduated last spring, he eagerly welcomed the chance to play NASA narrator. His remarks below appear as an extension of the summer 2002 CMC magazine.

Feb. 12, 2002

1:15 p.m. Ontario Airport Flight Delays and the Gift of Time to Reflect on the Journey Ahead

The time spent waiting for a delayed flight to take off is always the hardest, at least for me. Having arrived on time to the airport and gone through the check-in procedure, the group found out that the flight had been cancelled, and we had been placed on another leaving two hours later. Although we would be able to catch our connection (although just barely, as it turns out), we ended up having a large block of time to kill as we waited for the boarding announcement. Although the boredom eventually set in, the extra time did provide the group an opportunity to think about what was most important about the upcoming trip. While there was a tremendous amount of excitement throughout the individual members, we really did not have time to think through exactly what the next few days would mean to us and to our project. It also afforded us what became the last truly free time that we were to enjoy during the next three days.

Not being a space aficionado and having never really studied it before the class began, I was not exactly certain as to what I should expect out of the NASA experience. I knew how special this opportunity was, but I could not yet envision exactly what I would be seeing once we arrived. Each individual group member had read a significant amount - about experiences in space as well as technical aspects of NASA. I knew that there would be mock-ups of everything, that there would be a variety of tools, implements, and machines that would be used outside of orbit, and even an astronaut or two. Still, the vision of what would be ahead was very hazy.

Feb. 13

7:30 a.m. Houston, Texas: Our Space Adventure Begins

After a late check-in, fast Tex-Mex meal at a local fast food restaurant and then a long night of attempting to overcome the jet-lag inherent in making the trip across two time-zones, our group piled into two vans and were transported to Johnson Space Center (JSC), about 20 minutes away. The atmosphere was light, and everyone was very excited about finally getting to start the adventure.

As we neared the compound, a giant Titan V rocket, similar to those that were used to propel early astronauts into space, became visible. Its sheer size was overwhelming, and it was the first real indicator of what a tremendous accomplishment getting to space really is. Upon reaching JSC, checking in and receiving our identity badges, our group was introduced to our guide. He was Tom Diegelman, a man who had spent 20 plus years at NASA and was particularly excited about our project. From the get-go, his energy was infectious, and his enthusiasm was boundless.

9:00 a.m. Johnson Space Center, Low Fidelity International Space Station Mock-Up: Learning About the Gravity, or Lack Thereof, of Module Living in Space

Our first viewing area was a large hangar used to house the low-fidelity International Space Station simulators. One of the first steps in any crew training is to become accustomed to the interior layout of their work and living areas during space travel. Although there were no working instruments or proper wiring, each of the different modules was configured to represent the location of different necessities and vital information centers. Because the ISS is a project funded, designed, and run by a conglomerate of different space agencies, the modules built by different countries and agencies each had distinct aesthetic and functional design features. Interestingly, even the doors and handgrips were different as we moved through the different rooms.

However, even with all of the different design characteristics, each module conformed to basic requirements that were necessitated by the overall design of the station. Additionally, there were English labels on all of the important areas in each module, usually followed by labels written in the country of origin. This initial experience was probably the most important, as it afforded an extraordinary opportunity to “see what it looked like in there.” Throughout, Tom constantly reminded us what an amazingly difficult job it was to create usable, durable, and reliable products that will function in zero gravity. It was truly astounding.

In the same hangar resided a high fidelity space shuttle simulator. Although it could only accommodate a few members of our group at any one time, it was an integral experience in realizing both the design complexity of the machinery as well as creating a better frame of reference as to what the living environment is like for the astronauts. In particular, the distinct lack of space and privacy was surprising. Two weeks flights where six people live, work, eat, and sleep in what amounted to two small rooms seems nearly impossible. Yet, that is the reality of the current space program.