Spacefest

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

‘Meeting some of the Pioneers of Space Exploration’ - Chris Starr

I was fortunate to have the opportunity over February Parents’ Weekend to travel to California for Spacefest, a biennial event which brings together many of the leading figures in manned and unmanned space exploration – astronauts, mission designers and scientists, space artists, and many others. There were talks on many of the current unmanned missions to the planets, such as by Dr. Peter Smith, head of the Mars Phoenix Lander team, Dr. Carolyn Porco, head of the Cassini Saturn imaging team, and Dr. Alan Stern, chief scientist on the New Horizons probe currently on its way to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.

It was also a privilege to be able to meet and speak with many pioneering astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programmes of the 1960s-70s, as well as experienced Shuttle astronauts. Highlights of the event included a 40th anniversary reunion of the Apollo 9 crew at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, home to ‘Gumdrop’, the Apollo 9 command module. There were also the opportunities to speak with a number of the men who travelled to and walked on the Moon. These are truly unique men, so modest and willing to share their experiences and passion for exploration with others!

While in the USA I also visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, NASA’s nerve centre for unmanned exploration of the solar system. The visit was arranged by Charley Kohlhase, whom I met some years ago on a Planetary Society expedition to Costa Rica. Charley has been with NASA since its creation 50 years ago, and was senior mission designer for the Voyager ‘Grand Tour’ of the outer giant planets in the 1970s and 1980s. During the visit I was able to gain a little insight into the immense work which goes into planning and running unmanned missions, although I have to admit that my own Maths is woefully lacking when it comes to trajectory dynamics and gravity assists!

Besides meeting with education and outreach staff at JPL, to look at useful resources and links for the School, I was taken on a visit to the ‘clean room’, to see the Mars Science Laboratory being built. This is the next Mars rover, which will travel autonomously across the Martian surface, exploring and collecting data in its search for water and possible signs of life. It is due for launch in 2011.

These are very exciting times in space exploration. The future holds the promise of fabulous technological developments. However, the messages from those I spoke with during my trip remind us of the basic and most important goals of humanity: perseverance and hard work, in no matter what we undertake; teamwork, honesty and mutual understanding if we wish to progress beyond petty concerns and conflicts; and striving to achieve our best, no matter how humble our goals.

I got a chance to speak at length with Jack Lousma (Apollo, Skylab and Shuttle astronaut) who stressed this latter message, saying that everyone has their part to play in the world, and that we can all contribute, in no matter how small a way. We achieve fulfilment through hard work and commitment to our goals. Charlie Duke (Apollo 16 and familiar capcom voice for a number of the Apollo missions) spoke of the great joy which he experienced during his mission of exploration to the lunar surface. Rick Searfoss (Shuttle astronaut and Lynx test pilot) talked of the future and of his work on the experimental Lynx-XCor space-plane project, one of those which are going to make space travel a reality for a greater number of people. Dr.Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) stressed just how rapidly developments in space science will come during our lifetimes, and that these changes are barely imaginable yet. Just 50 years ago many aspects of our life today would have seemed impossible. But then, speaking of the impossible, I had a chance to ask Gene Cernan (Apollo 17 – the ‘last man on the Moon’) if he had a message for our students at Aiglon. His message was to ‘dream the impossible, then make it happen’.

He and the other pioneers of spaceflight certainly did!

For more information on current solar system missions, and a profile of Charley Kohlhase and other NASA/JPL scientists you can visit:

www.nasa.gov         www.ciclops.org        www.planetary.org

The Mars Science Laboratory space probe being assembled in the 'clean room' at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory	At Spacefest with Charlie Duke (Apollo 16 lunar module pilot)