At the annual meeting of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education (CCSSE) a couple of weeks ago in St. Louis, which included flight directors from most of our 50 learning centers around the world, I received the Chairman’s official light saber! We have an amazing and dedicated board of directors, but obviously we’re big on fun and low on formality! It’s my great honor to help continue the legacy created by the families of the Space Shuttle Challenger in the aftermath of the tragedy, and led so ably by Mr. Bill Readdy these past several years. 

June with the very first copy of Star Challengers!

One of the highlights was the “world premiere” of June Scobee-Roger’s new book, “Star Challengers.” The first books arrived from the printer during our board meeting. I’m the proud owner of an autographed first edition! http://blogs.challenger.org/2010/08/star-challengers-book-moon-base-crisis.html

Chuck Berry still has the moves and the music at 83!

I’ve always been a HUGE fan of Chuck Berry, the inspiration behind Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and generally The Origins of Rock. Life seems to continue to take amazing twists and turns for me — not sure how I got so lucky, as I’m certainly not worthy — and so one evening during the Challenger meetings I was surprised to find myself at Blueberry Hill, in the front row with June, rocking out as the 83 year old Mr. Berry rocked the house! Whatever fountain of youth he’s found, I want some… 

Meanwhile, back in Houston, they’ve announced an opportunity to suggest wake-up music for the Space Shuttle crews of the final missions. Having been the beneficiary of great wake-up calls on 4 of my 5 missions (one flight involved ’round-the-clock operations, so we didn’t have music piped up to us), John Matson of Scientific American interviewed me for his article on the subject: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nasa-shuttle-music My all-time favorite wake-up tunes were Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xotoDy5806Y) and the song my son Luke sent before the final spacewalk of my career, the theme song to Star Wars! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMNNpIksaI)

I recently had a chance to get back to the recording studios of Purple Songs Can Fly, located at Texas Children’s Hospital Cancer Center. I’ve been inspired for several years by the talented children and their mentor/creative genius, Anita Kruse. Kids undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments can take their minds to another place and create beautiful music, recordings of which I’ve taken with me to space, and more recently to the summit of Everest. Several of my favorite kids on the planet gave a concert while I was there, and I shared a few stories from the mountain with them (and returned a CD that had been to the top). http://purplesongscanfly.com/photos.html

Who's that good looking astronaut hiding behind that floating corned beef sandwich??!

A good friend emailed me a book review (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/06/RVJE1ECBE5.DTL) with a doctored photograph that bears striking similarity to yours truly. The book review suggests dramatic sensationalism with a number of over-recycled themes, like the corned beef sandwich on Gemini 3, so I won’t be rushing out to buy a copy… Please send me yours and I’ll recycle it for you!

I was also recently back at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex to give a few talks to guests from all over the world. It was great to see my buddies Nick, Jon, Livia and others while there. As I left KSC my last visit in May, they informed me that the ladies at the VC had come up with a new nickname for me. This group never misses an opportunity for a practical joke, so they kindly had a new set of wings made up for my flight suit!

I will never wear this in public!

Luke pointing out the contrail from "the best seat in the house!"

Also while down in Cocoa Beach, there just happened to be an ATLAS 5 launch. It turned out to be at a rather uncivilized hour of the day, just after 7 AM, when I’d much prefer to be deep in REM sleep. On the bright side, there happened to be a Starbucks in the lobby of our hotel, so I rousted my son and we were able to watch/feel it soar to orbital velocity while wading in the surf, camera in my right hand and Caramel Macchiato in my left… Absolutely spectacular!

Soyuz TMA-19/Expedition 24 Crew: Wheels, Fyodor & Shannon suited up  

I was at work this afternoon when my very good friend and STS-120 EVA partner, Doug “Wheels” Wheelock (a.k.a. “Tike”), hightailed it off the planet from the Baikonur launch complex in Kazakhstan.  The replays on NASA TV show him grinning ear to ear, hamming for the cameras, fist bumping, thumbs-upping and generally as ecstatic as a guy can get. I’m thrilled for him and his crewmates, Fyodor and Shannon. Not to mention a healthy dose of envy… They’re thankfully safe on orbit now, en route to the International Space Station, where they’ll spend 6 months on duty. Godspeed!

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/06/live-soyuz-tma-19-launch-to-iss

Follow Wheels during his expedition via Twitter: http://twitter.com/Astro_Wheels

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I sent him an email about 36 hours before his launch, and I received this cool note:

“We’re ready to light up the night!

Sure miss you, Spike.  Going in front of the Russian Commission in just 20 minutes, a little bit nervous.  T minus 33 hours and counting…time to rock!

Tike”

Future Astronaut Will, suited up with me at the KSC Visitor’s Center

If you ever had any doubts about the power of the space program to inspire, they would have completely evaporated these past few days at the KSC Visitor’s Center, where I gave a number of talks at The Astronaut Encounter (http://tinyurl.com/25dn9ko). My own passion for space began at age 5, growing up in the shadow of Apollo and my father’s work on the program. Although our present day Space Shuttle is about to retire and the path ahead for human spaceflight is less than clear, Americans will continue to fly into space on one vehicle or another — and a new generation of young explorers is watching and waiting for their turn. My little friend Will (pictured above, and coincidentally a 5 year old), came with his parents to hear me speak, fully decked out in his space suit. Go for launch!

Prior to each of my presentations at the Astronaut Encounter theater, a beautiful film that highlights NASA’s 50 years of achievement (as well as the painful losses of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia) is screened. The film closes with a quote from our 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt. He described my philosophy on the good life with a clarity I’d never be able to muster:

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” 

Exactly, what he said. Period.

It was great to be back at the Cape, and to work with the fine folks at the Visitor’s Center. Nick, Livia, Jon and many other staff members took great care of me, and will host you well should you make a trip of your own. And I suggest you do so, ideally in time to see one of our final Space Shuttle launches…

It's a rare day when I feel short, but even on tiptoes my 6'3" frame was overshadowed by these KSC visitors from Holland! I sure hope that Wendy "Too Short" Lawrence never sees this photo...

As I was headed down to dinner on my final night in Cocoa Beach, a very familiar face boarded the elevator. “Al? Hi, my name’s Scott Parazynski, you may not remember me, but I think you’re taking over from me as the Duty Astro at KSC tomorrow!” Al Worden (http://www.alworden.com/), Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot and larger-than-life hero, was right down the hall from me in the hotel! It was a thrill to speak with him briefly, and thus “pass the microphone.” He was headed out to visit the legendary but severely ailing Guenter Wendt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guenter_Wendt), former Pad Leader for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Prayers for comfort going out to Mr. Wendt and his family in this difficult time…

Shuttle contrails and sunrise meet: what a beautiful canvas!

In the past 72 hours I’ve been misquoted in print and added as a signatory to a policy letter I never saw in draft form (and really didn’t agree with; my name has since been removed). Although I’m certainly not a government policy or budget maker, for some reason I get asked my opinion on the future of human spaceflight on an increasingly frequent basis. If you’re interested in my opinion on this emotionally charged issue (for some), feel free to read on. Otherwise, please enjoy the great photo that my friend Dave Strome took soon after the launch of STS-131: the high altitude contrails of Discovery are lit with a dramatic sunrise, a view unlike any I’ve ever seen.

So what does this former Space Shuttle astronaut think of the double whammy of Shuttle retirement and Constellation Program (CxP) cancellation? And what of the future of Commercial Spaceflight (CSF), the gap in US access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and long range planning for Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO)? Although I think our nation will really miss the capabilities of the Space Shuttle, and I’m concerned about the impacts to our talented aerospace workforce in the short term, I think there’s a silver lining in all of this for our Space Futures.

Times of change can be very uncomfortable, and this is a time of unprecedented — but not unexpected — change. In the aftermath of the Columbia tragedy, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board set the wheels in motion for Shuttle retirement in 2010 (else undergo a major and prohibitively expensive recertification process). Developing a new spacecraft architecture like the CxP, even though solid rocket booster segments were being repurposed for the Ares-1 launch vehicle, is technically challenging and expensive in its own right. With Constellation costing more and taking longer to develop, it didn’t surprise me that it would at least be on the budget cutters’ radar screen during this current recession.

From my perspective as an extreme high altitude construction worker on the International Space Station (ISS), we would be crazy not to reap proper rewards from our investment in this National Laboratory, particularly since we’ve essentially completed its construction and now have a full 6-person crew to take advantage of its science capacity. Flying ISS until 2020 or beyond is a no brainer, provided we have affordable access for crews and their science. The Augustine Commission and the budget proposal also see it this way.

With Russian Soyuz seats running a cool $50M and likely to rise (simple supply vs. demand, coupled with Russian capitalism), affordable access isn’t necessarily assured. To the extent possible, closing the gap in US access to LEO is an imperative. I’m encouraged by the investment the Administration’s new budget makes in CSF, especially if it is spread between several of the viable candidates, ultimately resulting in options to LEO. NASA and other space agencies may one day be able to shop a la carte for LEO transportation, weighing safety margins, price and other factors into their decision making process. There will be setbacks to be sure, with cost overruns and schedule delays for these new launch vehicles as well, but ultimately a few of them will succeed in human-rating their vehicles for LEO. Since the frontrunners in this launch industry are all American companies, the US industrial base will maintain and even extend its leadership in aerospace, not spiral into oblivion as some suggest. Moreover, having NASA focus on the technologies and architecture for BEO exploration leverages what the agency does best.

Where I differ from the Administration (and from how I’ve recently been misquoted), I’d prefer to see us garner as much as we can from our investment-to-date in the CxP: possibly launching an Orion-derived capsule on an EELV as one of the commercial options, for example, and accelerating our work on a heavy lift vehicle for BEO. Moreover, we need a milestone- and destination-driven program if it’s to last beyond the attention span of the current Congress. Anything that lacks definitive goals and milestones is by definition discretionary spending, and therefore imminently deferrable/cancelable. NASA has done a great job developing a lunar architecture that one day could form the basis of our life-searching exploration on Mars. I’d like to see us incrementally test these on the moon first, just 3 short days away from home, rather than risk their failure several months away on Mars.

I understand the doom and gloom being expressed by some in the human spaceflight industry, particularly with the way in which the budget was first rolled out, but I see an opportunity for a brilliant American future in space. I believe that if we deliberately move ahead with ambitious stated goals (moon, near earth objects, Mars), realistic milestones (even if many years out) and proper funding (included in the current budget proposal), America can retain its technological leadership in space and inspire our kids to dream of and pursue space as a realistic destination for their talents. This wouldn’t be transient “Cash for Clunkers” spending, but rather an intelligent expenditure on high tech industry and people, with an enormous potential return on investment… 

In closing, I’ll refer you to a couple of amazing videos that capture the essence of why human spaceflight is so important to our collective futures. One is of my friend Lars’ son Adam, observing the recent Space Shuttle launch: http://bit.ly/cWKy5g If we could only find a way for every American family to see a launch, there would be no question as to how motivating human spaceflight is to young people. I vividly remember seeing Apollo IX launch from Cocoa Beach as a young boy, and it obviously had a lasting impact on my life…! The second clip is from the incredibly eloquent Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, explaining why NASA is so vital to our prosperity: http://tinyurl.com/yepv7wp

So there you have it. My opinion comes free, and it’s worth every penny…

Bob in the Cupola, Space Rocks in view…

GREAT VIDEO: Dedication of the Cupola: Space Rocks and a tribute to Lacy Veach

These photos aren't easy to take! It's hard to "drop" an object perfectly still and quickly take a photo...

Space Rocks on permanent display aboard ISS

Space Rocks Plaque, repackaged for flight

"Space Rocks," hermetically sealed...

Like a proud father, here’s a family photo album of the Space Rocks a.k.a. nuggets on-orbit, and as they were repackaged just before launch. The resin in which the lunar samples were embedded turned out to be more flammable than we’d like in a closed environment like the International Space Station. Thanks to a number of hard-working and wonderful people — Louis Parker, Doug Peterson, Ven Feng, Richard Guidry, Christopher Mcelroy, Rob Lazaro, Abigail Cassell, Paul Miller, Steve Huning, Shelby Lawson, Scott Wolf, Nathan Vassberg, Tony Brown and probably several I’m not even aware of — it was repackaged and manifested on the last Space Shuttle mission, STS-130. Much gratitude to the folks listed above, as well as the onboard crew, some of whom took the amazing photos in this post!

P6 Solar Array: 2 years "post-op" and still looking healthy

The crew of STS-129 took this nice photo of the P6 solar array repair the STS-120 Team did way back in November 2007. Exciting to see it hasn’t changed one bit!

I recently had the chance to speak with Stéphane Sebile, who I’d met a few years ago in Paris, and now has a very nice space blog at http://spacemen1969.blogspot.com/ He asked me to dig way back into the memory banks and recollect my thoughts on my first trip into space. After dusting off the cobwebs, this is what I had to say:

Q : How many years were you connected to the space program before your 1st flight?

A : I was very fortunate to wait just 2 years from selection to first flight — the first year spent as Astronaut Candidate, and then almost immediately transitioning to STS-66 training (including two of my Class of 1992 crewmates, Joe Tanner and Jean-Francois Clervoy).

Q : How did you feel prior the flight ?

A : I felt well trained, but somewhat apprehensive before my first flight. I wanted to perform well, and there were so many unknowns: how would I feel? Would I have Space Motion Sickness? You can only simulate so much on Earth — so the first time in space is a very big life experience.

Q : What kinds of sensations did you experience during the take-off?

A : I was on the flight deck in the MS1 seat, so I had a great view out the forward AND overhead windows. I remember having a mirror positioned on my knee, and I was therefore able to see the waves crashing on the beach below as Atlantis performed its roll maneuver to a heads-down position — and then noting the clouds getting progressively smaller as we rushed to space. Lots of vibration and adrenalin these 8.5 minutes…

Q : What does weightlessness feel like, and what did you think about during the flight?

A : Weightlessness is a beautiful sensation, very similar to being submerged on a SCUBA dive with your buoyancy compensator perfectly adjusted, such that you neither float up nor sink down. Pushing off with fingertips allow you to fly like Buzz Lightyear wherever you desire, and the views are more beautiful than any photo can capture. I concentrated on doing the best very job I could, but also thought about home quite a bit: I wanted to memorize the experience, such that I could share the experience with my family and friends.

Q : What were some of the problems you encountered and how did you fix them?

A : Most of my missions were ”textbook”, thankfully, although they were complicated operations. The one significant exception was during STS-120, when we had to go out and repair a live solar array. There’s some additional information on my website, http://www.parazynski.com. I’m very proud of how the entire team, Mission Control and our on-orbit crew, handled the very serious challenge before us.

Q : What did you eat, and did it taste real?

A : I’ve always had a great appetite, so the ”camping” rehydratable food was just fine; we also had a Frenchman aboard, so we had a few treats from France to round out our menu. On my subsequent flights I always had International Partner astronaut with me, so I’ve dined on French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Spanish and Canadian specialties in space…

Q : What was Re-entry like?

A : Reentry on STS-66 (my first flight) was very eye-opening, as I was on the middeck with Ellen Ochoa with just a wall of lockers in front of us. We had M&M’s with us, and would toss them gently upwards and try to guess the g-level we were experiencing. The guys on the flight deck would tell us we were almost always right on… And then slowing down through the speed of sound, the whole vehicle vibrated like a train running out of control, thankfully smoothing out shortly thereafter. We felt really heavy, almost like a 100 year-old man, having to carry our body weight and spacesuit for the first time in 11 days…

Q : Were you glad to be back on Earth, or did you feel you could have spent the rest of your life up there?

A : I loved space, and would be thrilled to go back. That said, everything and everyone I love was back on Earth — So I couldn’t have stayed up there forever. I was anxious to get back home and share the experience with others!

WHAT: Retired NASA Astronaut Scott E. Parazynski, the only human to both travel into space and climb Mt. Everest, will speak at the AIAA Space 2009 Conference & Exhibition’s “Education Alley”

Education Alley, AIAA’s innovative aerospace education program, will highlight the world of aerospace engineering and science to over two thousand Pasadena area students in grades K-6 from September 14-17.

WHEN: Tuesday, September 15 at 11:15 a.m.

WHERE: Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, Calif.

DETAILS

Tuesday, September 15, 11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Exploring From Earth to the Stars (Pasadena Convention Center Exhibit Hall)

Speaker: Scott Parazynski, retired NASA Astronaut and employee of Wyle, will recount his experiences from his five space shuttle missions and from his May 2009 summit of Mt. Everest. Parazynski will be available for media interviews both before and after his talk.

AIAA SPACE 2009 is co-chaired by NASA and the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, and is sponsored by Orbital Sciences Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation. Additional sponsors include The Boeing Company, SpaceX, United Space Alliance, Stellar Solutions, Ball Aerospace Technologies, Harris Corporation, and The Aerospace Corporation. Aerospace America and Space News are the official media sponsors. Additional support will be provided by the California Space Authority, the American Astronautical Society, and the AIAA Technical Activities Committee Space & Missiles Group.

AIAA’s premier annual space conference, AIAA SPACE 2009 serves as a venue for senior government and industry leaders and technologists. Under the theme “Space: New Opportunities for a New Era,” the four-day event will examine the need for increasing America’s commitment to education in the “STEM” subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; how best to approach the problems posed by global climate change; how to reduce global fossil fuel consumption; and the role that space exploration and space technologies will play in achieving these goals.

AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 90 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.

Several weeks ago, my friend Wayne Hale asked his Tweet community: “Space Policy forum is debating the definition of exploration. Is Scott Parazynski climbing Mt Everest “exploration”?”

An excellent, thought-provoking question that I hadn’t had time to properly address while on the mountain. Here is my take on the matter, having recently taken journeys to both space and Everest’s top…

Fundamentally, Exploration involves two key elements: innate curiosity and a willingness to accept some degree of risk to pursue this curiosity. Curiosity — scientific, commercial or just plain wanting to see something with one’s own eyes — is pretty self-explanatory. Risk can take on many shades, from simple financial loss to the threat of bodily injury or death.

Most of us think of the term “Exploration” in the context of huge budgets and audacious projects, typically government-sponsored: Lewis and Clark’s continental traverse, Apollo’s lunar excursions, Trieste’s journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the assembly of the International Space Station and so on. It does not have to be this way, however, and often is not! Much smaller efforts can be highly successful and meaningful, although they may not garner the same level of media spotlight. This year on Everest I met Mr. Paul Giorgio, like me a member of the Explorers Club (which often sponsors significant expeditions to all corners of the globe), who was leading a fascinating “mountaineering archaeology” expedition to Hillary’s and Norgay’s high camp on Mount Everest.

Meanwhile, my colleague Keith Cowing and I conducted a number of research studies on the mountain, ranging from assessments of ultraviolet radiation (aiding scientists who study extremophile life forms) to field tests of ruggedized, specialized gear for extreme environments.

Do the benefits of our scientific studies and engineering assessments warrant the risks we took living on the side of Mount Everest for two months? Was my life-long curiosity to see the world from the very top worth the risk of climbing it? Obviously this is a facetious question, but it is also a personal one: for us, we took the risks willingly because we believe our potential gains exceeded the risks (which we carefully managed, by the way…!). Even if we had gone to Everest without this intent to advance science and technology, the yearning to explore a domain new to us might have been worthy of risk — as it is for many, many climbers each year.

You asked your readership a question, so I’ll reply with another one or two questions for them:

Do you explore? If not, why not?

Warm regards,

Scott