Center plans for new exhibit focusing on history of NASA’s shuttle program
By SARA PAUFF
spauff@ledger-enquirer.com
Mary Johnson, Lance Tankersley and Michael Johnson got to experience history when they watched NASA’s final space shuttle mission launch from Kennedy Space Center earlier this month.
“I was out of my mind. It was incredibly exciting,” said Mary, the assistant director for Columbus State University’s Coca-Cola Space Science Center. By working through an education liaison at Kennedy, Mary and fellow center employees Michael Johnson and Tankersley were granted access to the space shuttle press area, about three miles from the launch site for the space shuttle Atlantis.
“We were actually the closest people to see the launch. The only people closer are the astronauts,” Michael said.
They were interviewed about their experiences for NASA’s digital learning network, an online resource for teachers and were able to film the launch as well. They’ll use the video footage as part of a new exhibit at the science center, focusing on the history of NASA’s shuttle program. The exhibit will also showcase approximately $19 million in artifacts from the shuttle program, including a nozzle from one of the space shuttle’s main engines. The center will undergo a renovation to accommodate the artifacts and to add other new exhibits -- such as a young children’s interactive area and a history of Coca-Cola in space.
“We want to create a museum experience that is the kind of experience that patrons and children can spend a couple of hours doing and leave with a real taste of what was the shuttle mission like, what was the technology used, what’s a day in the life of an astronaut,” Mary Johnson said.
Tankersley said watching the shuttle launch was “an experience that definitely fueled our enthusiasm for our whole mission.”
But there was some doubt that the shuttle would launch on July 8, as scheduled, when the trio arrived at Kennedy at 3 a.m. Friday morning.
“There was only a 30 percent chance it would go, so we were in the mind set that we were going to leave Monday, possibly Tuesday morning,” Tankersley said.
“An hour before launch, the sun came out and I have never been so happy to be hot in my life,” said Mary, laughing.
Michael Johnson and Tankersley had seen a space shuttle launch before -- Endeavor -- but this launch was Mary’s first to see up close. Even though she knew what to expect from videos, it was still an exciting event, she said.
“At 31 seconds, they stopped the launch and I was thinking you’ve gotta be kidding me, this is not happening. And then when it finally went, it went so fast,” she said. “Minutes afterwards, you’ve taking in everything that’s happened. I think Lance was the one that said, ‘Man, did you feel your clothes shake?’. You could feel your clothes actually shaking. Then when you first saw the launch go up, it was in silence. It was about 20 to 30 seconds later that you started to hear that popcorn sound, the thrusters and everything. And then you just watch it, in delayed sound, until it disappears into the clouds. It was just a fantastic experience.”
The clouds in the sky added to the experience, Michael said.
“When a shuttle goes in a cloud, the cloud just looks like it explodes in red. It’s just reflecting all of the exhausts. On the press site, there were a lot of oohs and ahhs when that happened,” he said.
Mary said even the co-workers they’ve shown their footage to have been wowed.
“It’s easy to catch the excitement when you see something like that. To see a launch video and know that one of those nozzles on the bottom (of the shuttle) is like what we’re getting,” she said.
The nozzle weighs about 2 tons, Michael said, and is one of the biggest artifacts the center is expecting to receive for their new shuttle exhibit. Other items include a biomedical console -- used to monitor the astronauts vitals -- an onboard general purpose computer, a launch pad escape basket and a shuttle tire.
Mary said the center is also working on funding for its planned renovation, expected to be finished in late 2012. The renovation would divide the center into themed exhibits, including one on the history and artifacts of the shuttle program. There would also be a simulation and training exhibit, as well as a shuttle simulator, which Mary described as a “launch experience” with inclined, vibrating seats. The center would keep its Challenger learning center and the Omnisphere theater.
Mary said she hopes the center’s new exhibits and the video footage from the shuttle launch will help kids get enthusiastic about science and math and space exploration.
“They truly are the generation that’s going to be going to space the next time. It’s not going to be us,” Mary said. “It’s about really empowering them to realize they are the next generation of space explorer.”
Sara Pauff, 706-320-4469
