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So You Want To Be An Astronaut
| Article
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20634 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1992 |
2,052 Words |
| Author
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Richard Nowitz
Richard Nowitz' photographs appear frequently in National
Geographic World, Smithsonian Air & Space, and Mid-Atlantic
Country. |
The tension and concentration contrast sharply with the warm glow of the space shuttle's control panels as teen astronauts Aracelis Gonzales and Michael Papasimeon prepare for their "maiden launch." The crackle of the headsets forces them to focus on the mission, commanding the space shuttle Delta and crew of twenty-one on a simulated flight. These young people are not content to sit on the sidelines and dream about space travel; they want to come as close to the experience as possible. They have come to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.
Surrounding the teenage space voyagers is a myriad of dials, lights, switches, and closed-circuit color monitors. The screens show both simulated exterior views of a launch pad and live pictures of other mission crew members. Hunched over her thick loose-leaf flight manual, Gonzales, from Puerto Rico, calls out a series of instructions to her copilot, Papasimeon, from Australia, who flips switches and replies with a sharp, "Check."
It is ten o'clock in the morning and the twelve-hour shuttle mission has just begun. This space flight is the culmination of six days of extensive training for the teens participating in the U.S. Space Camp's Academy Level II program. The camp offers various space adventures for children as young as seven, teenagers, and adults at campuses in Huntsville, Alabama, and Orlando, Florida. Campers by the thousands have attended Space Camp since 1982, when the program began in Huntsville at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. The first 747 students signed up to find out about the excitement of space exploration. Gonzales and Papasimeon are two of the over 121,000 graduates from all fifty states and thirty-eight countries who have come to experience the thrill of pretending to leave the earth briefly and enter "scientific heaven."
Gonzales, crisply attired in a tailored blue space jumpsuit, pauses and frowns briefly as mission control and advises that there is a launch delay due to computer malfunction. She cheerfully admits, "These past seven days have been some of the most exciting and interesting days I have ever spent. I've always dreamed about exploring the stars and walking on the moon, of being an astronaut. Back home, in school, kids tease me because I like math and science so much. Here I don't have to be embarrassed. Here it's OK to be a 'nerd.'"
The architect of this haven for scientifically talented kids was the rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, the pioneer of America's space program. Before his death in 1977, he directed to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in
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