An Interview with NASA’s STS 135 Crew… Is it an end of an era?
By Pete Trabucco
In order from left to right: Mission Specialist Sandra Magnus, Shuttle Pilot Douglas Hurley, Pete Trabucco, Commander Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialist Rex Walheim (Pete Trabucco)It’s hard to believe that the NASA Space Shuttle program is actually at an end. It wasn’t very long ago we were marveling at this new flying vehicle that could not only orbit the earth but also glide back from the heavens to be reused over and over again. Thirty years ago, NASA launched Columbia, the first space shuttle, on a two-day mission to circle the Earth. Aboard the space vehicle were veteran astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen. Since then, 135 shuttle missions (at an average cost of 1.4 billion dollars per flight) on five different shuttles has carried more than 350 astronauts into space. This represents almost 70 percent of the 523 people (since the beginning of spaceflight) from all nations that have been in space. Indeed, it was a vehicle unparalleled by any that have come before. This past July the last of these incredible vehicles, Atlantis, left Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral for the final time and since then has successfully completed its mission and has been recorded in the history books for all of us to remember.
So what was it like to be a crew-member on board a history making flight like this? Although I wasn’t able to train with the astronauts in the full motion simulation this time around, I recently was fortunate enough to fly down to Houston and ask the crew just that question. On a beautiful May afternoon at NASA Johnson Space Center in the Lyndon Baines Johnson conference room, I was able to catch up with this historic crew, Commander Chris Ferguson, Shuttle Pilot Douglas Hurley and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim and find out what their thoughts were about being the “chosen ones” picked for such an important mission. It is true that these individuals had already distinguished themselves by logging multiple space flights themselves prior to this launch but still the question that was on everyone’s mind was, “How does it feel to be picked for such a historic flight?” The answers were sometimes ones that were not expected.
To all us lay people, flying a mission like this in front of the world would be something that would be more than overwhelming. But when you talk to these astronauts, nothing can be further from that statement. STS Commander Ferguson summed it up best when he simply said, “It’s just another mission and one that needs to be trained for and carried out flawlessly. We have only nine months to train for this mission, which was originally formatted to be a rescue mission only, so we have had much less time to squeeze all of it in. Since we also only have just a crew of four on this mission, there is a lot to do.”
Chris was very much aware of the importance of this historic flight but as seems to be commonplace with all the commanders that I have interviewed, the key to success for them is that one must simply be able to focus on the mission itself.
“There were plenty of guys qualified for this final mission,” added Ferguson. “We have been just lucky enough to be in the right place (rotation wise) and at the right time. Posterity will take care of itself and there will be plenty of time for the importance of this historic launch to sink in after the wheels are locked and Atlantis rolls safely down the runway for the last time.”
When Mission Specialist Sandra Magnus (who has logged over three and a half months time in space, which includes her time on the International Space Station ISS) was asked what it was like to be in space for so long, she had this to say. “On a shuttle mission (like the one we are currently training for) you are very busy and focused on what you need to do in a very short period of time. When you are at the space station, you have the opportunity to experience space the same way as if you are actually living there. Over time you miss the fact that even though you can see the entire world from your perspective (in space) you look down, and want to just go outside and be in the view instead of just viewing it from the outside looking in.” As for the future of manned space programs Magnus had this to say. “Even though we no longer will be using this particular launch system (Space Shuttle), NASA and the space program will continue through ISS and will do so for a long time to come. “We are not ending our space program here…Not by a long shot,” added Magnus. ”It is important to know that even thought the space shuttles are going to quit flying, we will continue to send people to the space station as we have done over the past 11 years.” She added, “I am very honored to be the picked for the last mission of the Space Shuttle and will remember it always.”
Mission Specialist Rex Walheim felt the same as Magnus on what it has been like to be on the crew list for STS 135. He said, “It’s almost surreal in that we will be closing out a program that did so much for humanity.” Rex, who is now a veteran of three space flights and has logged over 871 hours in the vacuum of space, including more than 36 EVA hours and five spacewalks, shared with me what it has been like to train for these EVA’s over the years.
“Doing an EVA is not as hard as it seems. Really! They train you really well in the Neutral Bouncy pool. It is true on your first mission everything is different and pretty foreign but the task you’re doing out in space is the same thing you have practiced so many times before. So when you finally get to do it in space you really know what you will be doing for the next six to eight hours. The views are also absolutely incredible,” said Walheim. “You are so busy you don’t get to do much of that. But every once in a while you have to just stop and look out and take a quick mental picture. It is truly awesome. We have learned so much in our understanding of working in space from the experience attained in this program. Experience that will most certainly help us in the future,” added Walheim.
And what about the future of NASA itself? With the possible lapse of almost six years before another heavy launch vehicle starts sending up our astronauts again. If so, will we rely solely on the Russians at a new negotiated cost of 63 million dollars per ferried astronaut to taxi them to the International Space Station? Is our relationship sound enough to now work together in space exclusively with this country? Shuttle Pilot Douglas Hurley who is no stranger to working with the Russian space program (he was the Director of Operations for NASA at Star City) told me the relationship we have with the Russians goes back many years and is very strong. “It’s not anything different then we have been doing since the mid 90s and in fact even previous to that we had Apollo/Soyuz that we have had folks being training over there. It’s not uncommon for us to have 10 to 12 people training there at any given time. Our astronauts, even right now, are working and training on future missions even as we speak,” said Hurley.
And how about our test pilots in the program? When asked the question, “Will we in the future need pilots in the space program since there are no plans to launch any manned space vehicles in the near future,” Hurley said, “I would think there will always be a need for test pilots in the astronaut office. It translates well to what we have done in a previous career and to what you do as an astronaut. That being said, the astronaut program will decrease. There is commercial development going on that will involve piloting vehicles or at the very least test experience for them. NASA also plans to develop an exploration type vehicle as well. So I frankly believe there will be some front seat pilot types in the office as well as in the astronaut program.”
Another question asked about the program itself was, “Was it worth the money that NASA and taxpayers paid for the Space Shuttle itself (in total almost 200 billion dollars) over the past 30 years? Also, how will it be remembered in the history books? After all, the program was not without its mishaps. No one can forget the Challenger and Columbia missions where the space program was rocked to its knees with the loss of both launch vehicles as well as all crew members onboard.” According to Ferguson the Space Shuttle, in addition to all its amazing accomplishments, had the ability to return 98 percent of all hardware that it needed to get back from space. “This statistic will never be equaled,” added Fergusson.
As we look at the Space Shuttle program, one can’t deny that it has had an incredible 30-year run. All remaining shuttles (Atlantis, Endeavor and Discovery) will now be heading to museums around the country and unfortunately, in the future, might only be seen there, in our history books or only in our memories. A striking similarity to other ground breaking manned NASA space programs that are now gone, like Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab. Many say it is truly an end of an era, not just for the space shuttle but for our manned space program as well. While others say that it’s just a natural progressing to another launch system and another challenge and that NASA’s best days are still ahead of them. However, any which way you look at it, NASA is currently at a crossroads and it will be interesting and maybe even a little sad to see which one of these statements will ring true. I guess only time will tell.
