Penn State Ties With NASA, Space Shuttle Program Run Deep

February 3, 2003
University Park, Pa. -- Americans and others around the world shared a stunned sadness as the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy unfolded over the weekend. The particular sense of loss felt by those close to the space program and seven Columbia crew members has reached within the Penn State family, as several members of the University community have direct or historical ties to NASA and the shuttle program or had research and astronaut colleagues lost in the skies over Texas on Saturday.

Some Penn Staters are on the front lines of piecing together what went wrong. NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was a business instructor and research officer at the University from 1993-1996; in fact, he returned to Penn State last September to talk about the state of NASA and the space shuttle program. Retired U.S. Navy Admiral Harold Gehman, a 1965 Penn State graduate who participated in the University's Navy ROTC program, has been picked to lead an independent probe of the Columbia disaster. This is the second major federal probe led by Gehman, who previously investigated the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000 that killed 17 sailors.

Others -- particularly researchers at Penn State's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center -- are not only lamenting the loss of Columbia and its crew, but also the years of Hershey medical research that was aboard Columbia. The project, led by Chester Ray, associate professor of medicine and cellular and molecular biology in Penn State's College of Medicine, was designed to explore whether heart and other muscle tissue mass is lost and whether blood vessel function is compromised by space flight.

Ray, who was at Kennedy Space Center in Florida awaiting the landing of Columbia on Saturday, hoped that this project would reveal information about the body's ability to adapt to microgravity and its physiological consequences on astronauts returning to earth, with a goal of improving the health of crew members aboard shuttle missions and at the International Space Station.

The project was the latest in a long-standing research relationship between Penn State and NASA. In fiscal 2001, approximately $20 million in NASA-funded research was conducted at the University. Further, Penn State continues to serve as a Pennsylvania's lead institution in the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. The program is a national network of colleges and universities working to expand opportunities for Americans to understand and participate in NASA's aeronautics and space programs by supporting and enhancing science and engineering education, research, and outreach programs.

Finally, others in the University community are dealing with the tragedy in a way that very few can -- as fellow astronauts. Four Penn State alumni have flown aboard the space shuttle: Paul Weitz, a 1954 alumnus who flew aboard Challenger in 1983; Guion Bluford, a 1964 alumnus who also flew aboard Challenger in 1983, becoming the first African-American to fly into space; and Bob Cenker, a 1970 alumnus who flew aboard Columbia in 1987.

The fourth, James Pawelczyk, is a 1985 graduate degree recipient and current assistant professor of kinesiology and physiology at Penn State. Pawelczyk flew aboard Columbia on STS-90 in 1998, and was in training for his mission as many of the seven Columbia crew members lost on Saturday were just entering the astronaut corps.

"Three of the members of this crew were part of the 1996 astronaut class, which is about the time we began training for our mission in 1998," Pawelczyk told NPR in one of several interviews he conducted over the weekend. "Some of them were certainly running partners and people that I knew as professional friends...and just a great group of people all the way around."

Penn State is hosting several members of the space program to the University Park campus this year, including two in the coming months who may be able to share their insight into the Columbia disaster. In addition to O'Keefe's appearance last September, Guion Bluford will speak on Friday, March 21 at 11:30 a.m. at The Penn Stater as part of the Penn State Forum series. In April, Penn State's Distinguished Speakers Series will host Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space. Jemison, who was a guest on CNN and other media outlets over the weekend, will speak on Tuesday, April 22 at 8 p.m. at in Eisenhower Auditorium.

For the latest news from NASA on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, visit NASA's Web site at http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/