Penn State Faculty Member Chosen For Space Shuttle Mission

4-4-96
University Park, Pa. -- James Pawelczyk, an assistant professor in Penn State's College of Health and Human Development, has been chosen to train as a payload specialist for a 1998 space shuttle flight.

He would become the first Penn State faculty member to fly on a shuttle mission.

NASA named Pawelczyk, 35, as one of four payload specialists on the Neurolab mission, scheduled to be launched aboard the shuttle Columbia on March 5, 1998. The mission, jointly sponsored by the space agency and the National Institutes of Health, will focus on neuroscience research.

Pawelczyk, assistant professor of applied physiology in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, studies the role of the nervous system in regulating blood flow. NASA is especially interested in his research because many astronauts experience irregularities in blood pressure immediately after returning from a flight, and some crew members have reported bouts of dizziness and unsteadiness for several hours after returning to Earth.

"One simple test is to ask a person to stand motionless for a 10-minute period," Pawelczyk says. "About 70 percent of astronauts are unable to complete that test after flight, despite use of countermeasures to avoid this." NASA encourages astronauts to ingest extra fluids and salt in the hours before reentry to try to boost blood volume, and to wear special garments that limit the amount of blood that pools in the legs.

The Neurolab mission -- STS-90 -- is one of several shuttle flights dedicated to life sciences research. Results of the research may prove useful not only to astronauts but to older adults as well.

"Many of the changes we see in space flight are similar to those associated with the aging process," Pawelczyk says. "These include not only a loss in blood volume and less precise control of the cardiovascular system, but also problems with vestibular control, and on longer flights, loss of muscle mass and bone mineral.

"So it's very possible that some of what we learn on these missions will translate to problems that are often seen in the elderly."

Of the four payload specialists, only two -- to be chosen early next year -- will actually fly on the Neurolab mission, joining five career astronauts on the seven-member crew. The two payload specialists who are not chosen will serve as alternates.

Payload specialists are responsible for conducting experiments on behalf of about two dozen researchers divided among eight teams, according to Pawelczyk.

"The role of the payload specialist isn't to conduct just one experiment for one or two investigators," he says. "It's to make sure that every investigator gets the data that he or she needs from the mission."

Other studies on the 16-day mission will focus on how microgravity affects such functions as sleep, the respiratory system, nervous system development, motor behavior, and balance. Some experiments -- like Pawelczyk's -- will use the astronauts themselves as subjects, while others will involve fish, snails, mice, rats and crickets.

Pawelczyk is part of a team that includes C. Gunnar Blomqvist, M.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, as well as investigators from Vanderbilt University, the Medical College of Virginia and the German Aerospace Research Establishment.

Their Neurolab experiments will make use of a technique called microneurography, which involves inserting extremely small needles into the astronauts' nerves in order to record electronically the neural activity that is transmitted to blood vessels. Measurements will be taken before, during, and after the mission.

Pawelczyk, who conducts his research at Noll Physiological Research Center at University Park, spent three years on the faculty at UT-Southwestern before joining Penn State's Department of Exercise and Sport Science last August. NASA will contract with Penn State for two years of Pawelczyk's time while he and the other three payload specialists train for the March 1998 mission.

Penn State faculty have been involved in experiments on numerous shuttle missions, but Pawelczyk would be the first to actually fly on the shuttle. The list of shuttle astronauts and payload specialists also includes three Penn State graduates: Guion Bluford, Robert Cenker and Paul Weitz.

Pawelczyk himself is a Penn State alumnus, having earned his master's degree in physiology from the University in 1985. He also has a Ph.D. in biology from the University of North Texas.

**tmh**

EDITORS: Dr. Pawelczyk can be reached by phone at (814) 865-3453, or at jap18@psu.edu on the Internet. A photo of him is available; please contact Tina Hay at (814) 863-4325 or at tina-hay@psu.edu by e-mail.

Contact:
Tina Hay
814- 863-4325 (o)
(814) 238-1007 (h)
tina-hay@psu.edu

Vicki Fong
814- 865-7517 (o)
(814) 238-1221 (h)
vyf1@psu.edu

NASA Newsroom (202) 358-1600