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It's Out of This World (Post) 1-22-86WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, The Post 0 EMILIO VAZQUEZ JR./Staff Photographer Diane Cooper, who teaches third grade- at North Palm Beach Private School, jy Sc oo ,shows off astronaut umpsuit she wore at camp By Barbara Somerville Staff Writer When Sharon Christa McAuliffe rockets into space Saturday on the shuttle Challenger, a North Palm Beach teacher will relate to what the New Hampshire teacher will be feeling and hearing. "Cabin -leak check is complete ... Roger, shuttle, we're watching the pressure now." Diane Cooper . spoke those words three months ago as she sat behind her panel of switches, lights and buttons in "Mission Con- trol." For three hours, she was in charge of all the mechanics of the space shuttle as orbiter systems director. ".All orbiter systems are ready for liftoff ... Retracting crew access arm. Challenger, you are GO for A -P -V orestart." As she spoke th se words, Cooper watched for lif tof f on four screens i preparations, n front of her in the mission Control Simulator at the NPB Teacher Graduate of Space Camp National Aeronautics and Space Administra- tion's Space and , Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Roger, shuttle, we confirm positive auxilia- ry power start, and I'm switching you to inter- nal power. Oxygen valves on the external tank are now closing. Gaseous oxygen vent arm retracting. Liquid hydrogen vents are now clos- ing. "Roger, Challenger, you are GO for launch." The third-grade teacher at North Palm Beach Private School was nervous and excited as she gave the Ox for launch. She was reading from a script as she tripped switches and punched control buttons. Every move she made and every word she spoke had to be timed to the second. All this with only a half-hour re- hearsal before one of her two biggest moments at the Space Camp for Adults in October. Her other big moment came when she rode the shuttle simulator herself and performed her duties as a "scientist" in its space lab mostly drawing blood and testing blood from her teammates' fingers. "The mock-up of the shuttle is very realis- tic," she said. "We basted cf� in the s . uia or to another simulator, which was a space sta- tion. We got a chance to launch and land the shuttle — and you feel it if you don't land very well. But'I enjoyed most being part of Mission Control," she said. "When I saw the shuttle take off on the big screen from Cape Canaveral, I felt very proud." It was a bit nerve-racking, she said, because she didn't want to let her team down. They got points for doing their jobs right and lost them if A past president of North Palm Beach Judy's artistic interests led her to Branch and first president of Palm organize a concert series in Columbus Beach Interbranch Council, Judy holds and to receive an award in Fine Arts the Division Cultural Interest Chair at from the Palm Beach County present, and serves on the Leadership Commission on the Status of Women. Development Task Force for FLORIDA DIVISION. Her extension of AAUW Having taught school in a number of interest on all levels took her to several states, Judy also organized several Association Conventions. preschools herself. Generali b v aus v -rfon they didn't. She was among 40 people who were divided into two teams — Challenger Shuttle. Team and Discovery Shuttle Team. She was on the Chal- lenger team during her weekend hands-on "training" at the Space Camp, which cost. her $350. The cost will be $400 to attend next fall when more teams of adults can apply to g through simulated training using the same equipment astronauts train on. ":Cine of our missions was to plant a Bag -up in space, and there was a satellite we had to avoid," she said. They accomplished that mis- sion but goofed on the landing. The woman assigned to weather tracking had to decide whether to land in California, Cape Canaveral or a third spot that Cooper now has forgotten. The tracker was told the weath- er was not good at the Cape, but she decided to Turn to CAMP, C2 lady, Judy now serves as a Councilman for the Municipality of North Palm Beach. As a goal for Program QIP of Florida Division, Judy sees quality of programs a natural for producing a quantity of programs and bringing a large number of new members to AAUW. ,4ESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1 'y� f A land there anyway. It was the wrong decision, so the Challenger team lost points. a "Everything else went smoothly except we had to scrap one mission. to build a structure outside the shuttle, which looked like a giant Tinkertoy • because one of the guys dropped one of the joints. It fell on the floor, but it would have been floating off in space if it had been a real mission, they told us." NASA has been conducting space camps for children, but the first adult camps were last September, October and November. Cooper said she was very glad she'd memorized the facts , and acronyms in the 20 -page pam- phlet mailed to her in advance be- cause, after arrival, participants were given a test to determine which roles they would play in the simula- tions. The lived in underground dorms Y g , and all meals were supplied, only one of which was real space food. "You stick a needle like the kind you use to blow up a basketball into each food i compartment in the tray," she said. "water pours in and in five minutes you have food. we had chicken and rice and ice cream. It tasted very much like backpacking foods. Pretty good. The ice cream was like hard candy, but when you put it into your mouth, it dissolved and became the From C1 texture of ice cream. It got cool in your mouth. At first, she was reluctant to get into the multiaxis machine "which flips you around like you are inside a gyroscope. It turns, and you turn, too. You can feel the pressure, but if you don't try to figure which way is up and which is down, it doesn't bother you. They say the center of your stomach always stays in the same place so when you get off you can walk a straight line. You don't get dizzy." But she got a thrill out of EVA — extravehicular activity. "They strap you into this seat, and you feel very light as you pull yourself along, walk- ing on your hands, upside down. It's how the astronauts train so they can work outside the shuttle in space. But they practice inside a 40 -foot tank of water so they get the feeling of weightlessness. They swim around in regular space suits with little fans near their knees to propel them. "What was more fun, though, was being strapped into a seat that is attached to a coil in the ceiling. You feel one-sixth of your weight so I weighed about 20 pounds. It is like walking on the moon. You just kind of spring along and you can jump high. That was really fun. They threw things on the floor for us to try to pick up. In between the campers' hands-on training experiences, scientists gave them lectures. One explained that the United States is taking one space tack and the Soviets another. "He said the Russians want to put the first man on Mars by 1991, but our goal is to build a space station about the size of three to four football fields, in 1992, where 24 scientists can live and work on ' experiments," Cooper .said. At the end of their weekend, which began on' a Thursday evening and ended on a Sunday evening, the teams were awarded wings and certificates. For $65, they could buy one of the lightweight, blue astronaut jumpsuits they wore at the camp. "You have to be really interested because there is a lot to learn," Coo- per said, "and it gets pretty tense especially when you are in Mission Control. But it really is a wonderful experience to get the feeling of being an astronaut. I really felt in pouch with what they go through in their training." She tried to convey that to her pupils because she thinks they are too blase about space when space travel is going to be very much a part of their lives "and one of them might even be an astronaut someday." For more information on the Spa Camp for Adults or the Space C� 1 for Children, write: Space Camr�4 formation, Tranquility Base, H 4 ville, Ala. 35307. 1�iai�o rs 1�eff�.�ab�r� i Jr heominating Committee Presents Judy P ierman for Program V P A past president of North Palm Beach Branch and first of Palm Judy's artistic interests led her to lady, Jud now serves as a Councilman - president Beach Interbranch Council, Judy holds organize a concert series in Columbus and to receive an award in Fine Arts fory the Municipality of North Palm Beach. the Division Cultural Interest Chair at from the Palm Beach County present, and serves on the Leadership Commission on the Status of Women. As a goal for Program VP of Florida Development Task Force for FLORIDA Division, Judy sees quality of programs q y p g DIVISION. Her extension of AAUW Havingtaught school in a number of g r a natural for producing a quantity of interest on all levels took her to several Association Conventions. states, Judy also organized several preschools herself. Generally a busy programs and bringing a large number of new members to AAUW. tit----