August 5, 2007

Fullerton grad scheduled for space trip Wednesday
Cal State Fullerton grad Tracy Caldwell heads into orbit aboard space shuttle Endeavour.
By GARY ROBBINS
The Orange County Register

Tracy Caldwell will get a hard kick in the back this week – a pain she can't wait to experience. It will mean that the astronaut's first trip into space is finally under way.

The space shuttle explodes off the launch pad, releasing energy that shoots through the flight seats of crew members. Astronauts say the sensation feels like a kick in the back.

The 37-year-old Caldwell will feel the sensation as a mission specialist aboard Endeavour, which is scheduled to lift off at 6:36 p.m. EDT Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center. She and her six crewmates are going on an 11- to 14-day trip during which they will expand and upgrade the International Space Station.

We've conducted about a half-dozen extensive interviews with Caldwell since she was chosen for astronaut training in 1998. As these interview excerpts show, the Cal State Fullerton graduate and former UC Irvine postdoctoral chemist is effusive, funny, insightful and filled with joy about traveling into space.

ON DECIDING TO PURSUE A CAREER AS AN ASTRONAUT

"When I was a junior in high school … there was a national buzz about the (upcoming) launch of the shuttle Challenger. I got caught up in the excitement. One of the astronauts was a schoolteacher (Christa McAuliffe), which made me realize that not all astronauts were test pilots. Some were teachers and scientists, and they had diverse backgrounds. I didn't think of myself as cerebral. But I thought, if the teacher was going into space, maybe I could, too. I was really inspired by McAuliffe (who, like the six other Challenger astronauts, died when that shuttle exploded during launch in January 1986)."

ON INTERVIEWING FOR THE ASTRONAUT CORPS

"At one point, they asked me what my weaknesses are. That brought me to a complete halt. I stared blankly at the table because I hadn't thought about it before the interview. I was stunned. Then I blurted out, 'Well, I do cuss a little bit.' Then the chief astronaut said, 'Aw, hell, Tracy, are you saying you say $@#*%* sometimes?' We all laughed."

ON BEING CHOSEN FOR ASTRONAUT TRAINING

"I was sitting at my computer (at UC Irvine) when astronaut Ken Cockrell called. He said, 'Hi,' and then paused, and my heart sank. Then he said, 'Well, Tracy, we'd like to hire you.' I lost my breath and kept saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.' He said, 'I'll give you five minutes to collect yourself, then call you back.' I bolted out the door and ran down the hall of the chemistry building screaming, telling people, 'I made it, I made it!' Then Cockrell called back and said, 'Don't tell anyone until we send out a press release tomorrow.'"

ON DONNING HER FIRST FLIGHT SUIT

"My parents were there taking pictures and joking about the fact that I had to be given a man's flight suit because I have a long torso and couldn't fit in the suits they have for females."

ON EXPERIENCING WEIGHTLESSNES IN NASA'S 'VOMIT COMET'

"All of a sudden, I was floating and I could not stop giggling. Everybody was doing back flips, slamming into each other and hitting the floor of the plane. This happens until you learn to maintain control of your body. It's amazing not to have anything beneath you. You feel like you're levitating. My hair was not tied down, so it was all over the place. My mother told me to tie it back so it wouldn't look so wild."

ON THE POTENTIAL DANGER OF A SHUTTLE LAUNCH

"I agree with (with) astronaut (Greg Jarvis) that you face more danger just driving around in a car. ... You have to take the risks (of space launches) into consideration. But what you can give to this program, and what you get out of it, are much more important than the risks involved." (Jarvis died during the January 1986 launch of Challenger.)

ON WORKING WITH OTHER ASTRONAUTS

"I was in the grocery store once when I got a call from Peggy Whitson (who was on the International Space Station.) I was her crew person on the ground. I was paying for food at the time. It's hard to explain to the person checking the groceries that this is a call you've just got to take."

ON STAR-GAZING AS A CHILD

"You're laying in total darkness. You can't hear anything except for coyotes and lizards rustling in the tumbleweed. When you look up, you see this immense light from stars everywhere. I thought to myself if I can see this much from Earth, imagine what it would be like to look around from up there."

ON DREAMING OF SPACE

"As a young kid I used to ride motorcycles in the (Mojave) desert. I'd lay on the motorcycle trailer, look up and see the millions and millions of stars and wonder what it would be like to be up there."

Meet Tracy Caldwell

Born:Arcadia, Aug. 14, 1969

Education: Beaumont High School, 1987; B.S. in chemistry, Cal State Fullerton, 1993; Ph.D. in physical chemistry, UC Davis, 1997. Caldwell was working as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Irvine when she was selected for astronaut training in 1998.

Personal:Speaks Spanish and Russian and is fluent in American Sign Language. She has a private pilot's license and is an expert mechanic.

Astronaut role:As a mission specialist on Endeavour, Caldwell will film the jettison of the external fuel tank during launch and monitor sensors during docking with the International Space Station. NASA says she also will use the shuttle's robotic arm to inspect the orbiter for damage.
Built in O.C.

Space shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay contains S5, an $11 million piece of the International Space Station's superstructure that was built at Boeing-Huntington Beach.

The aluminum girder is about 11 feet long, almost 15 feet wide and weighs 35,678 pounds.

When installed, S5 will help connect the station's power and cooling systems. The girder will be set in place with a robot. But astronauts will have to link up its systems during a spacewalk.

Boeing-Huntington Beach has designed, developed or built about a dozen major pieces of the space station.