May 26, 2004
Space stories captivate students
Jennifer Whitworth describes life on International Space Station
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"Do the TVs float?"
"What happens if they run out of air?"
"Are there birds up in space?"
Thirty lower elementary students at the Grand Traverse Academy peered into life on the International Space Station Friday morning.
Two mixed first, second and third grade classrooms hosted Jennifer Whitworth of Hunstsville, Ala., a payload flight controller for the International Space Station. Whitworth, a cousin of one of the students in the class, captivated students with stories of life 300 miles above Earth.
The visit culminated a unit study on the International Space Station, where students in Jackie Popp-Trevino and Tina Houston's classes tracked its orbit via a website.
Whitworth discussed the history of the space station, which includes 16 participating countries, its mission and the crews who have served aboard for extended periods. She said the space station goes around the Earth once every 90 minutes and that it can be seen at night.
"If you go outside at night, you can see something like a small, bright white dot," she noted. "It's being held in orbit by how fast it is spinning in space."
Whitworth also outlined the basics of zero gravity living for the students, who peppered her with questions about how astronauts coped with daily life. She delicately answered the requisite bathroom and shower questions (the former a vacuum contraption and the latter a combination shower and sponge bath unit.) When she told the students that astronauts on the space station could sleep upside down or do gymnastics in the air, a universal 'Awesome!' rang out.
As for the floating TVs, Whitworth outlined the station's liberal use of bolts and Velcro.
"Unless you tie something down, everything floats," said Whitworth. "Some things are bolted into place and there's Velcro on everything so you can stick things to it. The crews' pants have Velcro on them so the keyboards don't float away."
Whitworth also described the experiments conducted on the space station and how a payload specialist helps the crew conduct and monitor them.
"At the Marshall Space Flight Center we manage all the experimental operations on plants, metal and gravity," she said. "They want to figure out if you can grow plants or if people can live in space for a long period of time, so we do lots of medical experiments and study the effects of gravity."
She noted that the extended, usually six-month, tours of the Russian and American astronauts have shown how the human body adapts to space.
"When you go into space your body changes because of no gravity, the bones get weaker," Whitworth said. "Also, tastes change and the crews have to put salsa on everything, even on steak, burritos and chicken, just to give it some taste."
When asked how the space station started and got up there, Whitworth said it was launched and assembled in stages.
"They built all these little itty bitty pieces, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle and then in space they put them all together," she said.
Whitworth also intrigued students with tastes of freeze dried ice cream and an ice cream sandwich. Handing out bits for all to try, she described the foods that astronauts can eat and how these items are processed to be stored and eaten in zero gravity.
Brooke Olesnavage, a third-grade student, was inspired by the presentation and is now considering a career similar to Whitworth's.
"I think I want to have the job that she has, not to go up in space but help on the computers," she said. "I liked that she let us sample the food and that she answered our questions with details."