When NASA's
shuttle Discovery launches
toward the International
Space Station (ISS) this week, you can be sure that a self-described Jersey
boy and Alaskan explorer will be at the helm.
Commanding
Discovery's STS-116
mission to rewire the space station's power grid is veteran shuttle astronaut
Mark
Polansky of Edison, New Jersey. In the pilot's seat next to him will be
first-time spaceflyer William
Oefelein: Alaska's first orbit-bound astronaut.
Ahead of
them is a challenging 12-day spaceflight to deliver a new piece
of the ISS, activate
a primary power and cooling system for the first time, and replace
a station crewmember. NASA mission managers have billed STS-116 the most
complex shuttle flight to date.
"I don't
think that it's any more or less important to successfully accomplish this
mission than it is for any other," Polansky said in an interview, adding that each
ISS construction flight depends on its predecessor. "If we don't get the
rewiring done for the station to get into its normal power grid, it's going to
be hard for any subsequent mission to get done the things they need to do."
Polanksy,
Oefelein and their five STS-116
crewmates plan to launch towards the ISS on Dec. 7 just before 9:36 p.m.
EST (0236 Dec. 8 GMT). The spaceflight will mark NASA's third shuttle flight
this year and its first night launch since the
Edison native
makes good...in space
For
Polansky, it was a chance encounter with Apollo astronauts Neil
Armstrong and Eugene Cernan while still a student at Purdue University that set
him on a path to the U.S. Air Force and space.
"[I]t got
me thinking, 'You know, this is something that a guy could do,'" Polanksy, who's
call sign is "Roman," said in a NASA interview.
Polansky,
50, joined NASA's ranks in 1992 as an
aerospace engineer and research pilot. By 1996, he was an astronaut and, in 2001, served as
pilot during NASA's STS-98
mission to deliver the U.S.
Destiny laboratory to the ISS. STS-116 will be Polansky's second trip to
space and his first as mission commander.
"So it's
sort of like being both a player and a coach at the same time," said Polansky,
who is one of only two veteran spaceflyers--spacewalker Robert
Curbeam is the other--among the STS-116 crew.
The two shuttle
veterans have worked to go over the finer points of orbital life with their crewmates,
including basic activities like sleeping and brushing your teeth, Polansky has
said.
The success
of NASA's last two shuttle missions, which returned
the agency's three-orbiter fleet to flight status and resumed
ISS construction, leave Polansky confident of STS-116's success, but there
will always be risk.
"If anybody
says we can take the risk completely out, they're just blowing smoke," he said,
adding that he believes the gains of human spaceflight outweigh its hazards.
A fan of
ice hockey, snow skiing and light aircraft flight, Polansky is married to wife
Lisa, with whom he has a daughter, but keeps space in his heart for his
hometown.
"Sure, I am
a Jersey boy," he said in a NASA interview, recalling Edison. "My mom still
lives there."
Built for
exploration
Unlike his shuttle
commander, Oefelein did not see an astronaut career ahead of him while growing
up in Anchorage, Alaska.
"I never
really, as a kid, wanted to become an astronaut," Oefelein said in a NASA
interview. "I just wanted to fly airplanes and explore."
Oefelein
first took to the air on his own flying gliders at age 14, then moved on to
floatplanes and ultimately to the U.S. Navy in 1988, where the now 41-year-old aviator
holds the rank of commander.
Oefelein--his
crewmates call him "Billy O"--joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1998, where his
youth in Alaska served as an asset.
"I guess it
gave me an advance in the winter training for sure because I think it was just
another camping trip to me," shuttle pilot told reporters, adding that he never
realized you could go camping in 80 degree heat because he'd never seen such
days. "I remember, one time, getting bogged down on a dirt [landing] strip and
I had to get out and push the airplane out of the mud. But that's flying in
Alaska for you."
In addition
to his duties as Discovery's pilot, Oefelein will also serve as a coordinator
or sorts for the STS-116 mission's three spacewalkers during their ISS assembly
work. He also served in the Advanced Vehicles Branch of NASA's Astronaut
Office, as well as the CAPCOM--or spacecraft communicator--branch, during the
eight years as an astronaut, throughout which time his family made many
sacrifices.
"They were
pretty happy," Oefelein said as he recalled telling his family of his STS-116
assignment. "It was good news."
Oefelein
said he is looking forward toward his first spaceflight and applying the
lessons he learned while growing up in Alaska.
"There's a
lot of engineering that can come out of working in adverse conditions, and that's
a lot like building a space station," Oefelein said. "The things you can learn
out of how to build something in space, that's a skill that you can now take
with you to the Moon and to Mars."
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