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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1988)
i Thursday, January 28,1988/The Battalion/Page Challenger Anniversaiy &M researchers keep up race for space Photo by Lee Schexnaider This Silver Taps notice was posted immediately after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. By Jeff Pollard Staff Writer Jan. 28, 1986 — A ball of fire and a cloud of smoke were all that remained of the space shuttle Challenger and its crew of seven. The excuses were quick to come. “It was the weather.” “It was the design.” Engineers blamed management for not listening to their warn ings. Management blamed Washington for trying to move too fast. Many people lost their jobs, but who was at blame was never decided. Now, two years later, the shuttle disaster is looked upon in a different light. Although the memories of the Challenger still are riddled with sorrow, the crash is seen by many as having a positive effect on the world wide race into space. At Texas A&M, the leader of that race is Oran Nicks, research engineer and director of the Space Research Center at A&M. Nicks feels that even though most of the short-term effects of the accident were bad, the long-term effects may actually turn out quite well. “The entire nation has been shocked into a reassess ment of where we are, how we are doing and where we are going,” Nicks said. “That was needed about this time, because we are on the threshold of a new space era.” A&M’s part in this “new era” is centered in the Space Research Center, a part of the Texas Engineering Ex periment Station (TEES). The center is focusing its efforts on more long-term projects now that the shuttle program has slowed up for a time, Nicks said. There are important, long-term problems that must be overcome before a space program can successfully, operate. They are, according to Nicks, transportation to and from space, power in space and life support sys tems necessary to long-term space travel. All three of these problems are being studied by the center. Illustration by Carol Wells Experiments here on the ground have proceeded at almost the same rate now as they did before the acci dent, Nicks said. The main problem lies in research that requires test ing in space. The tests must either be put of f or simu lated in a lab, he said. “There is so much to do here on the ground,” Nicks said, “that we have not been stopped cold by the lack of flights.” Other experiments at A&M have come about specif ically because of the accident, Dr. Fredric Godshall, manager of A&M’s wind tunnel, said. Godshall said the wind tunnel had a major part in the testing of a drag chute that will allow the shuttle to land on shorter runways, saving wear on the break system, and an escape system to help prevent disasters like the Challenger explosion. “The escape system study was actually a series of four experiments to measure the airflow around the hatch and the trajectories of the astronauts,” Godshall said. “Both of these were important to the selection of a mode of escape.” Nicks said research is necessary to be able to compete in space. “All of these things are needed if we are going to stay in the space ganje,” he said. “It’s quite obvious that they (NASA) intend to stay in the space game, because they are spending an awful lot of money on an awful lot of different things.” hallenger commander honored for support of education By Jeff Pollard Staff Writer The Challenger disaster not only Represented a major loss to the scien tific community, but its emphasis on Reaching also meant a loss to the edu cational community, especially at Texas A&M. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, com- Imander of the last mission of the Challenger, was looked upon as a friend of all teachers, said Dr. Dean C. Corrigan, dean of education, in a Battalion interview shortly after the explosion two years ago. “It was interesting that they se lected him to command the mission with the first teacher on it,” Corri gan said. “He would have made a great teacher — and he had so many connections to teachers.” Scobee became involved in the A&M education department while his wife, Dr. June Scobee, was get ting her Ph.D. in education. Scobee eventually became one of the founding members of the Col lege of Education’s Council on De velopment. As a council member, Scobee helped organize the Math ematics/Science Teaching Scholar Loan Program. The program’s goal is to provide loans to outstanding students committed to teaching sec ondary math and science. As a means to honor the man who helped them so much, a group of these scholars created the Dick Sco bee Memorial Scholarship Fund in October 1986. These students raised $16,000 to endow a $1,000 per year scholarship in his name to a student committed to the teaching of math and/or science. Cynthia Kraemer of College Station was the first recipi ent of the scholarship. Scobee and the other families of the Challenger seven are working on the Challenger Center for Space Sci ence Education. Scobee said that the $50 million project is meant to be the first hands-on space education cen ter of its kind in the nation. It also is meant to be a lasting memory of the five men and two women who died in the pursuit of knowledge and better understand ing of space. Battalion file photo The space shuttle exploded seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986. BETA THETA PI Spring Rush '88 7 # Where is the Party? D „ e CO PC Cod. P "' y '* ”” ■* Culpepper Plaza GO BETA! 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