Space research comes to life during astronauts' visit
The medical school hosted a visited of the crew of the space orbiter Columbia June 20, giving children and adults the chance to find out about space research first-hand.
|
Commander Richard Searfoss (R) presented a collage of images from the Neurolab mission to Dr. Richard Neuman as a memento of the Columbia crew's visit to Memorial. The collage includes a small Canadian flag that flew aborad the Columbia. |
For Rhonda Bemister's Grade 5 class at Bishop Abraham Elementary it was a particularly memorable occasion. Letters to Canadian astronaut Dr. Dave Williams earned the class a private 45-minute session with the six crew members from the Columbia who visited St. John's as part of the national post-flight tour. The excited youngsters peppered the astronauts with questions from "What did you do with your garbage?" to "Do you ever get scared?"
The astronauts spent 16 days in space this spring on the STS-90 Neurolab mission in which 26 complex experiments in the life sciences were conducted to study the effects of microgravity on the brain and the other parts of the central nervous system. Research was conducted on the astronauts and on the 2,000 rats, crickets and fish that accompanied them.
This scientific research is of particular interest to members of the Neuroscience Group in the Faculty of Medicine. Through the efforts of Dr. Richard Neuman, assistant dean for basic medical sciences, the visit was arranged.
Scientists had an hour-long session with the astronauts in which they questioned them about the experiments done during the mission, particular the effects of space travel on sleep and dreaming.
"Everyone found the visit rewarding," said Dr. Neuman. "The preliminary findings of the Neurolab mission were interesting, but they will eventually be published. More important were the insights gained from the impressions and observations of the scientific crew -- material which never shows up in scientific journals."
At a public session, the six astronauts gave a more formal presentation of their trip, led by Commander Richard Searfoss. To a silent video showing mission highlights, each astronaut spoke about his or her own work aboard Columbia. In addition to Commander Searfoss and Dr. Williams, the crew members who visited St. John's included pilot Scott Altman, mission specialists Kay Hire, Richard Linnehan and Dave Williams, and payload specialist James Paweklcyzk. Payload specialist Jay Buckey was unable to make the trip to St. John's for family reasons.
Dr. Neuman said that an important aspect of the astronauts' visit was the excitement it created. "We need to encourage young people to be interested in science, and this is just the type of event that does that. Some of the students in the audience today may someday be part of a space mission."
Comments or questions e-mail: 