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Central Illinois Astronaut Space-Bound Once Again

Posted on: Sunday, 19 November 2006, 21:00 CST

By Scott Richardson

BLOOMINGTON -- Scott Altman was 10 years old and growing up in Central Illinois when he looked at the moon and realized someone was walking on its surface.

His imagination was fired. He turned his gaze even deeper into space.

"I looked out at the stars and wondered what was out there," recalled Altman, a native of Lincoln who grew up in Pekin.

At age 47, astronaut Altman was chosen recently to command a mission on which he and six other astronauts will rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2008. Their job will be to make repairs and add new equipment to the instrument, which is about the size of a semi truck. The goal is to extend the telescope's life through 2013.

Altman, who will be making his second trip to the telescope and his fourth into space, sees the work as critical to NASA's future missions to the moon and Mars and eventually to destinations beyond our solar system. Hubble has given astronomers a glimpse of close objects like the moons of Jupiter and distant ones 13.5 billion light years away to lend insight to how the universe was formed, he said. In addition, like the man walking on the moon did for him, the space-based observatory has inspired today's young people to plan for careers in science.

"Hubble is worth its weight in gold because of that," Altman said. "Partly, it's that shared vision of wondering what's out there and trying to experience that for ourselves. Hubble has helped that. It's an essential part of exploration, the discovery, the human journey to go over the next hill and look beyond."

"The Hubble telescope has been the greatest telescope since Galileo invented the first one," agreed U.S. Sen. Barbara Ann Mikulski, D-Maryland, a member of several Senate science and transportation subcommittees. "Forty percent of NASA's discoveries last year came from Hubble."

For the next 18 months or so, Altman and the others will rehearse every move so they know exactly what to do when they arrive at Hubble. They must be sure they have every tool with them to get the job done.

"You plan and train for almost every minute what you're going to do when you get there to make sure you can get it done and there aren't any surprises," he said.

Altman's own ascent to space was not easy. The graduate of Pekin Community High School and the University of Illinois first tried to join the U.S. Air Force to become a jet pilot. But his "sitting height" was too high. He thought he was finished before he got off the ground until he learned the U.S. Navy had different standards. He enlisted, became a pilot and later a test pilot.

He had a similar experience when he first attempted to join NASA. Though named a finalist among 200 people vying for four slots as shuttle pilots, he wasn't chosen. But he was encouraged to reapply and made it on the second try. That's one reason during appearances at schools he urges children not to give up.

"I encourage them to dream big, no matter what it is," Altman said. "Work hard, study and learn as much as you can and find out what excites you and inspires you. When you have that, it's easy to work hard because you love what you do. If you never give up, you can be astounded with where you wind up."

The loss of the shuttle Columbia and its crew led NASA officials to cancel a scheduled maintenance trip to Hubble in 2004. No one knew what NASA administrator Michael Griffin would announce late last month when he scheduled a press conference to discuss Hubble. Five days earlier, Altman was told only he was being proposed as mission commander if the mission was approved.

At that point, that "if" was a big one. NASA had to overcome several hurdles before sending astronauts back to Hubble, a mission far more dangerous than ones to the space station. For example, if debris during launch damages the heat shields -- the cause of the Columbia disaster -- astronauts can take refuge on the space station until repairs are made or until help arrives from earth.

But astronauts headed to Hubble have no safe haven. They are on their own. As a result, tools, including an extension to the robotic arm, are designed to allow astronauts to inspect the craft and repair it. Ways also had to be devised to sustain them in orbit for more than 20 days until a rescue mission can be launched.

"The administrator held cards close to his chest. We were on pins and needles," Altman said. "A cheer went up when he said we are going back to Hubble. It was a big thrill. ? That was the one moment I was finally convinced it was real. The only way that we could convince ourselves this mission is safe to do was to be almost positive we wouldn't need a rescue mission. But NASA's commitment to safety required preparation for a million-to-one shot."

Altman accepts danger as necessary to achieve NASA's lofty goals. So does his wife, Jill, who has been with him through his transition from pilot to test pilot to astronaut.

"I lost seven friends (on Columbia)," he said. "But I know how they felt about it. I really believe in human space flight. We are trying to push and expand our capabilities. It's worth that to me."

In recent years, Altman helped investigate what went wrong with Columbia and come up with new safety procedures to avoid a reoccurrence. He also took part in the effort to design Orion, the next-generation spacecraft that will take astronauts to the moon and Mars. Resembling a larger version of the Apollo lunar spacecraft, Orion is scheduled to return astronauts to the moon in 2018.

But a fourth mission in space was Altman's biggest dream. Age doesn't matter as much as it did in the past when the image of astronauts centered on young daredevils who defy fate to travel in space.

"It is changing," Altman said. "I see society changing around us in the same ways. I was listening to a talk show when someone described the 60s as the new 40s. When I was in my 20s flying F-14s, I didn't expect to be doing anything like this in my 40s."

When asked what lies ahead for him after the Hubble mission is done, Altman pointed out that the American record for missions in space is seven.

"I'm just getting going," he said.

Source: The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill.

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