The Space Mission Adventure (7 page)

“What do you think it's like when you're
inside
the shuttle and it lifts off?” Rico asked.

“You know, I really can't wait to find out. We do years of practice at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. We have simulators that look and act and feel exactly like the real thing. They're a little like what you did today, except on ours, all the buttons and
dials work and connect to real data equipment. Any mistakes we make could be disastrous, so we practice over and over again until we get it right.”

“Can I be an astronaut one day?” Ziggy asked.

“Of course!”

“What do you have to do to qualify?” Jessica asked.

“First, you need a college degree in math or science or engineering—the more education the better,” she began.

“Do you have to be in the army or navy?” Neil wanted to know.

“Not necessarily. Many of the astronauts are, but I'm not.”

“Do you think it will help that I've been to Space Camp?” Cubby asked.

Ms. Washington laughed. “I'm sure it couldn't hurt.”

“What about a physical? I guess you gotta be healthy,” Rico said.

“Absolutely! The physical and mental tests are pretty tough.”

“I know that women can be assigned to flights, but are you the only African-American astronaut?” Rashawn asked shyly.

“I'm glad you asked that question,” Ms.
Washington answered. “Let me tell you just a little about minorities in our program. Since the program began, there have been more than a dozen African-American astronauts.”

Jerome raised his hand. “I did a report on them for school, so I know that Robert Lawrence was the very first black astronaut, but he died before he could go into space,” he explained. “Guion Bluford was the first African American to fly in space, and Ronald McNair died during the
Challenger
accident in 1986.”

Ms. Washington looked pleased. “Excellent!” she said. “Do you know who was the first African-American woman in space?”

“You?” Ziggy asked hopefully.

“No, man!” Rico said. “She already told us she hasn't been up in space yet. It was Mae Jemison, wasn't it, Ms. Washington?”

“Yes! I am truly impressed by all your knowledge!” she said, pleasure in her voice. “We have also had six Hispanic astronauts.”

“I knew that,” Cubby said excitedly.

“You guys don't need me at all,” Ms. Washington told the group. “I'd hire you to go in space tomorrow. You just need to be a little taller!” She laughed.

“Are there any other women astronauts?” Nicolina asked.

Ms. Washington nodded. “There's a Hispanic woman, Ellen Ochoa, in the program now,” she told the group. “She's been on four space flights. There are some Hispanic men in the program as well. Franklin Chang-Dìaz has been on eight shuttle missions, and Michael Lopez-Alegria has walked in space.”

“Are you excited about going into space, Ms. Washington?” Jessica asked.

“Absolutely. This is what I have prepared for all my life,” she replied with feeling.

“Do you believe in life on other planets, Ms. Washington?” Ziggy asked politely.

“I believe in possibilities,” she told him as she touched him on the shoulder. “That's why I'm in this program.”

The group walked slowly back to Rocket Park, each one thinking of hope and dreams.

“SHE WAS REALLY COOL, MON,” ZIGGY SAID TO
Jerome as he skipped down the path.

“I can't believe we met a real live astronaut!” Rashawn said with excitement.

“Do you think if I showed her this thing I found that she could tell us what it is, mon?” Ziggy took the strange object out of his pocket. It seemed to catch the sunlight, and it almost seemed to glow in his hand.

“Don't bother her with silly stuff like that, Ziggy,” Rico replied. “She's much too important to deal with your imaginary space stuff.”

“I guess you're right, mon.” Ziggy sighed and put it back in his pocket.

As they got closer to Rocket Park, Samantha turned to the group and asked, “Are you guys ready for the Space Shot and the G-Force Accelerator?”

“Ooh, ready, mon!” Ziggy said eagerly as they hurried over to the area where the outside simulators stood waiting.

Ms. Washington still walked with them. “I think I'll stick around and watch. You're the best team at Space Camp!”

“You got that right, ma'am!” Rico said proudly.

“Our first simulation is the Space Shot,” Samantha said. “Since we've been talking with Astronaut Washington about really going into space, this is the perfect time to experience it.”

“Why don't you ride with us?” Jerome suggested to Ms. Washington. “Since you haven't really been in space, maybe you can use this for practice.”

“Oh, I've had plenty of practice—in simulators that make this one look like a Pogo Stick, but sure, I'll experience it with you.”

They walked over to the Space Shot, which had padded seats surrounding a very tall pole. Each team member, and Ms. Washington as well, climbed into a seat, got strapped in, and prepared to be shot 140 feet straight up into the air in an instant.

“You'll feel four g's of force as you go up, you'll be weightless for about two seconds, and then you'll rush back to the ground in what feels like a free fall,” she explained to Ziggy, who was strapped to the seat next to her. “Are you ready?”

Ziggy nodded, but he looked worried. Suddenly,
WHOOSH!
The seats were launched into the air, and Ziggy didn't even have time to scream. His hair went straight up as his body rushed straight down. By the time they landed, he had found his voice. “Zowie! I have found my destiny! Let's do it again!”

Samantha, watching from the ground and holding everyone's glasses and flip-flops, let them ride a second time. This time, Ziggy managed to scream before the air was forced from his lungs.

“Whee! You are really lucky, Ms. Washington,” he
said to her as they were being unstrapped, “to get to do cool stuff like this every day.”

“Not all of it is rides in simulators like this. We have to do math and science calculations and lots of reading as well,” she explained as they were unlatched from the seat and headed back to the cafeteria.

“Did they teach you about the monkeynauts in space school?” Neil asked. His red spiked hair seemed to stand up even higher after the Space Shot simulator ride.

Alan, whose hair matched his brother's wind-tossed spikes, added, “Ziggy thinks the monkeys were really space creatures in disguise.” He laughed a little and tried to make his voice sound like he doubted Ziggy, but he looked directly at the astronaut as he spoke.

“I don't think Abel and Baker were Martians, if that's what you're asking,” she replied with sincerity. “They were just little monkeys who helped us figure out how to live outside the boundaries of this earth.”

“So who takes the bananas?” Rico asked. “Ziggy thinks that aliens are to blame.”

“Hey, mon! Everybody keeps saying what Ziggy thinks, mon, and making me sound like I'm wacked!” He looked around and grinned. “Well, maybe I am, but suppose I'm right? Suppose the bananas really
are
being eaten by the space creatures that live in the giant shuttle in Rocket Park. What if what we think are just skinny brown squirrels are really spacemen checking us out? Suppose nothing is as it seems and I'm right?”

No one answered for a moment.

Finally Ms. Washington took a deep breath and spoke. “Let's all sit down for a moment—right here on the grass. Is that okay, Samantha?”

Samantha nodded, looking as interested as the kids.

Ms. Washington began, “You are a dreamer, Ziggy, and that's probably the best thing in the world you can be. All young people should have imaginations like yours. It's always been dreamers who change the world by making new and wonderful discoveries.”

Cubby raised his hand, as if he were in school. “You
mean like Christopher Columbus and Galileo?”

“Yes. Exactly. Columbus didn't think the world was flat, as many people of his time assumed it was. Folks then believed if a ship went too far, it would fall off the edge of the earth!”

“That's silly,” Jessica said, laughing. “Everybody knows the world is round.”

“But hundreds of years ago, everybody didn't. Columbus was a dreamer who looked at things differently. And in Galileo's time, people thought the earth, not the sun, was the center of our universe,” Ms. Washington explained.

“The Wright brothers believed that airplanes could work,” Nicolina added.

“Good! So, what I'm trying to say is that even though the bananas are probably taken away each night by the sanitation crew, and the
Pathfinder
shuttle is filled with cement . . .” She glanced up at a brown squirrel scampering in an oak tree near them. “And even though that's probably really a squirrel, that doesn't mean that Ziggy is wrong to wonder or to question or to push the limits of his imagination.”

“See, I told you!” Ziggy said.

Samantha nodded. “Ziggy may very well be an explorer or discoverer of things we've never dreamed of,” she added.

“If it's strange food combinations, I think he's already there!” Rashawn said, smiling. “At lunch today he put green Jell-O in his taco!”

“Ooh, yuck!” they all said as they got up and headed down the path once more.

As they headed toward the Habitat, Ziggy touched the pocket of his pants. He took a deep breath and seemed to make a decision. “Hey, Ms. Washington. Thanks for making me look not so dumb out there. My mind just grabs on to ideas and rides with them, you know.”

She laughed and looked at him kindly. “That's the mind of a future astronaut for sure!”

“May I ask you one more thing?”

“Sure, Ziggy, go ahead. I love the way your group is so observant and asks so many good questions.”

Ziggy removed the strange, shiny item from his pocket. “I hope you don't think this is dumb.” He
held it in his fist. “Can you look at this for me? My friends think this is just another example of my imagination working overtime because I was sure it came from space or something.”

Ms. Washington gasped and reached out her hand for Ziggy's green stone. He handed it to her, and she grasped it gently. “Where did you find this, Ziggy?”

“On the floor near the moon gravity simulator. Is it . . . uh . . . from space?”

“No, it isn't.” She took a deep breath. “It came from Chicago.”

“Huh?” Ziggy looked confused. “How do you know?”

“Because it belongs to me. My grandmother gave it to me when I was a little girl. It's very old—an antique. I think her grandmother had given it to her, so it is extremely special to me. You have no idea how important this is to me.”

Ziggy looked at it again. “Really? What is it?”

“It's a brooch—you know—a decorative pin, at least part of it. We had a formal NASA event here last night—that's why I'm here in Huntsville—and I wore my grandmother's pin on my dress because it was pretty, and unusual, and it matched my outfit. I didn't discover until I got back to the hotel that the stone had fallen out. I was really upset when I thought I'd lost it.”