On Saturday morning, Fred Sack, an Ohio State professor in plant biology, was in the audience waiting for the Columbia space shuttle to land.
One of Sack’s research experiments, which was studying the effect of gravity on moss growth, was on-board the shuttle. Sack was investigating gravity’s effects on plant growth.
“Before we knew anything was wrong, we were really excited,” he said about the anticipation of the shuttle’s landing.
Sack said he could not wait to receive the results from his experiments, which were supposed to arrive with the shuttle.
Sack had previously attended a shuttle landing in 1997, when another of his research projects was on-board a shuttle. He said there was nothing like watching the spacecraft touch down on the runway.
“Then they (NASA officials) told us communication was lost, and they put us back on the buses,” he said.
Sack said people were disappointed and confused about what was happening.
No one ever saw the spacecraft in the air — Columbia had disintegrated over Texas, and the people waiting for the shuttle were at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, he said.
“We saw nothing over the landing,” he said. “That was scary.”
Although Sack did not know any of the astronauts, he said he felt he had a personal connection with each one of them.
As he watched his research progress, Sack would observe the astronauts on the in-flight video as they conducted the experiments.
They were very playful, he said.
Sack said he observed Cmdr. Rick Husband imitating James Bond with a hand motion and a mischievous smile after injecting a protein into a moss plant with a syringe.
The astronauts showed a lot of enthusiasm for having the privilege of being on the shuttle, he said.
OSU President Karen A. Holbrook sent her condolences on behalf of OSU as well.
“I know I speak for everyone at the Ohio State University in sending our deepest sympathy to the families of the crew members,” she said in a statement.
Although seven members were lost, many believe it is still important for NASA to continue its manned-craft explorations.
One such firm believer is former Ohio senator and astronaut John Glenn.
Glenn, who is the namesake of OSU’s Glenn Institute of Public Policy and an active member in the organization, is known for being the first man to orbit the Earth three times.
Glenn said he believes with every challenge there are a few risks, and exploring the space frontier is a great challenge.
Sack, who agreed with Glenn, said of astronauts, “They realize their risks, and they willingly take them. They’re proud to be doing this for their country.”
Glenn said many of the experiments conducted in space are beneficial to people on Earth as well.
“This country became what it is today because we put more emphasis on education and research,” Glenn said. “That’s the value of the whole program. That’s the reason we go up there,” Glenn said.
The end of a human life is a tragic thing, the senator said. However, with 144 manned-space flight launches, the safety record is remarkable.
Columbia, Challenger and the Apollo 1 tragedies were the only times during a space mission that human lives were lost.
On Jan. 27, 1967, NASA lost three astronauts to a flash fire which occurred in the command module during a launch-pad testing. About 17 years ago, on Jan. 28, 1986, seven lives were lost when the Challenger exploded shortly after launch.
When Glenn went up in the Discovery space shuttle in 1998 as the oldest human to have gone up in space, the astronauts were handling 83 different research projects.
One project compared osteoporosis between the younger and older generations, Glenn said. Another experiment dealt with the differences in the immune system.
Many other NASA experiments have ties to Ohio. NASA’s Glenn Research Center, located in Cleveland, manages seven experiments on the effects of low gravity.
For the time being, UNITS is broadcasting the NASA Channel on cable channel 37.
