More space-awesomeness today! I arrived at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's new Davidson Center at 8:00 this morning for the America in Space technical symposium. Huntsville has always had its own Saturn V on display (a real one in addition to a mock-up which stands tall along the highway), but it always been unceremoniously on display outside, exposed to the elements. They restored the enormous rocket and built the Davidson Center to house it, very similar to the Saturn V Center at KSC and the one at JSC. NASA's largest rocket now hangs overhead in a hanger, an awesome sight.

The symposium started off with a short introduction by Huntsville's astronaut Jan Davis. She showed a clip from current International Space Station commander Peggy Whitson, filmed in space, specifically for the symposium, discussing MSFC's role in space exploration.

Alabama's Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom then spoke about the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, and stated that the next President of the United States needs to commit to supporting space exploration (amen!).

Art Willett spoke next about his career as a quality control member for Shuttle missions. He remembered the disastrous launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger (Monday marked 22 years ago) and the tragedy of Space Shuttle Columbia (today marks 5 years).

The first panel consisted of three astronauts: Charlie Duke (Apollo 16), Tom Jones (STS-59, STS-68, STS-80, and STS-98), and Bob Springer (STS-29 and STS-38). Duke talked about being a back-up for Apollo 13 and catching the measles. He walked us through a Saturn V launch and a splash-down landing. Jones walked us through all four of his Shuttle launches and one pad abort. Springer mentioned that astronauts carry with them the dreams of so many people, including the scientists who design experiments and the engineers who build the hardware.

They then took some questions from the audience. The first questioner wanted to know if the former astronauts would want to return to space again. Duke said he was, "ready to go the day I got back," and would love to ride on the lunar rover again. Springer stated that he would, "go again in a heartbeat," and that he's love to walk on Mars. Jones said he would want to bring his whole family with him to space to share the experience.

In response to a question about spacewalks, Jones spoke about the underwater training helping him to form a mental map of the space station and thinking of his spacesuit as a second skin. The aspect of space travel that Duke felt was most unexpected was the violent shaking during launch, Springer wasn't told ahead of time about the explosive charges that release the SRBs from the stack, and Jones was stunned by the beauty of the Earth.

Duke then described what it was like to land on the Moon versus landing in an ocean on Earth. As the lunar excursion module (LEM) descended, it kicked up a huge amount of lunar dust. When they cut off the LEM engines at around 4 feet from the surface, the dust immediately cleared, and they dropped to a landing. He described the splash-down as more of a crash-down after a fireball reentry through Earth's atmosphere. As the audience clapped for them at the end of the panel, both Duke and Jones independently saluted, which was so endearing.

When I returned from lunch, I walked right past an interview with Buzz Aldrin and Charlie Duke. I immediately stopped to watch and listen behind the video cameras. Surprisingly, not that many people were watching. Even though I was so close to them, it was a little hard to hear them because the sound didn't carry, but I stayed until the interview was over. As I was watching Aldrin, intent to hear what he was saying, I noticed Duke staring in my direction. I looked over at him, and he smiled at me. I smiled back.

Afterwards, a number of people approached the them for photo shoots and autographs. I stood there, watching. After a short while, Charlie Duke came over to me. He held out his hand, and asked me my name and if I work here. I took his hand and shook it, but completely star-stuck, all I could manage to say was, "I'm Laura, and I work at NASA Marshall." A few minutes later, when a man asked me to take a photo of him with Duke, I got up the courage to ask Duke to sign my program. "To Laura, aim high, Charlie Duke, Apollo 16."

The next panel was with Charlie Duke and Sonny Morea, project manager for the Apollo lunar rover. Morea described the technical specifications of the vehicle: light weight, stable, withstand high temperature range and dusty conditions, had to be able to climb a steep slope and withstand high obstacles such as Moon rocks. The rover allowed lunar astronauts to explore greater distances and explore for a longer duration of time. Charlie Duke then described what it was like to ride around in the rover. He showed a video of the rover racing around on the Moon. Currently, there are three rovers on the surface of the Moon, but their batteries are dead and the electronics are probably too old to still work.

A large panel spoke next about the technical details of the Saturn rockets, but it was all a bit too technical for me. I bowed out early. Tomorrow is another full day!

Edited to add: I finally found a photo of the astronaut interview I watched. This photo was taken at my vantage point. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.