Educator gets to see friend go into space
Kerrville Daily Times, TX
August 7, 2006
Katy Jones’ heart stopped for a moment while watching the space shuttle climb through the air, but her fear quickly turned into excitement. The Kerrville teacher watched the space shuttle Discovery launch July 4 in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and froze with fear 73 seconds after liftoff as she recalled that was the moment the Challenger exploded. Mike Fossum, her friend since eighth grade who now lives in Houston, was aboard the shuttle for the STS-121 mission, Jones said. She worried about something going wrong on the mission specialist’s first trip to space. "I always have the Challenger in the back of my head," she said. But her fears subsided and were replaced with excitement when the tense point ended... It took Fossum a while to actually start his career. He began working at NASA as a systems engineer in 1993. He became part of the Astronaut Candidate Training program in 1998 after being rejected six times, Jones said. His first space shuttle mission also was delayed, like the start to his astronaut career. The Discovery launch was originally set for June 30, but it was postponed to July 4 because of weather complications. A thunderstorm was 20 miles away from the landing strip, so the mission had to be scrubbed. Jones said she thought the shuttle was postponed to the perfect day. "It made (the launch) more all-American and apple pie," Jones said.
Making the launch even more all-American, a member of a well-known American band attended as well, even if Jones didn’t know it at first. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith stood right next to Jones on June 30, but she didn’t realize who he was until later that day. She knew he looked familiar, but she assumed he was a friend of one of the astronauts. She said her tour guide told the group that he attended the launch simply because the space program has interested him for many years.
Jones also learned a few tidbits at the launch that she plans to teach children. She is a science and poetry teacher for home-schooled children, and this year she is teaching physics. She said she wants to make her class more interesting for students by sharing her launch experience with them. Jones also can tell them the few physics lessons she learned while at the Kennedy Space Center, such as aspects of gravity and why the smoke from the shuttle stays around after the launch...
August 7, 2006
Katy Jones’ heart stopped for a moment while watching the space shuttle climb through the air, but her fear quickly turned into excitement. The Kerrville teacher watched the space shuttle Discovery launch July 4 in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and froze with fear 73 seconds after liftoff as she recalled that was the moment the Challenger exploded. Mike Fossum, her friend since eighth grade who now lives in Houston, was aboard the shuttle for the STS-121 mission, Jones said. She worried about something going wrong on the mission specialist’s first trip to space. "I always have the Challenger in the back of my head," she said. But her fears subsided and were replaced with excitement when the tense point ended... It took Fossum a while to actually start his career. He began working at NASA as a systems engineer in 1993. He became part of the Astronaut Candidate Training program in 1998 after being rejected six times, Jones said. His first space shuttle mission also was delayed, like the start to his astronaut career. The Discovery launch was originally set for June 30, but it was postponed to July 4 because of weather complications. A thunderstorm was 20 miles away from the landing strip, so the mission had to be scrubbed. Jones said she thought the shuttle was postponed to the perfect day. "It made (the launch) more all-American and apple pie," Jones said.
Making the launch even more all-American, a member of a well-known American band attended as well, even if Jones didn’t know it at first. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith stood right next to Jones on June 30, but she didn’t realize who he was until later that day. She knew he looked familiar, but she assumed he was a friend of one of the astronauts. She said her tour guide told the group that he attended the launch simply because the space program has interested him for many years.
Jones also learned a few tidbits at the launch that she plans to teach children. She is a science and poetry teacher for home-schooled children, and this year she is teaching physics. She said she wants to make her class more interesting for students by sharing her launch experience with them. Jones also can tell them the few physics lessons she learned while at the Kennedy Space Center, such as aspects of gravity and why the smoke from the shuttle stays around after the launch...
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