09/30/91
CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558
Astrophysicist and astronaut Tamara Jernigan loves how it feels to float. Her greatest disappointment upon returning to Earth from last June's space shuttle flight was no longer being able to move just by pushing off an object.
Speaking to a centennial weekend class in Stanford's Physics Tank on Sept. 29, Jernigan showed just how far a Stanford graduate can go -- in her case, 160 nautical miles above earth.
Jernigan earned her bachelor's degree in physics in 1981 and her master's in aeronautics and astronautics in 1983, both from Stanford. She later earned her doctorate in space physics from Rice University. While at Stanford, she joined the astronaut program. Last June she became the 15th U.S. woman in space.
The nine-day flight, called Space Lab Life Sciences One, was a biomedical research flight testing how the human body adapts to zero gravity and readapts to earth's gravity. One concern was understanding the causes of space adaptation sickness, the nausea that can accompany space flight, particularly during the first 24 hours. Jernigan said astronauts call it the "space barfs."
A variety of experiments also tested the cardiovascular, circulatory and immune systems. To test the immune system, some crew members had blood drawn during orbit. The blood was centrifuged and monitored for production of white blood cells, which are critical to fighting off infection. Preliminary results indicate that space flight slows the proliferation of these cells; this could present a serious problem on a trip to Mars or during long-term manning of a space station.
The astronauts' hearts and lungs also were monitored. In zero gravity, the lungs change shape, since gravity is no longer pulling them down. This in turn affects gas exchange within the lungs. Data on these and other tests are still being analyzed.
In addition to the seven human crew members, there were 29 rats and 2,000 jellyfish aboard. All seemed to adapt well to their new environment, although the normally bobbing jellyfish swam in circles in zero gravity.
Jellyfish have gravity receptors that are analogous to organs found in the human inner ear. By examining the development of these jellyfish receptors, scientists hope to get a handle on the adaptation of the human vestibular system, thereby gaining insight on space adaptation sickness.
Jernigan was one of three crew members aboard who were responsible for detailed knowledge of all the orbiter's procedures and computer and electrical systems. The three had spent many simulator hours in disaster drills. The flight, by comparison, was calm.
"The ride uphill" Jernigan said, "was very interesting. It's not so much the intensity of the acceleration as the duration -- eight and a half minutes of accelerating at 17,000 miles per hour."
While in space the crew photographed land, water and clouds. "The views of earth from orbit," Jernigan said, "are breathtaking. . . . It's just a beautiful planet, and the atmosphere is so thin and it sustains life. When you get up there and you see it, you feel what a responsibility we have to take care of it. I was not a fervent environmentalist before I flew, but afterward I found myself with more of those leanings."
Jernigan will be returning to orbit in September, on the next scheduled shuttle flight. That crew will deploy an Italian-made laser-ranging satellite designed to precisely measure continental drift.
Space Lab Life Sciences Two will launch in two years. By then, full results of the extensive testing done on Space Lab Life Sciences One should be available, and the next battery of tests can begin.
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