Team members prepare to launch payload
The Get Away Special (GAS) program at Utah State University is getting ready to launch their 12th payload, G-221, on Nov. 29 at 8:05 a.m. on STS-108 at Kennedy Space Center.
Arlynda Jorgensen, payload manager of G-221, said she has been working on the payload, cargo in a space shuttle, for about four years. Jorgensen said there are three high schools and a few elementary schools involved. She said they are assisting with the high school experiments and USU will not have any experiments on this payload.
“I see this one as a way to get USU to another level of design and doing things,” Jorgensen said.
She said USU will be helping with the connection between the high schools and NASA.
Jan Sojka, GAS team advisor, said each of the high schools came to USU with their experiments. Sojka said there are teams of three to six students and one faculty member from Box Elder High School, Moscow High School and the entire junior and senior classes from Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High School. A few elementary schools have been participating in the experiments for G-221.
The GAS team does these experiments because people think someday there will be permanent space stations, Sojka said. The GAS team and other students would like to find out how things work in space.
Sojka said the experiment from Box Elder is looking at how liquid boils in space. Sojka said Moscow High School’s experiment is looking at how compounds found in the human body crystallize in space. Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High School is experimenting with how you would grow food in space Sojka said. The school is testing how soluble phosphate fertilizer is in space, she said.
“No one’s ever done these experiments before,” Sojka said. “We’re expecting exciting results.”
Jorgensen said a lot of last-minute things had to happen over the summer. She said most of the help was provided by Rick Rambo, a graduate student in mechanical engineering and Steev Fonesbeck, a senior majoring in physics. Both are members of the GAS team.
When launching the payloads, Sojka said, the times are exact and can not be missed. She said they have to make good timing to reach the space station going around the earth. If the flight is delayed, Sojka said, it will be launched the next day.
USU was given the reservations and the budget for the experiments about 20 years ago when the program started, Jorgensen said. With a budget set more than 20 years ago, the money is starting to run out and it’s hard to keep up with the program, Jorgensen said. She said someday the GAS team would like to expand and do some work with the space station.