THE FINAL FRONTIER

Astronaut talks to Ward students about his adventures in space

By Moira Cullings moira.cullings@theleaven.org

KANSAS CITY, Kan.

— It’s a feeling more than 99% of the earth’s population will never experience.

“Your first flight into space is like the first anything in your life,” said Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, “whether it’s the first flight in an airplane or the first time you did something exciting that you always wanted to do.

“It’s absolutely thrilling.”

Chilton, a retired Air Force four-star general, test pilot and NASA astronaut, visited Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas, on April 12.

He shared with science classes there the story of his first of three missions into outer space.

God’s plan

Chilton grew up in Los Angeles next to the airport and attended Catholic school for 12 years.

“Growing up next to the airport, I spent a lot of time looking out the window,” he told the students, “particularly in a class I didn’t much care for.

“I’d look out the window and watch the airplanes take off and land. I fancied that might be a fun thing to do one day — to be a pilot.”

Chilton recalled the moment his friend’s older brother told him about the Air Force Academy.

“That day — in the backseat of that station wagon on the way to the beach at the age of 12 — I decided I’m going to work really hard and try to go to that school,” he said.

But his dream to become an airline pilot didn’t pan out.

“I never achieved that goal,” he said. “I call that a providential moment — where something I didn’t control, a prayer I wanted to have answered, was answered in a way that I never expected.”

Indeed, God had other plans for Chilton.

He ended up serving in the Air Force for 35 years and becoming a fighter pilot and test pilot. He also applied to become a NASA astronaut and was selected in 1987.

“I spent the next 11 years of my life working at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where I had the great opportunity to fly on three space shuttle missions,” he said.

Chilton hoped the story of his redirection in life would stick with the students.

“I like to tell the story about myself growing up because I was in those seats, too, wondering what the heck I’m going to do with my life,” he said.

“You don’t have to have it all figured out at this age,” he added. “It’s just as important to work hard and have goals. And it’s OK to change your goals as you go through life.

“That’s certainly what I did, and it worked for me.”

Prepare for liftoff

Students and staff were all ears as Chilton described what it was like launching into space for the first time in 1992.

“Launch is pretty dramatic inside,” he said. “It’s really noisy. Vibrations are incredibly high. They’re so high you feel like the thing’s going to come apart before liftoff.”

Chilton and his team were tasked with repairing and deploying the International Telecommunications Satellite. It ultimately took them four space walks to complete the mission.

“The reason it was successful, I think at the end of the day, is because we had trained so closely together,” said Chilton. “We not only knew each other at work, [but] we spent a lot of time together off work with each other and our families.”

>> See “ASTRONAUT” on page 5

Astronauts included in the STS-59 crew portrait include (standing in rear, left to right): Kevin P. Chilton, pilot; and Sidney M. Gutierrez, commander; (seated left to right are): Linda M. Godwin, payload commander; and mission specialists Thomas D. Jones, Jay Apt and Michael R. Clifford. Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on April 9, 1994.

Continuing an in-space tradition, astronaut Kevin P. Chilton (right), mission commander, shakes hands with cosmonaut Yury I. Onufrienko, Mir-21 commander, in the tunnel connecting the Space Shuttle Atlantis and Russia’s Mir Space Station on March 24, 1996. A short time earlier, two crews successfully pulled off the third hard-docking of their respective spacecraft.