Font ResizeJoe Tanner grew up during the space race of the 1960s, an era when many children fantasized about becoming astronauts -- dreams that grew to cosmic proportions by the time man first landed on the moon in 1969.
"Astronauts were larger than life," recalled Tanner.
In 1992, with a mechanical engineering degree and experience in the U.S. Navy, Tanner got his own opportunity to be on his way to space as he was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate.
Tanner -- who is now on the University of Colorado's faculty -- will watch on TV as Atlantis lifts off and becomes an iconic mark to the end of the space shuttle program. For Tanner, who logged 1,069 hours in space, the final liftoff evokes both sadness and an acceptance of reality as space exploration enters its next chapter, one that will be more dependent on private sector efforts.
"We knew this day was coming, and I've had a lot of time to prepare for it," Tanner said. "It doesn't make it any easier. A shuttle is a magnificent piece of engineering, the most capable spacecraft we'll see in my lifetime."
Atlantis is departing on NASA's 135th, and final, space shuttle mission, taking a 12-day trip to the International Space Station to deliver supplies and spare parts.
Over the past three decades, CU has forged rich partnerships with NASA and its fleet: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. And, Boulder has established its niche as an aerospace hub, home to federal labs, dozens of firms with aerospace ties and even a park named after astronaut Scott Carpenter, a Boulder High graduate.
For the past three decades, the space shuttle has been the U.S. human access to space, and a conduit to learn more about
The space shuttle program has launched 802 crew members. That figure recognizes those lost on Challenger and Columbia, which included two of CU's own astronauts, whose contributions to space science are recognized annually at a campus ceremony.
Triumph and tragedy at CU
Both triumph and tragedy characterize CU's relationship with the NASA shuttle program.
At the CU Heritage Center, a gallery holds space exploration treasures, including a university flag that traveled with astronaut Steven Swanson, a CU-Boulder graduate, during his 2007 space flight. The flag circled the
The museum also pays tribute to Kaplana Chawla, a former CU doctoral student who died when Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Also honored is Lt. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka, who died in the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. He carried an autographed CU football and flag from CU's School of Engineering. The football was recovered from the ocean and belongs to the Heritage Center, though the players' signatures had been washed off.
CU-Boulder ranks in the top five U.S. universities, excluding military academies, in the number of astronaut alumni and is the top NASA-funded university in the world. CU-Boulder faculty, staff and students receive about $50 million annually for space research.
Overall, CU boasts 19 astronaut-affiliates -- 18 from CU-Boulder and one from the Colorado Springs campus. Sixteen flew on a total of 40 NASA space shuttle missions. The two who flew the most shuttle missions were Jim Voss, a current scholar in residence at CU-Boulder, who flew five missions, as did CU alumna Marsha Ivins.
Tanner joined the CU faculty in 2008, after a 24-year history with NASA that included four space shuttle flights.
He first flew aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 1994 on a flight to partly study the Earth's atmosphere composition. Two of Tanner's seven spacewalks were performed in 1997 to improve the science capability of the Hubble Space Telescope, while he was aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
He served as a mission specialist on flights in 2000 and 2006 during assembly missions to the International Space Station, which included installing solar arrays.
He describes the feeling that he got before each trip as "anxious anticipation."
"You know you may be required to perform in extreme circumstances, but you take comfort that you're prepared by your training, which is extensive."
There were also light moments while on the space shuttles, he said. One crew member's father made the best beef jerky, which was coveted since the flight food was typically bland. And, Tanner said, they played with gravity by doing fast, continuous somersaults in the air or balling up duct tape to play racquetball -- which made for fun videos.
Local experiments fly to space
David Klaus, an aerospace engineering professor at CU, is at the Kennedy Space Center for the final launch. He was working in Florida in 1985 as a shuttle launch controller for Atlantis' first mission.
"It is fitting to be here for the final liftoff," he said. "Seeing the shuttle era coming to a close is definitely bittersweet for me, as I have been involved with the programs for 26 years now."
Klaus is the associate director of BioServe Space Technologies, a CU center that has specialized in conducting microgravity research and designing and developing space flight hardware. BioServe has worked with industrial and academic partners on experiments ranging from bone loss mitigation and the development of new antibiotics to K-12 educational payloads involving butterflies and spiders that drew the participation of more than 1 million students around the world.
The center has launched experiments onboard space shuttles 39 times since 1991.
"No doubt, we will be at a low point for U.S. space flight after the shuttle retires, but I look forward to watching the commercial space transportation industry develop in the coming years and to seeing what exploration missions that NASA sets its sites on in the future," Klaus said.
BioServe, he said, plans to continue flying experiments on future commercial vehicles.
NASA space shuttles also toted two key instruments developed by teams led by CU-Boulder faculty for the Hubble Space Telescope. The launch aboard Atlantis in 1990 included a high-resolution spectograph designed and built by a team led by retired Professor John "Jack" Brandt of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
CU graduate Vance Brand began his astronaut career with the Apollo program, flying on the historic Apollo-Soyus mission that brought together astronauts and Russian cosmonauts in space in 1981. He went on to command three space shuttle flights and logged 746 hours in space.
As NASA ends its space shuttle program, he said he worries the United States will lose its competitive edge when it comes to deep space exploration.
"We've been a leader for the last 50 years and I don't want to see the United States lose its advantage," he said. "We're talking about going to an asteroid in about 15 years and after that, we'll go to Mars. But that's just talk. We don't have goals that are backed up with plans and funding and I'm very concerned about that."
Colorado positioned to take aerospace lead
Janet Fritz, director of marketing and technology for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, said that Colorado has the highest concentration of aerospace employment in the nation and said the state is well poised to take the lead on commercial space exploration.
Fritz points to Sierra Nevada Corp. in Louisville, which will be instrumental in ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station in the future. Sierra Nevada has been developing the Dream Chaser Orbital Space Vehicle, a Colorado-based program to transport crew and cargo to the International Space Station in a reusable spacecraft. The vehicle is expected to be operational in 2014.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, on Thursday recognized the end of NASA's space shuttle program and the aerospace industry in Colorado's economic success.
Sierra Nevada has received about $200 million in NASA contracts to design and build the vehicle. The company is funding a CU team lead by Klaus to develop methods for evaluating safety and operational aspects of the spacecraft.
As the shuttle program comes to an end, Udall said he believes that the state will play a pivotal role in developing the next generation of space exploration vehicles.
"The shuttle has allowed us to reach farther than many ever dreamed possible," Udall said during his speech. "But the end of the shuttle era is by no means the end of exploring."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.
