2/1/03
Bob Lowry, 334/887-7715
EDITOR'S NOTE: These are some Auburn University sources that may be of interest or help to you on the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion)
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John Cochran Jr. (844-6800/821-0216; jcochran@eng.auburn.edu) Professor and Head, Aerospace Engineering. Authority on spacecraft movement; NASA contract for data on retrieval of malfunctioning satellites; can also discuss flight dynamics and accident reconstruction.
Malcolm Cutchins (844-6823/821-8749; drmac@eng.auburn.edu) Professor, Aerospace Engineering. Principal investigator on numerous contracts for NASA and Air Force; former senior mechanical engineer at Lockheed Corp.; well-versed in anything related to dynamics, motion, vibrations, space structures; also scientific/engineering matters related to evidence of creation.
James R. Hansen (844-6628;821-1833 hansejr@mail.auburn.edu). Professor, History. Historian for NASA from 1981 to 1991; authority on NASA, space program, aerospace industry, engineering education and science and technology. Authorized biographer of Neil Armstrong. NOTE: Hansen is providing a daily journal from Houston. Click here to find Hansen's journal.
William Trimble (844-6636/887-7373; trimbwf@mail.auburn.edu) Professor, History. Authority on history of technology and many aspects on aerospace history
Daniel Harris (844-3337; dharris@eng.auburn.edu) Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering. Can speak on spacecraft thermal design and controls.
OF NOTE: An AU class project in the Department of Industrial Design became a reality aboard the International Space Station two years ago, thanks in part to one of the seven astronauts killed in the space shuttle Columbia disaster on Saturday. Kalpana Chawla was instrumental in making the AU-designed Personal Equipment Restraint system an integral part of the space station work environment. PERS allows astronauts a way to store, transport and restrain tools in a zero gravity environment.
Before being sent into space, the PERS system faced rigorous tests by NASA engineers and astronauts, and one of its biggest proponents was Chawla. Evaluation of the system began shortly after design in 1998. In March 2001, astronaut and Auburn graduate Jim Voss became the first to use it in space when he spent six months aboard the ISS.
Auburn industrial design professor Bret Smith and student Allison Whitehead worked closely with Chawla during the evaluation period and are available to speak to media.
CONTACT: Smith, 334/332-9920 (cell); and Whitehead, 334/501-7588 (home)
(NOTE: Auburn has produced six astronauts. James Voss, a 1972 AU aerospace engineering graduate, is a veteran of four space flights. Kathryn Thornton, a 1974 physics graduate, became America's second woman in space in 1992 and, with a second space walk in 1993 during an 11-day mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, has a total of 21 hours in the void of space. She is also a veteran of STS-33 in 1989 and STS-73 in October. Retired astronaut T.K. "Ken" Mattingly, a 1958 aeronautical engineering graduate and featured in the blockbuster Apollo 13 movie, performed a spacewalk on Apollo 16 as command module pilot. He also flew on STS-4 in 1982. AU's other astronauts include: Henry "Hank" Hartsfield, a 1954 physics graduate who is a veteran of three missions, as pilot on STS-4 with Mattingly in 1982, and as spacecraft commander on STS-41D in 1984 and STS-61A in 1985; Jan Davis, a 1977 mechanical engineering graduate who has served as mission specialist on STS-47 in 1992 and STS-60 in 1994; and Clifton Williams, a 1954 mechanical engineering major who died in a plane crash in 1967 while training for NASA.
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Davis: 256/544-0544 Hartsfield: 281/326-2741 Thornton: 713/244-8727 Mattingly: 619/974-1240 Voss: 281/244-8956 or 281/480-6185 ---
Other contacts: Johnson Space Center Public Affairs Office, 713/244-5111; NASA Headquarters Public Affairs Office, 202/358- 1778.