Studying Hard in School Opens Doors, Stresses Astronaut

By Lt. Jennifer Cragg, Submarine Group 2 Public Affairs Officer

GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- More than 1,100 students and teachers from 12 area high schools were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Robert E. Fitch High School to learn from a former submariner and veteran of three NASA space shuttle flights, May 26.

Capt. Stephen G. Bowen, NASA astronaut, a native of Cohasset, Mass., stressed the importance of education, particularly in science and math, which help to expand the number of career choices, especially in his own life during the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) event.

"A lesson learned for me was if you study hard in school and do well in a lot of classes, you have more choices," said Bowen. "There are many other places I could have gone, but I chose to go to the U.S. Naval Academy. By the time I got out of the Naval Academy … I chose to go into submarine force."

Bowen graduated from Cohasset High School, Cohasset, Mass. He earned a degree in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a degree in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In July 2000, he was selected to be a mission specialist for the Space Shuttle Program, becoming the first submarine officer selected by NASA.

"He is unique. He is the only submariner to be accepted for the astronaut career track," said retired Navy Cmdr. Tony Quatroche, a former New London Submarine Base and Submarine School executive officer, who currently teaches math at Robert E. Fitch High School.

Capt. Paul Kelleher, commanding officer, Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory along with Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board and EASTCONN helped to arrange Bowen's visit. Also attending the STEM event was fellow U.S. Navy Academy classmate, Capt. William Merz, commanding officer, COMSUBDEVRON Twelve.

Bowen reflected on working in the "world's greatest job," and his thoughts on being chosen for the astronaut program.

"You feel very lucky to be chosen," said Bowen. "Of those that apply and qualify only about .8 percent gets selected," said Bowen.

During his visit Bowen discussed both his career track in the submarine force and the astronaut program, stressing the importance of the teamwork aspect of flying in space.

"STS-132 was the first mission in over a decade where every single crew member had flown in space previously," said Bowen. "Based on that, we chose to emphasize the team effort required while in space."

The Eastern Connecticut high schools participating included: Robert E. Fitch High School, Bacon Academy, East Lyme High School, Ellis Technical High School, Ledyard High School, Lyme-Old Lyme High School, Norwich Free Academy, Old Saybrook High School, Stonington High School, Windham High School, Woodstock Academy, and Valley Regional High School.

IceBridge: Flight over the Navy Ice Camp

By Julie Weckerlein

Lt. Cmdr. John Woods is a Meteorology and Oceanography Officer (METOC) currently teaching in the Oceanography Department at the United States Naval Academy (USNA). He is part of the Sea Ice Thickness Observation team currently participating in NASA’s Operation IceBridge 2011(OIB 2011).

This was the flight I had been waiting for. Back in 2009, I traveled with two U.S. Navy midshipmen to the Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station (APLIS) to participate in ICEX09, a submarine force exercise conducted by the Arctic Submarine Laboratory. We stayed on the ice for three days and two nights, and experienced the extreme conditions of the Arctic environment first hand. We also observed submarine operations, including the surfacing of the USS ANNAPOLIS through the ice. This year, coordination to participate in the camp again did not work out, but I was grateful to get to participate in the NASA IceBridge mission and fly over the camp.

It is nice to get a different perspective of the environment from above. Jackie Richter-Menge, the IceBridge Science Team Sea Ice Lead, was down on the ice with her team setting up a survey line of different types of instruments measuring the sea ice properties. The NASA P-3 was to fly over the survey line and collect data to be compared to the measurements collected below.

We departed Fairbanks Airport at 7 a.m., and began the 90-minute flight north. The camp is located approximately 200 miles off the northern coast of Alaska on the frozen Beaufort Sea. We were in constant communication with the camp relaying their current positions to assist the pilots to navigate to the camp. Once the camp was in sight we began our survey. Flying over the camp at approximately 1000 feet, we could see Jackie’s team on the ice below, waving up at us. They looked like ants even from this “reasonably low” altitude.

We flew over the camp over 10 times for close to two hours.  Each pass, we had to correct for the camps drift.  The camp was moving at approximately 300 meters per hour, so the survey line was constantly shifting.  It is amazing to think that the frozen ocean is moving at that fast of a pace.  The camp itself consists of only a handful of structures.  If you would like more information on the camp, they have their own blog.

After about two hours of flying in ovals over the camp and collecting  hours of data, we headed back to Fairbanks.  This was my final flight during IceBridge 2011.  In total, I flew for close to 40 hours on five different flights, covering nearly 10,000 miles.

It was a great experience and I want to thank everyone involved in the mission for allowing Midshipman Brugler and myself this wonderful opportunity.

NASA Honors Pioneer Astronaut Alan Shepard With Moon Rock

Doc Mirelson

Headquarters, Washington                                   

WASHINGTON -- NASA will posthumously honor Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American astronaut in space who later walked on the moon, with an Ambassador of Exploration Award for his contributions to the U.S. space program.

Shepard's family members will accept the award on his behalf during a ceremony at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 28, at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, located at 74 Greenbury Point Road in Annapolis, Md. His family will present the award to the museum for permanent display. NASA's Chief Historian Bill Barry will represent the agency at the event, which will include a video message from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Shepard, a 1945 graduate of the Naval Academy, was one of NASA's original seven Mercury astronauts selected in April 1959. On May 5, 1961, he was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft on a suborbital flight that carried him to an altitude of 116 miles.

Shepard made his second spaceflight as the commander of Apollo 14 from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, 1971. He was accompanied on the third lunar landing by astronauts Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell. Maneuvering the lunar module "Antares" to a landing in the hilly upland Fra Mauro region of the moon, Shepard and Mitchell deployed and activated a number of scientific instruments and collected almost 100 pounds of lunar samples for return to Earth.

Reporters interested in covering the award ceremony must contact the Naval Academy's public affairs office at 410-293-2292 or mediarelations@usna.edu by noon, Wednesday, April 27, for access information.

NASA is giving the Ambassador of Exploration Award to the first generation of explorers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs for realizing America's goal of going to the moon. The award is a moon rock encased in Lucite, mounted for public display.

The rock is part of the 842 pounds of lunar samples collected during six Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972. The astronauts or family members receiving the award present it to a museum of their choice, where the moon rock is placed on public display.

For pictures of the NASA Ambassador of Exploration Award, visit http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/AofEphotos.html.

Shepard retired from NASA in 1974 and passed away in July 1998. For more biographical information, visit http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/shepard-alan.html.

NASA Television will broadcast a Video File of the award presentation. For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

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IceBridge: Laser and Radar Altimetry

By Carla Voorhees

First Class Midshipmen Eric Brugler who is an honors Oceanography major at the United States Naval Academy.  He is interested in the polar regions of the earth because he believes they play a very important role to the earth’s climate system.

Today we flew again and went right by the North Pole. The NASA P-3 went two degrees to the left of it if you can picture looking straight down on top of earth.

The flights are usually about 7-8 hour missions, so I woke up early and went to breakfast. After we got on our track over the sea ice, it was difficult to get good measurements because the clouds were so thick. The lasers need clear skies. So the plane went to 1,000 feet, which is very low. This made it exciting to look out the windows and see the sea ice below passing by really quickly. After we descended though, the laser altimeters began working better and collecting good data.

We landed around 3:30 p.m., and I headed back to the North Star Inn to meet with a NOAA scientist Larry Connor. Dr. Connor wrote a paper looking at laser and radar altimetry measurements, so it was great getting to ask him questions about his work. In just a twenty minute conversation with him, he was able to answer all the questions that were forming in my head from hours of reading and studying his paper.

It was my last night here, so I went to the Top of the World club to say my goodbyes to all the engineers and scientists I got to meet during my trip to Thule Air Base, Greenland.

I learned so much in my short week here; all the equipment on-board is so complex and it measures features of the Arctic in order for scientists to study the changes this environment is undergoing.

It was reassuring knowing that there are so many intelligent and hardworking people looking at the poles and trying to understand the dynamics of them. I am excited to continue studying polar oceanography and hope to continually learn more as I pursue a higher education in graduate school.

IceBridge: Flying Over Ice Floes

By Julie Weckerlein

First Class Midshipmen Eric Brugler who is an honors Oceanography major at the United States Naval Academy.  He is interested in the polar regions of the earth because he believes they play a very important role to the earth’s climate system.

Today was the day I had been waiting for all week.  It was the first flight day of the IceBridge operation out of Thule Air Base, Greenland.  Flying today had a special meaning to me for a few different reasons. I recently was selected to become a Navy pilot, which is a goal I have been working towards for some time.  Upon completion of graduate school, I will report to Pensacola, Florida, and begin flight training.

I was able to talk to the pilots, flight engineers and air crewmen of the NASA P-3B, who happen to be mostly ex-Navy guys, which was a pretty cool experience for me.   So, not only was I constantly interacting with the scientists and engineers, but with the people actually flying the aircraft and allowing the mission to happen in the first place.

The day started early because we had to report to the aircraft by 7 a.m., so I woke up, got breakfast and headed right over to the hangar. The actual flight, although a long mission, was nothing short of amazing.  We flew a path known as “Connor Corridor,” a flight taking us from Thule to north of the Canadian Archipelago.

This was a “ENVISAT” mission meaning we would be flying over the sea ice and actually going over a region that an ESA ENVISAT satellite would look at later in the day. This was really interesting for me since I am studying the sea ice variation in the Arctic; therefore it was cool getting to see firsthand what I am reading about in books and learning about in my classes.

This is a picture taken looking out the window of the P-3B as we flew at 1,500 feet.  It was very cool getting to see open leads and ridges as the picture shows.  This appears to be multi-year ice because the ridges seen in the picture are weathered indicating that they have been there for multiple years.

Not only did I get to see some amazing scenery, I also learned a lot from the people taking measurements onboard.  On the P-3B, there is a gravimeter, a few airborne topographic mappers (ATMs), some cameras for the digital mapping system (DMS), ku-band radar, snow radars, MCoRDS radars and a magnetometer. All of this equipment is collecting data and in fact a lot of the instruments’ measurements are used together with other equipment in order to give the most accurate depiction of the Arctic as possible.

We landed around 4 p.m., making it about an eight-hour mission.  Although it was long, it was an experience I will remember for a lifetime.

IceBridge: Sledding Down an Ice Cap

By Julie Weckerlein

Lt. Cmdr. John Woods is a Meteorology and Oceanography Officer (METOC) currently teaching in the Oceanography Department at the United States Naval Academy (USNA).  He is part of the Sea Ice Thickness Observation team currently participating in NASAs Operation Ice Bridge 2011 (OIB 2011). USNA Midshipman Eric Brugler is finishing up his USNA Senior Research project.

Lr. Cmdr. Woods: Saturday morning at Thule Air Base is pretty slow-paced.  Midshipman Brugler and I went to the gym around 0730, and we were the only ones there except for a few Air Force guys.  We had a lazy but productive morning (laundry, some research, email) in preparation for our sled ride trek in the afternoon coordinated by the base activities center.   The group was supposed to take us to the Ice Cap; however, the access road was closed, so we searched for an alternate site.  We hitched a ride with some Greenland contractors (Danish citizens who work at Thule for years at a time), and we actually ended up going over to Dundas Village again.  This time it was a much easier voyage via car, rather than walking across the sea ice.  Also, the sun was shining bright, so the icebergs in the bay were even more spectacular!

Midshipman Brugler: Once at the mountain, everyone immediately began to sled down the steep hill; it was actually quite entertaining to see these grown adults playing like they were ten years old again. After about four or five runs, everyone was completely exhausted from the continual hikes back up to the top.

Lr. Cmdr. Woods: We finally ended up finding a spot to go sledding, and it had a great overlook of the entire base, harbor, and Detachment 1 site.  The airstrip is enormous, and we had a perfect vantage point from where we were sledding.  Thule operates a modern airfield with a 10,000-foot runway and more than 3,000 U.S. and international flights per year.   Looking off in one direction you could see the harbor where each summer the Maritime Sealift Command docks with a fuel re-supply.  The base is home to the northernmost deep-water port in the world.  Off to the south we could see Detachment 1, where the US Air Force’s 23rd Space Wing’s global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to North American Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command.  It was a great panoramic vantage point in beautiful weather (only minus 5 degrees today with a minus 20 degree wind chill!).  Everyone had fun sledding and snowboarding down the side of the hill.  The snow was very dry and not very deep.  The surface was a bit inconsistent and varied between ice, snow, and rocks.  It reminded me of my early years learning to ski in New Jersey.

Midshipman Brugler: Later that evening, after another tasty meal at the buffet here on base, I decided to do a little reading. I began reading some pepers that were analyzing the data collected from the IceBridge operation in 2009. Just hearing about the different types of laser altimetry equipment and radar equipment got me excited to participate in the flights coming up next week. It’s very interesting how different scientists are using different equipment and looking at different things in the Arctic, but all of their work ties into each other, and is all contributing to gaining a better understanding of this polar environment. Therefore, as a student, I am looking forward to interacting with the scientists and learning about their projects.

IceBridge: Exploring Thule and Surrounding Areas

By Carla Vorhees

LCDR John Woods is a Meteorology and Oceanography Officer (METOC) currently teaching in the Oceanography Department at the United States Naval Academy (USNA). He is part of the Sea Ice Thickness Observation team currently participating in NASAs Operation Ice Bridge 2011 (OIB 2011).

We woke up to some horrible news about the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan and threatened the Hawaiian islands and United States West Coast. I taught the Intro to Oceanography course at USNA, and two of the core objectives are introducing the student’s to earthquakes and tsunamis.

I hope that all those I taught were able to follow what was going on with a better understanding of the physical scientific processes that were taking place. The video and destruction are frightening to watch and my prayers are with the Japanese people to give them strength during these difficult times.

Since the P-3 did not arrive until Monday, we took the opportunity to take in some of the sights around base.  Thule Air Base is the U.S. military’s northernmost installation, located 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle. We were issued arctic gear the day before, which consists of a VERY warm down parka, and other essential clothing that you need to survive the minus 5 degree Fahrenheit air temperatures and even colder wind chills.

Unfortunately, the base issued a weather warning when we woke up, which meant no off-base travel was authorized. However, after lunch, the weather warning was lifted. Before you are allowed to travel off-base, you must check out a radio, and fill out a trip plan with your personal info and return time.

There was quite the character in there signing out the radios. He was a emergency management worker from Denmark, telling us about recent polar bear sightings and the possibility of finding some Inuit Seal hunters in nearby Dundas Village. He was joking (we think) about which of us could run faster, stating that whoever was slowest should be a distraction to the hungry polar bear, and the faster runner should survive!

We took a taxi (more about them later) to the edge of Northstar Bay and began our trek across the sea ice toward Dundas Village. The village looked only a mile or so away; however, all features seem closer than they really are here due to an extraordinary clear atmosphere. It is quite the optical illusion. We got varying reports from folks how long it would take us to walk across the ice, about one to two hours.

So off we went.

The wind was only about 10 or 15 knots, but right in our faces, which made any exposed skin very uncomfortable. We had our facemasks pulled up, covering every last portion as we followed recent dog sled tracks toward the hunting village.  When we arrived after about 45 minutes, it was eerily quiet, as we hadn’t noticed any motion during our walk across the frozen bay. There were no signs of recent activity, except for LOTS of dog droppings and a polar bear paw with its fur and claws ripped from it. We found it odd that just this one paw was left behind with no other sign of anything. We took a few photos and put it back where we found it.

We explored the dozen or so huts, and decided to climb the small incline past the village to see what was on the other side. What a sight! Another frozen body of water was in front of us, but this time three large icebergs were within walking distance.

We decided to hike out to the nearest one and got some good photos climbing to the top.  At this point we were outside for about two and half hours, and we graciously took the offer of a Danish couple, who was out for a sightseeing drive, for a ride back to base. They were very pleasant, and shared all sorts of neat information about what it is like to live in Greenland. He was a firefighter and EMT, and has been here for more than three years. She has been here just over a year and was a physical therapist on base. They brought us up towards the BMEWS (Ballistic Missile Early Warning System; more on this in a later post) and to some great vantage points overlooking the Wolstenholme Fjord.

This is the only place in the world where four glaciers flow into one fjord. It was an amazing view! On the way back to base, we stopped in one of the many survival huts to take a look around. These are all over the roads in case of a sudden storm that can create impassable white-out conditions.

It was an exciting day, filled with adventures that you just cannot experience anywhere else on Earth!

IceBridge: From the Naval Academy to Greenland

By Carla Voorhees

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Woods is a Meteorology and Oceanography Officer (METOC) currently teaching in the Oceanography Department at the United States Naval Academy (USNA). He is part of the Sea Ice Thickness Observation team currently participating in NASAs Operation Ice Bridge 2011. This is the first entry in his series of posts from the top of the world.

Most midshipmen at USNA spend their spring breaks in some warm, tropical location. But I like to introduce students to an environment unknown to many: the Arctic. These next few weeks, I will be living at Thule Air Base on the northwest coast of Greenland, flying in NASA P-3 aircraft and observing the collection of data of Arctic Sea Ice. I have a senior research student along with me, who will be finishing up his project on sea ice observation techniques with some infield experience.

About two months ago, I began looking for a mission to the Arctic. A good colleague of mine, Jackie Richter Menge, invited me to a meeting at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. She is the Sea Ice Observing Team leader. I never heard of IceBridge before this meeting, but left with the prospect that a student and I would be able to participate in P-3 overflights of the Arctic. After weeks of thorough coordination with multiple parties and agencies (Navy, NASA, NOAA), we found approval and funding for our trip.

Midshipman Eric Brugler is finishing up his USNA Senior Research project, working with me on Sea Ice Thickness measurement studies. He has been busy for two semesters, reading papers and looking at data, but my goal is to get him into the field to observe collection techniques. It’s a big sacrifice to give up his final Spring Break, but I think he is excited about this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

So our trip began at Baltimore Washington International Airport. We piled our three children into the car, and my wife, Anne, drove Eric and me to the airport. We showed up to a fairly empty airport and one of the easiest check-in processes I have ever experienced. We then searched out some food to wait for our 2:00AM flight departure, and we ran into the rest of the party traveling to Thule with us.

It was great linking up with the “first wave” of IceBridge team members. A majority of the team will be arriving via the P-3 aircraft next week. Soon, we boarded the DC-8 chartered aircraft for the nearly six-hour flight, due north to Greenland. The flight was comfortable, although a bit chilly at times. It was similar to a commercial airline. However, it was primarily a cargo mission; a large cargo hold with only 30 seats situated towards the rear of the aircraft. I was able to sleep for some part of the flight; however I was gratefully woken up be a strong beam of sunlight as the sun rose through the window across from me.

This was a pleasant surprise because as I looked out my window, I saw a beautiful sight. Large sea ice floes created a seascape like one I have never seen before. I snapped pictures for the remainder of the flight. Each minute, the area of ocean below us was constantly changing: it would be completely covered in ice, then only several floes, large cracks or leads, different stages of ice formation, open water, icebergs, and even sea smoke (or low clouds) forming over the relatively warm ocean and VERY cold air above. It was truly breathtaking!

We landed to some more great scenery. Once the coastline of Greenland was spotted, we were already on final approach. This was another landscape I have never experienced before. The Greenland Ice Sheet was directly below us, mountains went right to the ocean, glaciers flowing between peaks, ending in a field of broken up icebergs floating just offshore stuck in the ice. We were only over land for a few minutes before Thule Air Base was in sight. We rounded Mt. Dundas and landed smoothly on the white, ice-covered runway. A short taxi to the terminal, and we stepped out into the bone chilling minus-25 degree weather. Instantly, the moisture inside my nose froze. It was a very interesting feeling. Once inside the terminal, the base commander and his leadership team greeted us (as we were the only flight in for the week), and instantly made us feel at home.

We are excited to explore the base and take in as much of the Thule experience while we have the opportunity before we get involved with the IceBridge flights later this week.

Naval Academy Students Contributing to STEM Education

By John Ohab

Ensign Cooper is a recent graduate from the United States Naval Academy Ocean Engineering program. He worked on STEM outreach for three years in conjunction with the Naval Academy including SeaPerch activities. Currently he is in nuclear training to be a submariner.

The United States Naval Academy is one of the most exciting and rewarding undergraduate institutions in America. Students come from all across the globe and work together to develop into young Navy and Marine Corps Officers. Yet this is not the only mission that is taken on while at the Naval Academy. Students are also helping answer another need in our country, a higher focus on science, technology, engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

Naval Academy students contribute to STEM outreach in many different ways. One of the largest methods of engaging K-12 students in STEM is through SeaPerch, an innovative program in which students learn engineering principles by building remotely operated vehicles. Also, week-long STEM Camps are held during the summers that are led by Midshipman for rising 8th-11th graders. Midshipman and faculty interact with the students each day to demonstrate exciting aspects of STEM subjects.

Midshipmen also contribute to STEM activities by creating new and exciting activities that are sbased on their research and coursework. One such activity is the Concrete Boats, where students construct their own small boats out of various concrete mixes, which is based on a larger Midshipman project where they design and build a concrete canoe.

Naval Academy Midshipman and Faculty also contributed to the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC. The Naval Academy had numerous activities on display that demonstrated the fun and exciting world of STEM.

STEM Outreach is critical to developing a new generation of engineers not only for the Department of Defense but for our nation as a whole to help tackle the unforeseen challenges that lay ahead. Midshipman and faculty at the United States Naval Academy have recognized that need and are working everyday to help fulfill the needs of America.

The United States Naval Academy gives young men and women the up-to-date academic and professional training needed to be effective naval and marine officers in their assignments after graduation.