Proposed NASA space station to aid agriculture, farm show exhibit teaches about project

Old Mac Donald had a space station?

The NASA International Space Station Program (ISSP) Outreach Team was at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg this week to educate visitors about the new space station, which NASA is scheduled to begin constructing this year.

The ISSP is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium and is based at the University.

Some visitors were surprised to see NASA at the Farm Show, said Kara Krelove (freshman-astrophysics), but she explained that NASA had an important role there.

"The International Space Station is going to be conducting a lot of agricultural research," Krelove said.

Geraldine Russell, assistant director of the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, also pointed out that NASA has much to offer farmers. The remote sensing technologies NASA can offer are already being used for agriculture.

"The biggest user of remote sensing in Pennsylvania is Hershey," Russell said. "They use it to check on the cocoa crop in South America and Africa."

The ISSP booth had several hands-on exhibits to draw in the crowd. There were simulators used to train astronauts at the NASA Johnson Space Center, the upper torso and helmet of a space suit for visitors to try on and live video conferences with NASA officials in Texas.

Visitors to the booth were able to use a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), which is a device used by astronauts to maneuver in space.

The MMU was attached to a computer which had a 3-D display of the International Space Station on a large screen monitor, said Joe Geddes (freshman-engineering science), one of the many students who helped operate the booth.

By using the controls on the MMU, Geddes added, visitors could simulate flying around the station.

"The kids really seemed to enjoy the MMU," Krelove said, "none of them wanted to get off it."

An electronic still camera was available to take pictures of visitors trying on the space suit.

"We've taken pictures of babies with pacifiers in their mouths up to men in their 80s trying on the suit," Russell said.

While most of the visitors to the booth were children, there were exhibits available for all age groups.

"A lot of the people who came were families with young children." Krelove said. "While the kids were playing with the simulators, their parents were learning what NASA was doing with agricultural research."