BY KELLY MADSEN
Staff Writer

They followed a scaled-down NASA flight plan-exactly.

A strict battery of tests was performed on the space explorers before they enter the Galaxia STS-157.

They docked with the Russian Space Station MIR for a crew change and a dinner.

The only difference between a real NASA flight and this simulation is the astronauts never leave their high school in these wood and Styrofoam space shuttles.

The students involved in Northeast High School's SPARC (Space Research Center) program have been working since September to simulate a space shuttle flight. Last Wednesday morning five students suited up and boarded the imitation space shuttle and MIR for a two-day flight.

All of the work -- the 10-page flight plan, construction and computer programming was done by the students. They have autonomy to do whatever possible.

The SPARC program operates on a tight budget, administrative assistant Jessica Taylor said. The program runs on a minimum of $14,000. They receive some money from Northeast High, but only $46 from the city. Money is so tight that the engineers have to be as creative and thrifty as possible.

A far cry from a billion dollar NASA shuttle, Galaxia is made of wood painted black. It will house siblings Areen and Allam Taj, and Jill Cantor. This is the first co-ed flight in SPARC's history. Areen will give her commands to Cantor, the shuttle's pilot. Allam is the mission specialist, whose duty is to record data.

Cosmonauts Michael Simpson, commander of MIR, and Dmitry Kushnir, mission specialist, boarded MIR before the "Americans" entered Galaxia. The students insisted that the MIR crew board first because in reality, a MIR crew would be in space before the American crew launched.

The small opening leading into Galaxia is about two feet away from the entry of MIR. When the shuttle docked with MIR at 2 P.M. Wednesday, a board was placed across the two entries so the crews could switch vessels and enjoy a celebratory dinner of frozen food prepared in the microwave.

Galaxia was built in previous years, but MIR was the idea of this year's crew, so it had to be constructed for the simulation. Design and engineering manager John Blumenfield had little money to work with so he had to be creative and thrifty.

He and his crew built MIR with Styrofoam and dry-wall covered with large sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil held tight by thumbtacks.

Galaxia and MIR are equipped with air conditioners, small refrigerator/freezers, microwaves, and a sectioned off area for portable toilets.

Both crews took physical and psychological tests to ensure they would endure in the tiny enclosed spaces for two days. The Galaxia crew then boarded their ship to run system checks at exactly 9:10 as dictated by the flight plan. At 9:40 the hatch closed and the three astronauts did not return until 3 P.M. Thursday. "They were tired but happy to be back on Earth," said Josh Kramer, electronics manager.

Five previous mock flights prepared the astronauts for the mission, but they were still "nervous, but more excited." The launch was set for 11 A.M.

The crew kept constant contact with mission control. Not exactly Houston, but a row of computers and student operators who wore headsets to communicate with the astronauts. Telephone lines also connect students to mission control in case the headsets stopped working. Students work in shifts at mission control. Beside making sure everyone and everything is in place for the launch, a quite harrowing job, Jessica Taylor started her shift on mission control at 3 A.M. Thursday.

The flight plan must be followed to the letter or else the shuttle will "crash." Student A.J. Ferrigno started writing the flight program in December, and Ryan Shadis devised all the physics work which Ferrigno then turned into countless lines of computer code.

The program shows the acceleration rates, altitude, fuel levels, and other technical aspects of a flight. The ship's computers are connected to a television screen outside the ships so mission control and spectators can watch the progression of the flight. There are cameras set up in both ships to monitor the astronauts.

Ironically the two days of the flight, May 20 and 21, are National Space days, as decided by astronauts on the real MIR.

Donations of money or supplies to SPARC can be sent to: SPARC c/o Mr. Matarazzo, Northeast High School, Cottman and Algon aves., Philadelphia, PA 19111.

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