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Program Has Teacher Floating On Air

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By RONNIE BLAIR

rblair@tampatrib.com

Published: November 28, 2008

HUDSON - Mary Epperson was one of those children who grew up in the 1960s, watching the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts blast into space and splash down in the ocean.

Now the Hudson Middle School teacher is about to embark on a pseudo-space mission of her own.

On Dec. 7, Epperson will be part of a group of 62 educators and students participating in the Space Florida Microgravity Program. They will experience weightlessness and perform zero-gravity experiments while flying aboard a specially modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft that will perform a series of parabolic arcs.

It's the same kind of training astronauts do to experience weightlessness before they go into space.

"You get a flight suit," Epperson, 54, said. "I'm real excited about that."

The microgravity flights are offered to educators and students through a partnership between Space Florida, a state agency that promotes space flight, and Zero Gravity Corp., a space entertainment and tourism company.

Epperson, who teaches technology and intensive reading, said she didn't have much hope of success when she applied to go on one of the flights. She figured teachers from all over the state would vie for the limited slots.

As part of her application, instead of suggesting an experiment she might perform, she wrote a passionate essay about trying to inspire students to consider careers they hadn't thought about before.

An e-mail from Space Florida showed up in her inbox Nov. 17 and Epperson couldn't bear to look. Then she peeked just enough to read the first word: "Congratulations."

"I could not believe I won," Epperson said. "I was absolutely stunned."

She thinks she did a little dance. Her fifth-period students wanted to know what the excitement was all about.

Some of her students have been suggesting ways she can experiment while in zero gravity. One gave her a yo-yo and Epperson said she will give that a try if the Space Florida officials allow it, even though she admits to limited yo-yo skills.

She won't be able to yo-yo for long. The plane will do 15 parabolas and each one provides just 30 seconds of weightlessness. Experiments must be conducted quickly so participants can prepare for an abrupt landing when gravity kicks back in.

According to the Zero Gravity Web site, here's how it works: The aircraft flies to 24,000 feet, the altitude from which it will perform the parabolic arc. First, the plane climbs at a 45-degree angle. At the top of the parabola, about 32,000 feet, the pilot pushes the plane over into a sharp descent. At that point, everything in the plane becomes weightless for about 30 seconds.

The pilot will ease Epperson and the group into weightlessness. The first parabolic arc will create Martian gravity, about one-third of Earth's gravity. The next arc will create lunar gravity, about one-sixth of Earth's gravity.

All the arcs after that will cause Epperson and the others to float into the air.
Epperson isn't too concerned that the plane astronauts trained on earned the nickname "Vomit Comet." She doesn't expect to become sick.

Her father was a pilot and she enjoys childhood memories of flying with him aboard his Cessna 172 when he would entertain her by taking sudden dips or quick climbs.

His maneuvers were similar to the parabolic arcs, but without the weightlessness.

"It was like a ride and it was a blast," she said.

That experience aside, the microgravity participants have been assured that it's unusual for anyone to suffer motion sickness on the flights.

Astronauts sometimes do become sick, but their training requires many more parabolas than the teachers and students will endure.

Some of the Space Florida flights take off and land at the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing facility. Epperson's flight, though, will take off from Titusville.

Involving teachers in the flights has a simple goal. The hope is that enthusiastic educators will return to their classrooms and inspire their students to study engineering, science or math.

As part of the preparation, Epperson attended a workshop Saturday at Brevard Community College, where she was assigned to a team that includes Michael Hepburn, a physics teacher from Riverview High School in Hillsborough County; Malcolm Petit, a student from Our Saviour Catholic School in Cocoa Beach; and Christopher Carpenter, a home-schooled high school student.

The team has planned several experiments, including an examination of how weightlessness will affect a toy soldier on a parachute.
Epperson is the only teacher from Pasco County going on the weightless adventure, though two Pasco teachers were among a group that participated in flights Sept. 30 that were part of the Weightless Flights of Discovery program sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Corp. Foundation.

Although Epperson enjoyed watching those thrilling rocket launches as a child, she didn't always see the value of the space program. She began to appreciate it after she learned more about scientific experiments, including biomedical research, the space program has produced.

So there was no hesitation when she learned applications were being accepted for the microgravity flights.

"I love flight," Epperson said. "I think it is one of man's greatest accomplishments."

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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