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Publication Date: Friday, March 08, 2002

Beyond common ground

The earth looks very fragile from outer space.

From that vantage point, the artificial boundaries that divide nations disappear - only the continents exist, with rivers flowing through them to the seas.

These are the observations of two astronauts - Tammy Jernigan, 42, and Jeff Wisoff, 43, husband and wife - who recently landed in Pleasanton to pursue careers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and start a family.

"It's a big blue orb all suspended in the blackness of space," said Jernigan about Planet Earth. "You feel, 'We're all in this together.'"

This global outlook was strengthened by their duties at the International Space Station, a joint effort of the U.S., Canada, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency, and their work with Russian cosmonauts.

"We train together as a crew," said Wisoff. "First we train in the U.S. and then go to Russia and train in their station, too."

Jernigan and Wisoff have nine missions and four space walks between them, which add up to more than 100 days in space. Compare this to John Glenn's first orbit 40 years ago, which lasted four hours, 55 minutes.

"Space walks are like having a full-screen IMAX theater in your face. The view are incredible," said Wisoff. "I really loved looking at the earth, thinking, 'Everyone I know is on that orb.'"

"The window in the space craft is about 1-1/2 by 1-1/2 feet, but very thick," Jernigan said. "When you walk out of the space craft, it has a 3D effect."

"God made a truly beautiful planet," she added, saying that their Christian faith was only renewed by their missions.

In space they traveled at roughly 5 miles per second, taking eight minutes to cross the continental United States. Every 90 minutes they traveled around the earth, passing through a night and a day. "Every 45 minutes you see a sunrise or a sunset," said Wisoff.

"You see the cities light up," said Jernigan. "Because the orbit is inclined to the equator, you can see the aurora. It's a great light show. You also see meteors underneath you as they burn up. And you see lightning."

Each mission takes specialists, depending on its goals. NASA's career astronauts include the pilots, who are from the military because only they accumulate the thousands of hours of jet time necessary to qualify; and mission specialists, who are scientists and engineers and do the science experiments, robotic arm work and space walks.

Jernigan and Wisoff agreed they were too busy while on missions to worry about the unforgiving environment surrounding them.

"You're more afraid of screwing up," said Wisoff, laughing. "It's a lot like constructing a house. Everything has to be done in a particular order. If you make a mistake, it will hold up the whole project. You have a responsibility to make sure it goes well."

"In orbit, you think about the mission and hope all goes well," said Jernigan. "Ninety percent of the success of a mission is determined on the ground. The success depends on what you do around the table."

"But you understand how everything works," she added. Plus Mission Control Center monitors every move. "Ground is watching you, ground takes the burden off you," she said.

"Sometimes little things didn't work," said Wisoff. "On one flight, on a piece that helped us to do robotics to place parts, the power system died. But we had a spare on board.

"We train for the worst case, but we trust the equipment. The equipment is designed so you feel confident."

It's harder for the loved ones left behind. When Jernigan blasted off, Wisoff watched with Jernigan's mother. "My mother was excited and nervous," said Jernigan. "Jeff told me, 'You have no idea how hard it is to watch.'"

"For the first two minutes, while the solids are burning, it's very much like a jerky roller coaster ride," said Wisoff. "There's a cadence of calls from mission control and a lot of rumbling."

Then the boosters come off, and for about six-and-a-half minutes the ride is similar to a high speed electric train with a high-pitched hum but very little vibration. Then the main engine cuts off and the G-forces drop to zero gravity. "It feels like a big bear has jumped off your chest," said Wisoff. "Suddenly you're no longer pressed into your seat. Your seat belts are floating up in front of you. You're in orbit."

"It's an exciting ride to orbit," said Jernigan. "The earth is simply majestic as viewed from space."

The two met at Stanford in January 1981, when she was a senior undergraduate physics major and he was a first-year graduate student in applied physics. As they became astronauts, they were able to share an appreciation for the demands of training for and executing a space flight.

When he went on his last mission, Wisoff arranged with a florist to have flowers delivered to Tammy while he was doing a space walk. "The spouses of the astronauts get together while they do walks," said Jernigan, so the wives were together in Florida when the flowers arrived. As an astronaut, she was a source of comfort and information for the other wives.

They have been married for three years but never went on missions together. "It would be fun to have the experience, but it's nice to have someone who takes the pressures off you before the mission," said Jernigan. "We could do this for each other."

They explained that for the last few months before a mission, the training is intense. Then it's often a waiting game, passing time until the weather cooperates. During their missions, they were able to have private conference calls with each other, and e-mail at certain times.

The astronauts are quarantined before their flights for one week, although spouses are allowed to visit. "It's a good time for the crew to be by themselves and review the mission," said Wisoff.

Every procedure is practiced again and again to reduce the chance of surprises once they are in space.

Jernigan noted that if you think it's depressing to try to assemble something on earth and have it not quite fit, imagine how one feels about that in space.

"There's a mockup of the shuttle and you choreograph the whole week so you have a feeling you've done it before," said Jernigan.

"The training is in a training pool for the space walk, so you're neutrally buoyant," said Wisoff. "It's a good way to practice doing tasks."

"Each walk is done five times in the water tank," said Jernigan. "It's the size of a football field. Emergency training is done 10 times."

The only way to produce the zero gravity of outer space is the KC-135, a modified Boeing 707 that flies over the Gulf of Mexico in large parabolic arcs to cause passengers to feel weightless for about 25 seconds at a time. When it comes out of the dive and begins its next ascent, passengers experience forces up to 1.8 times that of gravity. This is repeated 30 to 40 times, earning it the nickname "vomit comet."

"But it's used more for testing than training," Wisoff noted.

The movie "Apollo 13" was filmed in 25-second segments on the KC-135, they said, and agreed it was a realistic portrayal.

"We take gravity for granted," said Jernigan, adding that in space once you start in one direction you just keep on going. "Here on earth when you stop exerting effort, you stop."

"You use your arms to move and your feet to stabilize," said Wisoff. "You grab onto things when you're in the shuttle. But outside there are handrails all around so you don't grab sensitive equipment.

"You feel like a big gorilla out there."

The reaction of astronauts to zero gravity has no correlation to their propensity for motion sickness, they said. "You can't test in advance," said Jernigan. "But 90 percent feel good by the second day. Either way, you're expected to get your work done." She also noted that astronauts experience a lot less nausea than pregnant women. Tammy said that after five months of pregnancy, she was still queasy, whereas she adjusted to the lack of gravity in outer space within 24 hours.

They said astronauts are so busy that their only free time is during the six hours they are assigned to sleep. Jernigan said she usually only slept four hours, spending the other time reflecting on the experience.

Wisoff said he tried to sleep all six hours, but was not always successful. "It's hard to sleep at first," he said. "On the ground you feel a change in state when you lie down. Out there, you just close your eyes. It takes longer to relax."

"You can pick any orientation you want," he added. "You have a sleeping bag and a strap to keep your head to the pillow. It's an artificial feeling."

The missions carry five to seven astronauts. "Lunch is usually on the run, but at the end of the day we eat at the same time," said Jernigan. "I tried to eat upside down as often as possible," she added - just because she could.

"It's like backpacking food, thermally stablized," said Wisoff. "The food is OK - but not like home cooking." Straws used in powdered drinks have clamps to keep the fluid from floating out.

Astronauts are given medical checkups upon returning to earth "After a successful mission, there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction," Jernigan said. "You also look forward to seeing your family and friends upon landing.

"The biggest adjustment is the physical adjustment associated with gravity," she continued. "You have just spent a week or two floating effortlessly and now your body must readjust to the burden of gravity."

"When I return to earth, I feel heavy when I first stand up, but that passes very quickly," said Wisoff. "It takes about a day to fully recover a normal sense of balance. Usually my leg muscles get a little sore from not having been used for awhile - a very small price to pay for seeing the earth from that perspective!"

When he was a boy, Wisoff thought of becoming an astronaut. "I remember watching the Apollo guys walking on the moon and thinking, 'That looks like a fun job.'"

Jernigan said she liked science and always wanted to fly. She was on a career path to become an astrophysicist when the NASA shuttle program began in 1978, providing careers for astronauts. She still flies Cessnas.

Despite their love of the astronaut life, they agreed it was time to move on.

"And it would have been hard to top my last mission," said Wisoff, which was to help construct the International Space Station and included two space walks for a total of 13 hours. "We had done what we could do. We're in our early 40s, still young enough to start a new career."

"We moved to Pleasanton because it has good school, parks. It's a beautiful area," said Jernigan. "We have a 15-minute drive to our house. As a two-career couple, that was one of the appeals. And we got offers that were nice for both of us."

They moved into their new home in Ruby Hill at the end of December and have visited Farmers Market and the restaurants downtown. They were happy to settle near two wine countries since they collect wines and have a wine cellar, they said. Their down-to-earth goals include being able to clear the garage enough to get a car in.

They confine their space memorabilia to their study, including patches from their spacesuits that are framed with pictures of them taken on missions.

Their latest mission explores inner space - Tammy's pregnancy - as they continue their count down to parenthood. They plan to paint the baby's room with clouds, and have a little astronaut flight suit sleeper ready and waiting for the new arrival.

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