Giving fellow students space

The space shuttle Discovery was soaring into space, ending NASA's self-imposed grounding since the 2003 Columbia disaster. At the same time a group of language students sat with one of their own—a U-M student better known to the world as the space agency's chief scientist.

NASA Chief Scientist for Human Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise Kathryn Clark explains the risks and rewards of space travel to a group of U-M students during a July 26 talk on campus. (Photo by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services)

Kathryn Clark, NASA chief scientist for the human exploration and development of space enterprise who also spent two years as chief scientist for the International Space Station program, earned master's and doctoral degrees at the University. She specialized in cell and developmental biology.

Proving the educational process never ends, the accomplished scientist is back at U-M pursuing master's degrees in geology—she's particularly interested in the geology of the Moon—and Russian. She chose the language course of study after spending so much time working with her Russian peers. Language faculty said Clark's professional path shows just how many careers can be aided by studying a foreign language.

The title of her July 26 presentation to fellow students: "Why does an old lady from Ohio need to learn Russian?"

Clark told students how at the international space station, the astronauts speak a cross between English and Russian she calls "Ringlish." The station, which is supplied by the shuttle fleet, is filled with sections from each participating nation—some using metric and others English standards, and each with its own native language. She added that each area is named but the overall space station is not.

"It's like getting a puppy and being told you can't name it but your friends can name it's parts," Clark said. "The official language (of the space station) is English but in an emergency when you're excited people tend to go back to their first language. Collaboration is just a nightmare."

She said the advantage of working with Russians is that they are long-term thinkers who are "good at doing a lot with a little."

"Both countries have people who are very proud, creative, stubborn," she said. "There are really more similarities than differences."

Clark spent a few moments in her presentation setting the record straight on a number of misconceptions the public may have about space exploration.

Giving students a sense of how difficult it is to dock a shuttle with a space station as both hurdle through space, Clark asked them how easy it is to drive 55 mph while trying to hand something to a passenger in the backseat. To the public, such things seem routine, but she assured students space travel remains a challenge.

Most Americans believe NASA's budget is comparable to the Defense Department's, but Clark noted that 4 percent of federal tax dollars went to NASA during the 1960s race to the Moon while the agency now spends less than 1 percent of the budget.

During her talk, Clark shared a breathtaking photo of the Earth and noted it was taken by Columbia crew members 10 minutes before the ship was destroyed on its return home in January 2003. Discovery's venture back into space included its own worrisome moments but the shuttle returned safely to Earth Aug. 9.

Clark now runs her own consulting company, Docere—Latin for "to teach." She recently developed a new program showing the benefits of science education, called "It's cool to be smart."

Would she want to go to the moon herself if given the chance? "In a minute," she said.