Two Ohio State Alumni Join Shuttle Flight

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(Last updated 2/21/02)

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Two Ohio State Alumni Join Shuttle Flight

At first glance, a college degree in biology or veterinary medicine may seem an unlikely foundation for a career in spaceflight. But two Ohio State alumni are proving that studying the life sciences can lead to a job in NASA's space program.

Nancy Currie

Richard Linnehan

When the Space Shuttle Columbia launches on February 28, it will carry mission specialists Nancy Currie and Richard Linnehan more than 350 miles above the Earth to rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope. The Columbia crew will install new cameras on the Hubble to enhance its imaging capability ten-fold.

In an interview from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Currie and Linnehan took time out from pre-flight preparations to talk about how their education shaped their lives as astronauts.

Both feel that their training at Ohio State gave them the versatility to tackle problems outside their normal realm of study.

"The saddest day in my life was the day I graduated," Currie said. "I loved my experience at Ohio State."

Currie, who earned her bachelor of arts degree in biological sciences in 1980, is also an alumna of Ohio State's Army ROTC program. Following graduation, she worked as a neuropathology research assistant in the College of Medicine.

After witnessing a tragic accident in flight school in 1985, Currie channeled her academic efforts into a master's degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California, and then a doctorate in industrial engineering from the University of Houston. She brings to the shuttle mission an expertise in human-machine interaction.

Space Shuttle Columbia landing at the Kennedy Space Center following the STS-80 mission. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)

Currie will use all her skills as she acts as Columbia's "quarterback" during takeoff and landing. While the other astronauts will be responsible for only a subset of the shuttle controls, Currie will monitor the flight as a whole, keeping procedures on schedule and correcting any possible malfunctions. Once the shuttle reaches Hubble, she will pilot the giant robot arm that holds her fellow crewmembers as they work on the telescope.

She constantly tries to improve the way she and her colleagues interact with complex NASA machinery. "I look at things and think, 'how can I optimize the user's interface to this piece of equipment, in order to provide them with the information they most need to operate it, keep their situational awareness and so forth?'" Currie said.

Her training will come in handy on this mission, as Columbia is only the second shuttle to replace its traditional mechanical cockpit instruments with new flat-panel displays. NASA hopes this "glass cockpit" will set the stage for a future "smart cockpit" that will make the cabin even more user friendly in the years to come.

Currie added that her ROTC training at Ohio State gave her the chance to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a military pilot. "I've been in the military 21 years now, so I'd have to say that starting out in Army ROTC at Ohio State made a significant impact on me," she said.

Accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Jack Gumbert, professor of military science at Ohio State's Army ROTC, four undergraduate students will travel to Kennedy Space Center to meet the astronauts and attend the Currie family launch reception. When these cadets become captains, the Army will contact them about joining the astronaut program, Gumbert said.

Cadets Luke Anderson, a junior in mechanical engineering; Thomas Hardy, a junior in electronic and computer engineering; Brain Downs, a sophomore in aeronautical and astronautical engineering; and Justin Crocker, a freshman in criminology, are attending the launch. Cadet Hardy also serves as the Army ROTC web-master (http://www.osu.edu/arotc).

"These students show great aptitude in majors that provide a background for the Army Astronaut program. Each student has a 3.5 GPA or higher," Gumbert said. "My intention is to show them an event that will trigger their imagination, and might interest them in following in Currie's footsteps."

This is Currie's fourth space shuttle flight. She'll take along the Ohio State University Army ROTC "colors," a Buckeye Battalion flag, which she's carried with her on every mission. When she retires from NASA, she plans to return the flag to the university.

This is Richard Linnehan's third mission, but the first in which he will take a spacewalk outside the shuttle.

An expert in marine mammals, Linnehan said his education at Ohio State prepared him for a versatile career. "As a vet, you have to be malleable, go from one species of animal to another. And with my veterinary education I had a science background that was heavily into chemistry, mathematics, biochemistry, anatomy… It prepared me to do some things outside the normal realm of veterinary medicine," he said.

Linnehan received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Ohio State in 1985. Now a professor at North Carolina State University, he has applied his skills to medical experiments aboard the shuttle, including the Neurolab mission in 1998 in which he was payload commander -- in charge of all research on the ship.

By studying rats, mice, fish, and other animals in space, Linnehan said he's learned many things that have applications back on Earth. He and his fellow astronauts participated in medical experiments as well, yielding clues about conditions as diverse as blood pressure, osteoporosis, and sleep disorders.

"Many of the things that happen to astronauts when they go into space and experience microgravity actually mimic the disease processes that happen to people on the ground," Linnehan said. "So you can study a certain condition in a very short period of time and learn the basic science involved in it, then come back to earth and ask the questions about why it happens."

Michael Rings, professor of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State, remembers when Linnehan was a student. "He expressed an interest in getting into NASA, and I remember thinking, 'that's a long shot -- a veterinarian at NASA.' But he did it. What perseverance and ability to follow a dream! He's been a wonderful representative of Ohio State, and veterinary medicine in general."

Currie said she and Linnehan aren't the only Ohio State alumni who work at Johnson Space Center. "We have quite a few Buckeyes here, and we all know each other," Currie said, and laughed. "We also know who the Michigan grads are, and we give them the requisite bad time around November."