Former Henderson High Student Pilots Discovery Into Space One Last Time

In 1983, Col. Eric Boe was graduating from Henderson High School (now ). That same year the space shuttle Discovery was in her final assembly phase. On Feb. 24 at 4:53pm nearly 30 years later, she took to the skies for her 39th and final flight with Boe in the pilot seat.

“It will be bittersweet watching the end of the shuttle come around,” he said during our interview two weeks prior to launch. “I'm very thrilled to get the chance to fly and all of us on the crew are happy to [ride] Discovery on her last flight.”

Boe made a post-flight visit in 2009 to Atlanta's Fernbank Science Center after his mission on STS-126 (space shuttle Endeavour) in November of 2008. Little did he realize that NASA would select him again to pilot a shuttle mission a mere two years later.

“We always joke that there are two mysteries in life; one is how you got picked to be an astronaut and the other is how you got assigned [to a mission] as an astronaut," Boe told me at the time.

When asked if he had anything to share with his former community, Boe said, “Tucker is a great area to grow up in. I learned a lot there. It helped me to get to where I'm at today. ... I, like everyone else, am very proud of the area. I have very fond memories. It's a beautiful area [and] I miss it all the time.”

Preparing for Work in Space

Customarily, astronauts train for one year prior to launch. Discovery's crew trained for nearly a year and a half due to the delay caused by the mysterious cracks in the ship's external tank last November. This gave the crew more time to make refinements to their flight plan and tasks.

“Some things that we look at initially aren't doable in real life. [For example] the robotic arm can't get to a certain place or there [are] constraints where we can't make it work,” Boe said.

Discovery's crew went into quarantine seven days prior to launch. It actually begins at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston and continues at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. According to Boe, they're isolated from the common cold and other sicknesses.

“It's a chance to keep you from getting sick just before you launch,” he said. “It also gives you a chance to actually talk to the crew because you're all together. It's kind of our last minute to go over everything to make sure we're ready to go and get all of our last minute questions answered.”

During this mission one of the crew's main tasks will be to deliver the Permanent Multi-Purpose Module – the final pressurized United States component for the near term – to the International Space Station. “We're definitely looking forward to the launch, managing to get airborne, and getting busy doing the mission,” Boe said.

“The cool task on orbit is seeing the planet and then working with a great team,” Boe said. Working on the space station is an international effort both in space and on the ground. “We're kind of in this age where a lot of things we're seeing on [television] in science fiction we're actually starting to do in space right now. It's an exciting time."

Even though shuttle systems are automated at liftoff, Boe has the option of flying the shuttle approximately 90 seconds after the shuttle rises off the pad. “We're ready to jump in and make things happen if necessary,” he said. At rendezvous and docking some of the control is automated but half the time Boe does the maneuvering. “It's a split between the two. Every automated thing the shuttle can do we can do manually as well.”

The same thing holds true at landing. About four or five minutes beforehand Boe begins to pilot the space shuttle on her descent. “When you start to hear that sonic boom around 50,000 feet we jump on the controls and start flying the vehicle to get ready for landing,” he said.

Dining in?

What is an astronaut's menu like? According to Boe, it's not much different than here on Earth. Most space foods come in sealed pouches that have some moisture, like beans and rice, and stick so they won't float around in microgravity. The foods are rehydrated by injecting hot or cold water with a special device. He said, “You can have just about anything in space. The food is actually very good.”

“One of the things I think is interesting and different in space is that instead of bread we use tortillas.” Boe mentioned that bread crumbs would float around and potentially get into instrument panels. “The worst part would be getting [them] in your eyes so we have to keep everything really clean,” he said.

The fuel cells that power the space shuttle mix oxygen and hydrogen produce energy, heat, and water as a byproduct.

“That water we actually drink on the shuttle,” said Boe. “Sometimes we produce so much water that we give it to the space station to use on board. It's really a beautiful system.”

Boe's looking forward to the common meal that is shared between the shuttle and space station crews during the mission. “Most of the time you are so busy that you really don't get a chance to sit down and just hang out,” he said. “So it's nice to have one meal where everyone is together as a group and can talk about what's going on.”

Launching – Space is the Limit

When asked if he gets apprehensive at launch, Boe replied, “I don't worry about it. The main thing is that I'm really excited and looking forward to the ride.” According to Boe, the trip time to space is about eight and a half minutes. “When they finally launch the solid rocket boosters and we start moving I'm just trying to appreciate the moment because [I] know it's not going to be there very long. Once the ride starts it's sheer exhilaration,” he said.

The last few minutes before launch are very enjoyable, Boe said. “When you get up to the ship, one of the cool parts about it is that you can hear it venting the different gases. You can just tell that the vehicle is alive. That is when it starts to get real and that we're really going to do this.”

For me, the entire launch experience was both enjoyable and exhilarating. I arrived at Kennedy Space Flight Center's press area mid-morning on launch day to witness Boe and the rest of Discovery's crew ride her into space one last time. I received a text message from Boe at 9:50am that simply said, "Enjoy the launch!" The day passed quickly with the many preparations performed by both the launch team and the crew.

Discovery lifted off launch pad 39A on a beautiful, sunny Florida late afternoon. Her flight was delayed for several minutes due to a failed range safety computer. She had seconds to spare before the day's launch window closed. The problem was solved and the air was charged with excitement. Finally, the engines roared, the smoke billowed, the ground rumbled, and her ride had begun. Thousands of people lining the nearby coastline interstate were cheering for Discovery and her crew on her final journey to a place that many of us can only dream of.

My Personal Reflections

Although I've witnessed other launches in person during my lifetime - Apollo 17 in December of 1972 at the age of five and STS-111 (space shuttle Endeavour) in June of 2002 - nothing compared to the intense and emotional nature of the launch of STS-133. Not only did I know someone in the pilot seat for whom I was very excited, I was also standing next to the launch control center where my uncle Charlie Mauldin worked for countless hours.

He served at an engineering support console at Kennedy Space Center for 61 shuttle launches. One of his last jobs was leading the design integration team for the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters. Prior to the space shuttle program he worked with the design team for the Lunar Rover which Apollo astronauts drove on the moon. He also was the project engineer for the electrical systems on the third stage (S-IVB) of the Apollo lunar launch vehicle, the Saturn V.

Charles Robert Mauldin passed away quietly in Huntsville, AL on Flight Day 6 of Discovery's final mission to space. He was a true inspiration to me and a legacy to NASA, and he will be missed.