Dream comes true with space flight

BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Gregory Olsen talks about his trip last fall to the International Space Station with students in Freehold Borough on Jan. 13. Olsen paid $20 million for the privilege of traveling into space. Will space travel be an option for the average Jane or Joe in the near future? Absolutely, according to Gregory Olsen. Well, that is if you are “average” enough to have the drive, the motivation, the training and, of course, the money.

Olsen, 60, a scientist from Princeton, became the third non-astronaut to visit the International Space Station when he rocketed into space last fall aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a 10-day trip into orbit.

Olsen visited the Free-hold Intermediate School on Jan. 13 to share the story of his exciting adventure with students, teachers and administrators. His spacecraft launched from Kaz-akhstan on Oct. 1. The price tag for his ride-of-a-lifetime was $20 million.

Olsen is chairman of the board of directors and co-founder of Sensors Unlim-ited Inc., a developer and manufacturer of optoelectronic devices for fiber optic communications systems, photonic and near infrared imaging devices. He told the children he sold the company and that is how he could afford to take his very expensive trip to space.

CHRIS KELLY staff Andrea Pantoja, 8, looks on as Armani Scales, 8, tries on a glove from space traveler Gregory Olsen’s backup spacesuit. He was named the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Inventor of the Year. He has received numerous other achievement awards and honors. He serves on advisory committees, including panels at Princeton University, the University of Southern California Photonics Center and the University of Florida Microelectronics Center.

The scientist told the pupils that he grew up in New Jersey. He engaged them on their level when he said that as a child he used to dream about going into space. His first experience with space travel was his memory of the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik I in 1957.

He knew then that was what he wanted to do.

“Don’t give up,” he told students who packed the school’s gymnasium. “I didn’t think I could ever do it, but I kept working at it, and I got there.”

Becoming an astronaut was not on his agenda because in truth, he said he thought that dream was just too far out of his reach.

“I failed some exams,” Olsen admitted. “School wasn’t always easy for me, but I didn’t let it get in my way.”

Technically, Olsen was not an astronaut or a cosmonaut (a Russian astronaut), yet he still managed to reach the stars with the help of a deal brokered by Spaceflight Adventures, of Arlington, Va., and Russian space authorities.

The United States does not permit private citizens to fly into space at this time.

Olsen was the third person to become a so-called “space tourist” or spaceflight participant.

In his talk to the youngsters, Olsen said he believes that over the next 10 years we will begin to see space travelers — at least a few a year.

Olsen trained for one week at NASA’s facilities at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and for five months at Star City in Moscow. He underwent 900 hours of training, which included learning enough Russian to be able to communicate with his fellow crew members. The training also included classroom work and exams.

In once again bringing himself to their level, Olsen told the youngsters he had the same “Friday exam anxiety” they may experience on the day of a big test.

“It was just like being back in school again,” he said. “I knew they were going to ask me questions and I knew I had better have the answers.”

His space crew included U.S. astronaut William McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev.

Olsen explained that astronauts and cosmonauts stay for six months at a time on the International Space Station before they are picked up and brought home. Olsen was part of a mission that brought a space station crew back to Earth.

He told the pupils it took two days to reach the space station in a rocket that was traveling at 17,500 mph. Olsen said it was crowded in the spacecraft, but through his training he learned to become accustomed to the cramped quarters by sitting in a dark room for four hours at a time with the other men.

While Olsen enjoyed the sights and the journey, there was work to be done aboard the spacecraft and at the space station and the “space tourist” helped with those tasks. His background as a scientist allowed him to perform certain experiments at the space station, which orbits 200 miles above the Earth.

After eight days the crew returned home and landed in Kazakhstan.

Olsen showed slides on a large screen and a video of the launch to give the students a brief moment when they could feel and see the actual event. He said the liftoff was exciting as the rocket increased its speed and he described the feeling of being held in his seat by a force that felt like three-and-a-half people were sitting on top of him.

“Then you reach orbit and it’s like a roller coaster and you become weightless and you’re floating,” he said.

Looking down on the Earth from the space station was amazing, Olsen said.

His video presentation included images of the men drinking water. The image of Olsen trying to “catch” a bubble of encapsulated liquid was a hit with the children as were the images of him floating through the space station doing somersaults.

The youngsters also enjoyed his story of how the men threw peanuts back and forth at each other and tried to catch them in their mouths just for fun.

Vacuum hoses were used to go to the bathroom and wet wipes took the place of a shower.

“Life goes on in space the same way it does at home,” Olsen said.

The spaceflight participant has the memory of a dream come true, but he also has something more. He told the children that the friendships he made with people from all over the world in the process of his journey are friendships he will keep forever. He called the experience of being with these newfound friends “unifying.”

“People interested in space form a brotherhood. There is no difference among us. Space is the thing. I’ve made friends for life,” he said.