James Newman '78, who flew his first mission as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut on the space shuttle Discovery last September, gave a film and slide presentation of his space experience to an audience of about 50 in Rockefeller Center yesterday.
Newman opened his talk, titled "Dartmouth in Orbit: An Alumnus' Report from the Space Shuttle Discovery," with a presentation to College President James Freedman of a green silk "'D" flag which he carried into space and a plaque commemorating the mission.
Newman flew on the 10-day mission as part of a five-member crew which deployed an advanced communication technology satellite and an ultraviolet telescope.
Along with another crew member, Newman completed a seven-hour spacewalk in preparation for the recent Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.
"We had a relatively inexperienced crew compared to recent shuttle missions, but they gave us a full plate," Newman, one of three rookie crew members on his mission, said.
Newman is an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. He joined NASA's Johnson Space Center in 1985 and started training as an astronaut in 1990.
The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 12, after three unsuccessful launch attempts. The original launch date was July 17.
Newman described the launch as "an amazing elevator ride," which lasts eight and a half minutes from the launching pad to outer space.
"I was the token civilian scientist," Newman said of his role in the mission. The four other crew members were members of the Navy or Air Force.
The shuttle traveled at five miles per second, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes, Newman said.
Newman and the other Discovery crew members saw 16 sunsets and sunrises every 24 hours during their time in space.
During the mission, the crew also took part in some experiments, such as tracking how digestion occurs in space, Newman said.
"We're human guinea pigs. NASA sort of owns us," Newman said jokingly.
