Dr. Jay Buckey, an associate professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, was named yesterday by NASA as one of the two primary "payload specialists" for the 1998 Space Shuttle Neurolab mission, scheduled for launch on the Space Shuttle Columbia in early 1998.
Buckey, who will be going into space for the first time, was informed of his selection by NASA last Friday.
With past NASA astronaut experience including being an alternate for an earlier shuttle flight and working as a member of the ground control crew, Buckey has been close to shuttle launches before, but never as a part of the mission crew.
Buckey, reached by phone in Houston yesterday afternoon, said, "I'm extremely excited. It's a rare opportunity, and I'm very fortunate."
"It's a great opportunity personally and a great scientific mission," he added.
Buckey has been at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for the past ten months training for an unrelated mission.
Along with the other payload specialist -- Dr. James Pawelczyk, an assistant professor of applied physiology at Penn State University -- Buckey will help other astronauts to perform 26 experiments dealing with neurological processes.
He said he will conduct research on topics ranging from development to neurology while in space.
"We will be studying how the nervous system adapts to zero gravity and readapts once you return to Earth" and also how the nervous system develops in the absence of gravity, Buckey said.
The experiments will deal with posture, movement control and neural plasticity, among other topics, he said.
Buckey said organizing the mission has been a major project. "You have to make sure you think of everything, in case something goes wrong."
He said being an astronaut is something he has always wanted to do, although he did not pursue it until after he was done with his medical internships and residency.
Dr. Harold Sox, the chair of medicine at DMS, said Buckey "was a medical resident here and proved to be a wonderful doctor, teacher and leader."
"We're very proud of Jay," he said. "We're thrilled to death."
Sox said Buckey was a resident at DMS and is currently an associate professor on the "research track" there. He said this position has allowed Buckey to focus on his research in neurology.
"His main job was research," he said. "A number of the projects he will be doing in space require technical skills," he said.
After he returns from space, Buckey will "be in high demand as a speaker," Sox said. "He'll be able to spread the good word about space travel and about Dartmouth."
"We're very glad he'll be going up there with Dartmouth green somewhere on his luggage," Sox said.
