With two shuttle missions and a great variety of Mission Control and astronaut training between the two of them, Kenneth and Michelle Ham captivated audiences with their experiences with space, both on earth and above it. They gave a presentation at the Rittenhouse Senior Living of Portage on August 9th.
Michelle Ham, who grew up in Hobart, talked about her lifelong desire to join the NASA team and work alongside astronauts and other scientists.
“I remember the first space shuttle launch of Columbia back in 1981, and I said ‘I’m going to do that.’ And I went to school, and many of my teachers looked at me like I was crazy. Back then, I don’t think many people from this area said, ‘I’m going to go work in the space industry,” said Michelle Ham in her speech.
Two trips to space camp in Alabama, accompanied with a scholastic focus in math and sciences helped her get to Purdue University, where she studied Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering before continuing to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. After college, she began work with Mission Control.
“A little girl from Hobart, Indiana, whose idea of vacation was to go to Six Flags for an overnight, suddenly I’m on an airplane to go to Moscow. That was pretty cool, standing in the middle of Star City, thinking, ‘Wow, I guess I’ve kind of made it.’”
Kenneth Ham told about his experiences in space. He worked on missions to the International Space Station on both Atlantis and Discovery shuttles. Liftoff is intense for astronauts; Ham explained that about a minute into launch, the shuttle would be going so fast that he would have no clue of just how fast he was traveling.
A young volunteer from the audience came to the front and was asked to sit in a chair. Then, Ham gently tilted the volunteer back onto the floor, so he was staring at the ceiling. Ham explained that the astronauts were seated in that position for four to five hours while they waited for the launch.
“You don’t have to go to the bathroom, do you?” joked Ham.
During one mission, Ham remembers watching a shooting star pass underneath him while he sat in the pilot’s seat.
“That was a very visual and clear indication that I was not [in the atmosphere any more],” said Ham.
The team of astronauts that traveled into space together worked with each other for a year to bond and figure out how best to run their mission.
During this time, they set themselves apart by creating a uniform for themselves; a blue velvet jacket that made them stand out as a team.
“Everywhere we went at the space center, everyone said, ‘oh there goes the 132 crew,’” said Ham.
During their presentation, Kenneth and Michelle Ham said that they try to talk mainly to young people between the ages of 10 and 25 to try to get them interested in the space program. They believe in science and math educations are important for children and for the space program. NASA is working on funding bigger missions that will take the younger generations farther out in the solar system, and by presenting to children, the Hams hope they can convince more people to join NASA and work on space-related projects.