Astronaut Rick Hauck (A '62, H '07) is a former NASA space shuttle commander whose many accomplishments include leading the first crew into space after the Challenger space shuttle tragedy in 1986. He returned to Tufts on Friday to deliver a talk for Parents Weekend and to present senior Lauren Wielgus with the Astronaut Scholarship, an award given by the nonprofit Astronaut Scholarship Foundation to exceptional science and engineering undergraduates.
Hauck, a retired Navy captain, sat down with the Daily on Friday afternoon to discuss some of his accomplishments and endeavors throughout his career.
Martha Shanahan: There's a lot of focus from NASA, and obviously from organizations like the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, to encourage student involvement in science and technology education. What do you see as the most effective way to reach students who are interested in the sciences?
Rick Hauck: I think you need to bring the science and engineering down to earth so that the youngsters can understand and … appreciate the human interaction with the world around them, and to give young people an understanding of why things behave the way they do.
MS: Do you still see the U.S. as a leader in space research?
RH: Absolutely. The world has changed and there are more players on the playing field, but the U.S. remains a premier environment for advanced science and technology. Many countries send their best students to study in the United States.
MS: What do you think is going to be the future of the space program now that the government is considering scaling it down?
RH: At some point it's a given — there's no argument — that we need to develop a new rocket for carrying people and cargo into space. Much of the discussion has to [do] with whether it should be done by NASA or a government agency … or whether it should be done by a commercial entity, and that's the main thing. I think it is certainly true that NASA should be more involved in research and development than it is with running a transportation system, so that's an argument in favor of encouraging commercial providing of space transportation, especially when we're talking about going into lower orbit.
MS: You touched, in your talk, on the race between different nations to be the first to get to space. Does space travel still have the same political significance as it did during your career?
RH: That is not as strong as it was then. The perception then was that the country that was pre-eminent in rockets was potentially, from a war-making standpoint, the dominant country. I think the specter of the war issue has receded quite a bit, although it has not faded. It's still seen as a marker of national capabilities.
MS: Do you see yourself as a role model for future astronauts and scientists?
RH: I don't see myself as a role model. I think I've probably been representative of the opportunities that can be translated into success if people are given those opportunities.
MS: You mentioned that not all of your colleagues on the space shuttle had been trained in engineering or physics. What kind of qualities make a person a good partner to have on a space mission?
RH: Personal, intellectual strengths and discipline, a person who knows how to work in a group, in a collegial environment, and who is adventurous and willing to put forth the effort and initiative to take on difficult challenges.
MS: Your talk touched on how [President Barack] Obama's proposed space budget doesn't specify a new destination for our astronauts. What do you see as the new frontiers for space research?
RH: The Obama policy does mention various possibilities. It's not fixed yet, but those possibilities include going back to the moon, going to Mars, going to an asteroid. I think the jury's out on which of those will be the chosen direction.
MS: What was something that all the training you went through couldn't have prepared you for on your first trip into space?
RH: The joy of weightlessness. You can emulate weightlessness 20 seconds at a time on an airplane that flies up and down parabolas, but 20 seconds of weightlessness is followed by two times the force of gravity. You can't compare it to the real thing.
MS: [Referring to your 1988 command of Discovery, the first space shuttle launched after the Challenger incident,] how did you decide it was something you were willing to do, given the risks?
RH: I had known that the focus of everyone that works on the space program was on making it as best they could so nothing would go wrong, so I really did believe it when I told my family that this would be potentially the safest mission that NASA had launched.
MS: How does seeing the Earth from outer space affect your perspectives on things back on Earth?
RH: Being able to look down on the Earth and not seeing political boundaries, just seeing the beauty of the Earth and realizing that human beings on Earth are first and foremost brothers and sisters who are trying to survive. I just came back from that experience and felt that I wish I could share it with everyone; it made me appreciate the uniqueness of humans.
MS: What kind of things did you eat in space, and what was your favorite?
RH: Well, in the early days before me, there were pureed foods that you squeeze out of a tube. We had pretty everyday foods — we could have hamburgers that we could reheat and reconstitute scrambled eggs. We carried packages of cookies and M&Ms, which are fun. Even though your parents say don't play with your food, it's fun to just float M&Ms over to your buddies.
