Space Cadets

This article discusses how experiments on microgravity plan to test the equations for flame behavior prediction. Houston is home to the Johnson Space Center, NASA’s headquarters for manned space flight programs. Ellington, a military base, serves as the space center’s home airport. NASA keeps a plane there called the Guppy, a freighter designed to ferry massive structures like those that will eventually wind up enlarging the International Space Station. The Guppy has a profile like Flipper swollen several stories high. The first time the team from Birmingham submitted its proposal, the idea was turned down, largely because of safety questions. The proposal went into rewrite and came back with a number of specific answers to questions of safety. The components for the experiment and the team’s trip to Houston were paid for largely by the Southern Co., a southeastern energy company where Hayes worked as a research intern when he was a student. He had talked to his boss, Steve Wilson, about money to support the microgravity experiment.