Space Team Online Web Chat

Date: November 12, 1997

Featuring: Tony Ceccacci
Shuttle Flight Controller
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 10 - 09:37:58 ]
Hello everyone! Welcome to today's Shuttle Team Online Web chat with Tony Ceccacci from NASA Johnson Space Center!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 11 - 09:38:27 ]
Tony is currently the shuttle propulsion systems group lead for the Guidance and Propulsion Systems Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Officially, he and the members of his group are called "Shuttle Flight Controllers." They are in charge of monitoring the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) and Reaction Control System (RCS) space shuttles. The OMS includes the big engines (not the main engines) that bring shuttles home from space. The RCS jets are used to control shuttles while they orbit the earth.

[ TonyCeccacci/JSC - 12 - 09:38:44 ]
RE: [Eaststudents-Aaron/EastMiddleSchool] About how many people work at NASA?
Well I can only speak for Johnson Space Center. There are about 3000 people working at JSC (both Civil Servants and Contractors).

[ TonyCeccacci/JSC - 15 - 09:43:00 ]
RE: [Eaststudents-Aaron/EastMiddleSchool] What animals have you sent into space?
The lucky animals that got to ride on the shuttle include: monkeys, rats, bees, crickets, ants, goldfish, frogs, and newts.

[ TonyCeccacci/JSC - 22 - 09:59:54 ]
RE: [Eaststudents-Aaron/EastMiddleSchool] What did you learn from these animals?
The animals were flown for a couple reasons: 1) to see how they react in space -- if frogs know which way to jump; if bees know if they are upside down [and if so] do they still fly okay; if ants build their ant farms the same; if bees still make honey, [and] if fish swim upside down -- this allows us to see how humans would act; 2) to see how their bones and skeletons react to zero G. All this helps the scientists figure out what we may need when we go visit Mars.

[ TonyCeccacci/JSC - 25 - 10:13:11 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] Tony, perhaps you can share with us some of your more memorable moments working at NASA.
There's a bunch but the ones I remember the most are: STS-1: After all the years NASA put in to get it going, the STS-1 Launch and Landing were beautiful. STS-7: Although we had flown several missions we had never seen pictures of the shuttle from space. During STS-7 they had a experiment that took pictures of the shuttle. It was a beautiful sight floating above the earth.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 26 - 10:16:18 ]
We are ending our chat early today because we did not have all our participants registered for this chat online. We hope to have Tony Ceccacci online with us again for another chat. Thanks to EastMiddle School for their questions, and a special thanks to Tony Ceccacci for joining us today.