Corbally man’s project on board shuttle

CORBALLY native Gerard Newsham became part of space exploration history when a science project he worked on at Limerick Institute of Technology was carried on the final shuttle mission from NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida last week.
Staff and students at LIT were glued to live television feeds from the Kennedy Space Centre last Friday as Gerard’s research was taken on board for the historic STS-135 Atlantis mission to the International Space Station.
Fellow LIT post-graduate students of Mr Newsham, whose life science experiment to test hypergravity interactions between bacteria and plants was carried on board the historic flight, gathered with the institute’s head of the Department of Applied Science, Michelle McKeon-Bennett to witness the historic moment.
Meanwhile, over 3,000km away, Mr Newsham was celebrating the lift-off for his project on board the very last flight for the 30-year space shuttle programme.
Speaking minutes after the launch, he said, “It’s an incredible moment for me, for my post-graduate colleagues at LIT, for everyone concerned. It was extremely nerve-wrecking all day because the weather conditions put the lift-off at risk. Right up to the last second we were still concerned it mightn’t happen.
“I was in the Kennedy Space Centre for it, as close as you can get to the shuttle launch pad, at the three mile limit. It’s an incredible experience. You see it happening and a few seconds later you hear it.
“Then around 30 seconds later you feel the vibrations rushing across the ground, up into your chest. It’s one of the greatest adrenalin rushes I have experienced and something I will never forget.”
For one of his supervisors, Ms McKeon-Bennett, who was destined to become Ireland’s first astronaut until illness got in the way during training in 2009, the flight was a bitter-sweet moment.
“We are so proud that Gerard’s research project is on board this hugely historic flight. We were all on edge watching it here and can only imagine what it was like for Gerard. To be associated with such a significant moment in space exploration is a great honour for him and for LIT, which is the only third-level education body in Ireland that has a link with the Space Life Science Laboratory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre through our internship and research programme.
“For lovers of space exploration as well, this is a sad moment in ways. Most of us grew up watching and being in awe of the space shuttle and it’s hard to believe that it will not fly any more. The space shuttle has given us some of the most significant moments in space operations, tragedies included unfortunately, but it’s really hard to believe it is over,” she commented.
Mr Newsham began his studies at LIT’s Department of Applied Science with a higher certificate in applied biology in 2004 and taking LIT’s ‘ladder system’ approach through the biology stream within the Applied Science Department. He graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Bioanalysis and Biotechnology.
After graduation, he was selected for an internship in the nationally sponsored Discover Science Challenge Programme.
The internship placed him in the Space Life Science Lab at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida from October 2008 until April 2009.
For six months during his internship, Gerard worked alongside the ground research staff in the Space Life Science Lab, primarily in the environmental growth chambers.
He was subsequently offered another internship with the Space Life Science Laboratory, Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) contract company Dynamac to continue working with the space scientists on space life science experiments destined for space flight, after which he was made a permanent employee in November 2009.
He is still working at Kennedy Space Centre as a member of their space flight research group and carrying out his postgraduate research through LIT, under the supervision of Ms McKeon-Bennett, LIT head of development, Dr Fergal Barry and Kennedy Space Centre Space life scientist Professor Gary Stutte. He will complete his masters in the near future.
The Atlantis launch marks the end of an era for the Space Shuttle Programme and will close out the 30-year shuttle programme as NASA and the space industry go in other directions.
Atlantis is scheduled to return for touchdown on July 20, the 42nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that landed humans on the moon for the first time.