Chat with Angel Plaza, Payload Project Engineering Manager
April 22, 1998 - 11:00 a.m.

[ Linda/NASAQuest - 2 - 10:23:30 ]
This is a bilingual chat. Messages may be posted in English and/or Spanish.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 5 - 10:34:34 ]
RE: [Cristian/DodgeCitycommunitycollege] He llegado, pido información sobre los experimentos de hoy.
Los experimentos de hoy son basados en estudios del sistema nervioso y cómo la zero gravedad afecta el sueño. También han estado trabajando con ratones, grillos y peces y cómo estos animales son afectados por la falta de gravedad

[ Linda/NASAQuest - 8 - 10:51:31 ]
Hello all, As you can see Angel is here and ready to answer your questions. Preguntas en español serán contestadas en español.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 11 - 11:17:51 ]
RE: [Parker/HomesteadHigh-] Hi Angel, What sort of experiments held during the sts 90 mission do you design equipment for.
I was involved in the design of the Autonomic experiment hardware, in particular the Transcranial Doppler and the Hand Grip Dynamometer. Also was involved in the overall system design of the Lower Body Negative Pressure Device.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 15 - 11:25:15 ]
RE: [Armin-Armin/grammarschool] I live in Germany and I was almost luck as I found this homepage. But I am quite interested in this topic and look forward 'listening' the conversations. What I want to know from you: Would you like to fly with the space shuttle if you have the chance to do so?
Of course that will be a great experience and a great adventure. Space is the final frontier and you can see the beauty of this Earth from so far away. Did you know that the German Space Agency is involved in this mission? They designed and built equipment that is used in the Autonomic experiments on this mission.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 16 - 11:27:37 ]
RE: [Armin/grammarschool] Which other projects are you going to do in the future?
I will be working on STS-95, is the mission that John Glenn will be flying in October of this year. I will not be designing hardware, but I will be the systems manager for one of the experiments.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 18 - 11:32:53 ]
RE: [Parker/HomesteadHigh-] I also would like to find out what kind of extra stresses the equipment that gets used is space goes under. I read an article that showed a ratchet and electric drill that was extremely trim and built of exotic metals to hold up to stress beyond what would put on the tool during normal use. I this true for the equipment you design?
Some of the equipment that we design requires special handling and some require very strong materials, but most of the equipment used in human investigations are stowed in foam inside lockers to guard them from the forces encountered during the ascent phase of the shuttle. We do test all our equipment to verified that they can withstand strong shaking.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 20 - 11:36:43 ]
RE: [Parker/HomesteadHigh-] I saw a centerfuge on NASA TV that had an astronaught spinning around. There were various shots of his eyeballs and how they moved around. Do you know any thing about this experiment? If not I will refer to the neuron page
Yes this centrifuge is called the Body Rotating Device and is part of the Vestibular experiments on STS-90. This experiments measure eye movements and perceptions of astronauts during and after eccentric rotation while looking at different things in a small screen that is placed in front of their eyes.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 21 - 11:41:02 ]
RE: [Armin/grammarschool] Since you work so much like designing hardware and testing it it would be much easier for you to live next to the KSC in Florida (you wrote this in your bio). Do you have plans to move there or do you want to stay at the Johnson Space Center?
I will love to live in Florida, but the type of work that I do is based on Human Research with the astronauts and since the astronauts are in Houston, I have to stay here. We do the testing at KSC to verify that the equipment is working properly after it is installed inside the shuttle.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 23 - 11:45:24 ]
RE: [Parker/HomesteadHigh-] what is a transcranial doppler and a hand grip dynomometer.
A Transcranial Doppler is a device used to detect blood flow into the brain (Cranium)and to see how much blood is flowing into the brain. The Hand Grip dynamometer is a device used to detect strength of your hand or grip.

[ Parker/HomesteadHigh- - 24 - 11:47:07 ]
Thank you for your well answers!

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 26 - 11:48:11 ]
RE: [Linda/NASAQuest] Angel, You mentioned to me that you have been "sitting console" the last few days. Do you follow all the experiments or is your role to check only on those you were directly involved in?
I just check all the experiments that I was directly involved with, which are the Human Life Sciences experiments; verify that hardware that my organization provided as facilities(like the refrigerator/freezer used my ARC) are operating nominally.

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 27 - 11:53:11 ]
RE: [Armin/grammarschool] Do you have a wife and children?
Yes, I do my wife's name is Sylvia and my son's name is Eric. I also have two step-sons, Frankie and Lalo and a step-grandson,(Emanuel) he is will be one year old on May 31st.

[ Linda/NASAQuest - 28 - 11:56:09 ]
We're nearing the end of the hour, and despite full registration for this session, we've not seen many of you online. I'm not sure whether time changes or local circumstances have made the attendance sparse. If you check in following this chat, please send me an email at lindac@quest.arc.nasa.gov and let me know what happened so we can plan better in the future. Perhaps Angel would be willing to join us again. Obviously by the registration we had many enthusiastic folks!

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 35 - 12:05:27 ]
RE: [Armin/grammarschool] Do you know if there is any chance to find a antidote against cancer in space in the future?
A lot of wonderful things have been discovered in space. With increasing research and human ingenuity there is always a possibility! We should never loose our hopes for a cure!!!!

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 31 - 12:00:40 ]
RE: [Linda/NASAQuest] We're nearing the end of the hour, and despite full registration for this session, we've not seen many of you online. I'm not sure whether time changes or local circumstances have made the attendance sparse. If you check in following this chat, please send me an email at lindac@quest.arc.nasa.gov and let me know what happened so we can plan better in the future. Perhaps Angel would be willing to join us again. Obviously by the registration we had many enthusiastic folks!
I will be glad to do it again! I will let you know, How far in advance do you need to know?

[ Linda/NASAQuest - 32 - 12:01:16 ]
Bueno, mi reloj dice que hemos llegado al fin de esta charla. Agradezco mucho a Angel por haber estado aquí con nosotros hoy. Gracias!

[ Linda/NASAQuest - 33 - 12:01:57 ]
Or in other words: My watch says we're reached the end of this chat. I want to thank Angel for joining us today. Thank you!

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 34 - 12:02:30 ]
RE: [Armin/grammarschool] Thank you for answering all my questions!! Bye then and (maybe) 'see' you later.
Thanks you for contacting us, is always a pleasure to hear from someone outside the U.S. I have a sister, nephew and brother-in-law that live in Muenster. Good Luck!

[ AngelPlaza/JSC - 36 - 12:06:41 ]
RE: [Linda/NASAQuest] Or in other words: My watch says we're reached the end of this chat. I want to thank Angel for joining us today. Thank you!
You are very welcome!! My pleasure!