Heading to User Room A? Let's talk on the way...

My name is Brandt Secosh. I am in the fortunate position of working with the Space Team Online project [another of NASA Quest team's Sharing NASA projects] (http://quest.nasa.arc.gov/shuttle/index.html - URL no longer exists) with NASA Ames Research Center assigned to Kennedy Space Center. My job is to gather information and take pictures of current events that happen around the Space center and to share the "human" side of the story through the Online Quest project.

I was recently asked to make contact with Stefan Rosner, a Payload Systems Engineer (http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/rosner.html) who was working with the Neurolab project here at KSC so I could get some photographs and perhaps an interview during his visit. Even though this assignment came on short notice I was very pleased to go for the challenge.

I attempted to contact Stefan on three different occasions. Each time I called, the response was that Stefan was not available because he was working on the Neurolab project. My initial thought was "that is good because that is what I wanted to see him about." I couldn't understand why it was so difficult to meet with Stefan.

I finally connected with Stefan, and we made our plans to meet. When I walked in to meet him, he was participating in a discussion group, as were many other groups. To my right was a glassed-in control room with monitoring equipment. I asked for Stefan Rosner, and he was pointed out to me. We met briefly, and I quickly realized that there would be no time for pictures or even an interview because the time that these technical experts spend at Kennedy Space Center was dedicated to one thing, the Neurolab project.

I didn't want to interfere with the project, but I sure didn't want to lose the opportunity for getting some pictures of the event either. Stefan and I agreed that I would leave my camera with him to take pictures throughout the course of the day. I invited him to dinner that night because I knew that he would not have time for an interview otherwise. I thought a hot meal would do him good and we could discuss the project in a relaxed atmosphere.

As I left the room, Stefan went immediately back to his discussion group, and I went back to my job. I arrived at my home that night believing that we would meet for dinner, but Stefan was not able to make it

The next day I took care of some early morning tasks and stopped by to pick up my camera and see how Stefan was doing. As it turned out, the team did not leave the experiment until 11:30 the night before and was up at 5:00 a.m. to return to the project that morning.

Even though I was not very informed on the Neurolab project at the time, I was left with an impression of how dedicated these people are and how much of a contribution they make to the world of science and exploration. Even more impressive to me was the fact that Stefan found the time to meet with me and, through that brief meeting, we were able to formulate a plan to get some good photographs and make plans for the next time he comes to Kennedy Space Center. I have since taken the time to visit the NeurOn page at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/ and encourage people I come into contact with to "check out this great site."

[Editor's note: Watch for Stefan's photo journal resulting from this visit to Kennedy.]