Space pioneers visit Prep School cadet candidates April 18

Ray Bowden/April 24, 2017

Astronauts Susan Helms and Gary Payton gave Prep School students here a look into space April 18.

Viewing the Earth from space is “humbling,” they said during their hour-long chat with cadet-candidates at the Community Center Theater.

“I was surprised to see the Earth was white and blue, not green and blue like in the movies,” said Helms, a retired lieutenant general. “It’s absolutely stunning.”

Payton, a retired colonel, said movies and photos of the Earth from space will never do the sight justice.

“The Earth is gorgeous, a deep dark blue,” he said. From space, you can see the effects of weather all across the globe.”

Helms graduated from the Academy in 1980 with a bachelor’s of science in aeronautical engineering and became an astronaut in 1990. She’s the first woman in the U.S. military to travel in space, on Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1993.

“The 90s’ were the golden age for space travel,” she said. “The Space shuttle became a space transportation system, taking people to the International Space Station.”

Helms completed five space flights and has spent 211 days in space.

Payton graduated from the Academy in 1971 with a bachelor’s of science in astronautical engineering. He became an astronaut in 1980.

“There’s so much we don’t know about the universe and our solar system,” he said. “When you look out that window and see all those dots that are galaxies containing millions of solar systems, you realize how much you don’t know.”

Payton tested classified spacecraft from 1976 to 1980 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. He flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985, the first publicized Defense Department shuttle mission. He’s traveled more than 1.2 million miles in 48 Earth orbits and logged more than 73 hours in space.

Helms said her adventurous spirit and her father’s military service as a pilot inspired her to apply for astronaut duty. Payton said his interest in space began during his time as an Academy cadet.

“I’ve always tried to choose the most difficult path in front of me and it’s been very rewarding,” he said.

Effects of Space

Helms and Payton said astronauts experience a variety of physiological and psychological effects in space, including the loss of muscle and bone mass, the ability to smell and for a short while at least, a knack for socializing.

“When you’re in space, gravity is no longer pulling on you so your body fluids start to settle,” Helms said. “You can’t get a runny nose in space.”

The lack of gravity leads astronauts to experience congestion, which makes the tasteless NASA meals even less palatable, Payton said.

“I like the shrimp cocktails because they’re so spicy they were the only meals I could actually taste,” he said.

There’s another adjustment to grapple with after astronaut return to Earth, Helms said.

“It took me 30 days to get used to people again,” she said.

Helms, Payton and other U.S. astronauts receive annual physicals at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The information from these physicals is compiled into an ongoing study tracking the astronauts’ health as they age.

Helms has the world record for the longest spacewalk at eight hours, 56 minutes. Her last Air Force assignment before retiring was commander of 14th Air Force at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Payton is an astronautics professor at the Academy. His last assignment before retiring from a military and civil career was deputy under-secretary of the Air Force for Space Programs in Washington, D.C.

Visit www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies for more information on Helms and Payton.

Learn about all the Academy graduates who went on to eventually become astronauts.