Scouting, Volume 70, Number 4, September 1982 Page: E21
82, E1-E24, [16] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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HAIL COLUMBIA!
The Explorers of Operation POSTAR witness the launch of a new age in space exploration.
BY BILL SLOAN
Photographs by Ric Ferro
AS A PALE yellow sun arose above
the Florida mist, the overloaded old
Army bus churned slowly north on
1-95 toward the Kennedy Space
Center and an historic date with the
space shuttle Columbia. It was 6:30
A.M. on June 27, 1982—"T-minus 4l/2
hours and counting," in NASA
terminology—and yawns were inter-
spersed with laughter and excited
chatter as the bus bore north.
For the four dozen Explorers and
Advisors aboard, the next few hours
would represent a momentous and
climactic occasion. This eventful day
was to be a reward for countless
hours of planning, scientific research,
technical study, and just plain hard
work in Exploring's nationwide
POSTAR program.
These Explorers, representing 10
posts in seven states from coast to
coast, were POSTAR's 15 finalists,
selected in competition with scores of
the best young scientific minds in the
country. The ultimate reward for
many of them will be a spot for their
experiments on a future space shuttle
flight early in 1984. Because of limited
space, they knew that a few of them
may not have their experiments in-
cluded. But today, all that was tem-
porarily forgotten as the countdown
continued and the thrill of this mo-
ment intensified.
By 7:30, the old brown bus was part
of a steady stream of traffic clogging
every highway and byway around the
huge space center. Even three and a
half hours before the scheduled 11
A.M. launch, cars, vans, and pickups
were already parked bumper to
bumper along busy U.S. 1 and other
main arteries, and boatloads of cu-
rious fishermen were jockeying for
vantage points along Indian River,
which separates Cape Canaveral from
the mainland.
The launch was to be the high point
of a three-day conference of PO-
STAR finalists, who had come to
Florida as guests of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion (NASA) and TRW, Inc.
"Am I excited? That's an under-
statement!" exclaimed Susan Kessler,
a 20-year-old student at Smith Col-
lege, whose Post 1275 of Greenbelt,
Md., originated the POSTAR idea
and serves as overall coordinator of
the project.
"I've gone out of my way to see
every one of the Columbia launches
on TV," Susan added. "In fact, I
watched the last one on a battery-
powered TV set while I was driving
down 1-95, but nothing compares to
being here to see it all in person."
At their assigned viewing site, the
Explorers had to endure a long wait in
the hot morning sun and high
humidity. But they kept themselves
occupied by setting up their cameras
and focusing them on the launch pad
just under four miles away, where
Columbia IV mission commander
E21
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 70, Number 4, September 1982, periodical, September 1982; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353590/m1/71/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.