Astro anniversary celebration at Space & Rocket Center out of this world

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center played host to a highly anticipated event this weekend celebrating Spacelab.

The two-day event, known as Astro Days, gave visitors access to the newly restored Astro Spacelab exhibit and the opportunity to meet the Astro restoration project team.

The celebration commemorated the 35th anniversary of Astro-1’s launch on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1990 and the 30th anniversary of Astro-2’s launch on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1995.

“We wanted to be able to have people see stuff that flew,” said Mike Haddad, a former mechanical engineer for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. “There are only a few places where you can see the actual flight hardware. You got mockups, simulations, and all that. We had the real thing. This is the real hardware. The idea of having this was to let people see and understand the history of the mission and how it was a prelude to the Hubble telescope and the Webb telescope.”

Haddad also said this is a unique opportunity to see technology unlike anything else available to the public.

“As you know, it’s a Huntsville story; a lot of that stuff was built here,” he said. “So that is the idea to be able to have visitors see things like this that floated in space, and be able to ask questions, and realize that this is really neat and there is only one of these on the planet. You get a chance to see it and walk up on it.

“A lot of people come up to us thinking it’s a mockup. No, this is the real thing. This has got millions of miles on it. This flew in space.”

According to Haddad, the Space & Rocket Center has been an exceptional partner for the Astro Days and called the museum’s support “next level.”

“We are just tickled they gave us a spot to start with. What the museum has done, to make display cases, to mount these things, and put them behind the glass,” he said. “It’s been way beyond what we thought would happen. We thought we would just have a little spot in our corner, talk to some people, do our thing, and that would be it.

“Now it’s grown into what you see today, which we think is just awesome.”

Lynn Farris, a former Marshall Space Flight Center payload facility and research integration manager, said a reunion with her former teammates was exciting.

“My favorite part for me is when I meet up with my former colleagues and we get to catch up,” Farris said. “What happened post-Astro? We can share our Astro stories.”

When asked about her favorite Astro Days moments, she also spoke about a longtime co-worker and friend.

“One that’s precious to me is one of our payload specialists was Sam Durrance,” Farris said. “Two years ago, his wife brought him here to see the work we had done, and I got to spend the day with Sam. It was just precious time to spend together. He passed away about 6 or 8 months after that.

“I spent a lot of time with him in crew training and then executing the flight.”

According to Farris, the gathering is about more than tech displays.

“This morning, when I was working in the Spark lab, this young man came and sat down,” Farris said. “He was in fifth grade. He said I want to be an aeronautical engineer. I want to work for NASA. It’s amazing.

“It’s all about the people at the end of the day and the relationships.”