Local programs not changed by tragedy UWGB-based Wisconsin Space Grant probably will not lose funding, and town of Lawrence-based Space Explorers should go on as before By Christopher Clough News-Chronicle The director of the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium, which is based at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said Saturday morning's tragic loss of the Columbia space shuttle shouldn't have a direct impact on the program. But there could be some indirect impacts, Dr. Aileen Yingst said on Monday. The NASA-funded program creates a network of schools and agencies to provide improved aerospace research and education within the state, as it does in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. "It's too early to say," Yingst said about the disaster's effect on the consortium. "Our mission will continue, no doubt about that. There's no way to know yet on the (continuation of) funding, but the organization (NASA) is looking to the future. That's why they have this specific program." She said, however, that the loss will affect the numerous zero-gravity experiments scheduled for shuttle flights that have been indefinitely postponed in the wake of the shuttle explosion. Experiments have traditionally been conducted aboard space shuttle missions, many set up by consortium members. "What (the explosion) will impact is any scientific experiments in the queue," Yingst said. "Space Grant has many affiliates in the state, they've scheduled experiments for future missions. Those are all on hold now. However long it takes (to resume shuttle missions), that's how long (the experiments) have to wait." At the town of Lawrence headquarters of Space Explorers, education specialist Kevin Mentzel said no major changes are expected in its lessons because Columbia is not a major part of their work at this time. Space Explorers is a private organization helping children in grades K-12 around the world learn about science and space exploration. "Our curriculum is based on past missions," he said, "programs that are continuing on. In the future, I think this will be a pretty big historical point, as are Challenger and Apollo I (the two previous NASA missions that ended in the deaths of astronauts). But right now we're not developing any lessons dealing with (Columbia)." Mentzel said Space Explorers has had experiments aboard previous shuttle missions, but had none on Columbia and has none scheduled at this time. He said the biggest item for the program now is dealing with questions coming from its users across the globe. "We will offer the best support we can with our teachers," Mentzel said, "and try and answer the questions that teachers and students have." Mentzel said the tragedy has been difficult on the staff at Space Explorers. A statement on the Columbia mission will be posted on the program's Web site today. "Everyone here is dealing with it in our own ways," he said. "Some of the people here have had a lot of close contacts with people involved in the mission, including the astronauts, and it's been tough on them. Everyone just took a few days to regroup." Yingst said with the rush of people asking her for information after the explosion, Monday was the first day she had to address her own feelings. She said she was "warmed" by the calls and e-mails to her office saying the tragedy is a call to redouble the country's efforts in space exploration. "It's been very, very hard," she said. "It's not just the loss of life, and we lost some of the best and brightest. "But we lost our very first reasonable launch vehicle. The Columbia is up there with the Wright brothers plane that first flew at Kitty Hawk, and Apollo 11 (the first manned mission to the moon). That's how important Columbia is to our history. When I was a kid, I saw it make its first launch."