Girl talk: Astronaut's audience starry-eyed

Moments after finishing her speech Saturday at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the city's resident astronaut, Dr. Jan Davis, found herself surrounded by young autograph seekers.

The elementary- and middle-schoolers wanted answers:

What does it feel like when you're coming down from space?

Is it like an airplane, or is it faster?

What's it like to be on the moon?

Davis, 53, paused from her signing after that last question and looked the little girl in the eyes.

"I haven't been to the moon," she said. "Maybe you can tell me what it's like someday."

Scenes like that are sure to make the organizers of Saturday's Sally Ride Science Festival happy. Named for the first American woman in space, the roving event aims to inspire young girls to pursue careers in science, math and engineering.

This was the festival's first time in the Rocket City, and it was an impressive debut. About 700 girls and their parents spent the day in workshops meant to be both fun and educational.

Among the classes: "Living in Space: Have You Ever Wondered How Astronauts Take Showers and Go to the Bathroom?" and "Launching Your Lunch: Straw Rockets."

You could tell from the UAH Fitness Center parking lot that the festival was going to be a success. A Tennessee driver had the specialty license plate "N2SPACE." A Volkswagen's tag read "PLANET."

As a child, Davis was like many of the girls at the festival: a whiz at math and science, fields traditionally dominated by men.

Between fifth and eighth grade "is when young girls decide whether to stay with math or science or do something else," said Davis, who flew three space shuttle missions from 1992 to 1997. "We have to try to capture their interest."

Davis' talk was an attention-getter. A former NASA mechanical engineer, she was passed over twice for the astronaut program and finally got her wings in 1987. She talked about what a wonder it is to dart around the Earth at 5 miles per second, and to be rattled by a rocket engine, and to see water floating in the weightlessness of space.

Not everybody's cut out for zero gravity, and that's OK. Davis said the girls at the festival could provide vital help to America's space program by going to work for NASA or one of its contractors.

"There are a lot of jobs on the ground," she said.

Davis estimated that 20 percent of NASA's science jobs are held by women - far more than when she went to work for the space agency in 1979. Davis hung up her spacesuit a few years ago and is now deputy general manager of Huntsville's Jacobs Engineering, which is working with NASA to develop a replacement for the aging shuttle. Called Ares I, the crew launch vehicle is supposed to be ready for blast-off by about 2015.

Ares will carry man back to the moon. Instead of bouncing around the lunar surface just long enough to collect a few rocks, we're going for the long haul. Davis said someday there will be colonies on the moon that will serve as the launch pad for missions to Mars - and beyond.

"It's a real exciting time for NASA," she said.