Belmont man wins award from NASA for work at Ames Research Center

Mercury News: Belmont man wins award from NASA for work at Ames Research Center

Paul Espinosa first dreamed of working for NASA when he was 10 and witnessed man's initial lunar steps broadcast live on TV.

Now 52, the Belmont resident and 23-year NASA employee made a special trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida late last month to see space shuttle Atlantis roll out in preparation for its final take off.

While he was there, Espinosa was recognized for his contributions to the space program, taking home an award known to be among the highest honors presented to NASA employees.

"I was just doing my job and I got this recognition," he said.

Espinosa currently commutes to Moffett Field, where he works as a senior project manager at Ames Research Center. His work on developing hardware for biological research in space is essentially what earned him the award.

By taking earth-based experiments on rats, plants, cells and the contents of various Petri dishes and duplicating them out in space, Espinosa says we can learn a lot.

"What's going to be the effect on astronaut's exploration and plants and everything else?" he said.

Espinosa says he has lots of experience working with astronauts and, over the course of his career, been fortunate enough to be present for two shuttle launches.

But Espinosa said the highlight of the trip was being able to take his wife with him to witness part of the shuttle's final departure.

It was an eventful few days for the Espinosas. The couple was even

treated to a live viewing of the Endeavour shuttle as it landed in the early morning hours of June 1.

"For three days we were basically VIP guests in Florida," Espinosa said.

Espinosa's wife, Nona, said it was nice to have all the viewings and activities planned out for them and to meet with the other NASA honorees and their families.

"It was actually wonderful," she said. "Just seeing the shuttle itself it was great."

While there were 120 other NASA employees receiving a variety of awards, Espinosa was the only one from Ames Research Center.

Espinosa's never been out in space himself, but he's gotten to ride on NASA's KC-135, a zero gravity test airplane, which, through a series of airborne parabolas, allows passengers to experience weightlessness for 30 seconds at a time.

During these 30-second windows, engineers can perform different tests. For example, Espinosa said, something as simple as opening a drawer can prevent a whole host of challenges in a weightless environment. After Atlantis takes off next month, NASA will be retiring its space shuttle program developed more than 30 years ago to invest time and money into new technology that will reach further out into space.

In the meantime, the United States will rely on the Russians to make maintenance trips to the Space Station. Unable to comment in detail on his current projects, Espinosa said he's working on a new air vehicle, that, if successful, he said will be making headlines. In the broader scheme of things, Espinosa hopes to see great space advancements before he retires.

"I hope I'm working for NASA when we get humans to Mars," he said.