ASTRONAUT GLAD TO BE BACK ON FIRM GROUND

Linda Godwin finds it easy to be light on her feet, particularly when she's orbiting the Earth in a space shuttle.

"While floating up there is certainly different, it never feels strange," Godwin said in a telephone interview Thursday from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, two weeks after returning from her second voyage in space.

Godwin, a Cape Girardeau County native and a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, flew on her first mission in April 1991 aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. She's worked for NASA for about 14 years, and has been in the astronaut program for the past nine years.

Her latest journey came aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, which landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on April 20 after an 11-day radar mapping mission.

Godwin said she enjoyed the longer mission. Her first flight lasted six days.

"It is better to be up a little bit longer," she said. "I felt adapted before, but I decided on this mission that the extra days make you feel even more at home in the shuttle environment."

Still, she said, she was glad to get her feet back on the ground. "There are a few enticements on the ground, like a hot shower, that you just can't get anywhere else."

Space shuttles are full of high-tech equipment, but it's two low-tech items that Godwin and other astronauts appreciate.

"Gray duct tape and Velcro become indispensable for organizing any kind of task, whether it's keeping food in one place or any job you do with tools."

Without them, items "just float off," said Godwin.

On the recent shuttle flight, the crew of six was divided into two shifts.

"We did sleep in sleep stations this time," said Godwin. She said the stations resembled small bunks with sliding doors that allowed the sleeper "some isolation from sound and light."

It was like sleeping in a tiny closet, she said. Godwin said she slept with her knees tucked up against the top of the compartment.

She said she strapped her head to a small pillow "just to keep from bobbing around."

On her first flight, the astronauts slept in special sleeping bags that were tethered on the mid-deck, said Godwin.

Once back on the ground, astronauts have to readjust to gravity, she said.

"When you pick something up, it seems strange something has weight to it. But that very quickly stops being strange and seems normal again," said Godwin.

Getting that earthly balance back takes a little longer. "Initially, when we try to walk a straight line, we are a little wobbly."

The shuttle lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 9 after clouds and strong winds scrubbed the launch the previous day.

Godwin said the astronauts had been strapped in their chairs, which were pitched back at a 90-degree angle, for five to six hours before the launch was scrubbed.

Once launched, the flight proved to be nearly flawless.

"It went better than we ever expected," said Godwin.

The crew turned $366 million worth of internationally designed radar equipment on the planet and mapped more than 25 million square miles or about 12 percent of the Earth's surface.

The radar equipment -- the most advanced ever sent into space for environmental monitoring -- provided unprecedented three-dimensional maps of deserts, forests, oceans, rivers and mountains, NASA said.

Scientists hope these images will help them better understand environmental changes on Earth.

The mission also involved MAPS -- Measurement of Air Pollution by Satellite. The device looked at the distribution of carbon monoxide throughout the atmosphere, said Godwin.

Endeavour orbited about 138 miles above the Earth's surface. "That is a low orbit for a shuttle," said Godwin, who was at about twice that altitude on her previous voyage.

With a closer view of Earth this time, Godwin said, the astronauts could pick out cities. "At night over cities, the city lights were very vivid."

The orbit took the shuttle across the northern central United States. "We were never over Missouri," she said.

Godwin added, "It was a better view, but it was a quick view. It's like driving in a car. The closer you are to something off in the distance, the faster it seems to move by you."

During the recent mission, the shuttle craft went through more than 400 maneuvers. "We took about 14,000 photographs."

Now that she's back in Houston, Godwin has plenty of earthly duties to attend to. But she said she's ready to fly again.