CAPE NATIVE PLAYS ROLE IN CURRENT SHUTTLE MISSION

Most people won't ever drive a race car, run a marathon or chat with NASA astronauts.

But Kurt Restemyer has. And he's only 35 years old.

The Cape Girardeau native graduated from Central High School in 1979 and later received his engineering degree from the University of Houston.

These days, he's living near Houston and planning the training schedule for a NASA crew that will leave earth in July 1997. Restemyer's last job was training the group that should land the space shuttle Columbia today.

His father, Robert Restemyer, formerly taught music at Southeast Missouri State University. He never expected his son's winding path to lead to United Space Alliance, a company that has a training contract with NASA.

"He initially went to Louisiana Tech to study engineering," Robert Restemyer said. "He just called one day and said, `I'm going to drop out. I have a job with a racing team in Vermont.'

"I didn't get too perturbed. He got his interest in racing from me, so I couldn't very well blame him."

The younger Restemyer went on to be crew chief for a Formula Ford racing team and a mechanic on Indy car driver Scott Goodyear's team. When his work took him to Houston, he finished his education.

In 1988, he went to work for Rockwell Space Operations Co., which later became United Space Alliance. His employers like the combination of the engineering degree and the teamwork skills Restemyer learned while working on race cars.

Restemyer's other interests included running marathons and competing in triathlons.

His title is "shuttle mission simulator team lead," which means he trains astronauts to determine their individual strengths and then use those strengths to solve problems on missions. The crews simulate all the active parts of the mission, from the rocket booster ignition to the landing.

Restemyer said the seven people on Columbia's most recent mission are among NASA's best.

"They're a tremendous crew," he said. "They're very laid back with no high stress in any of their personalities. We spend so much time together, it's nice to have a lighter atmosphere."

The trainer hasn't been glued to the news during the current mission -- his job is over once the crews leave earth. He would only become involved if something went wrong and the crew would have to use prior training to deal with the problem.

Through the course of his work, Restemyer met Linda Godwin, an astronaut who also is a Cape Girardeau County native.

"I trained her several times but not in association with any mission," he said. "I'm not sure how the conversation got around to where we were from, but I found out she took a music theory class at Southeast and knew my father."

Despite all the excitement it brings, Restemyer's job has its hassles and unpleasant times, he said. But most of the time, he loves it.

"It's fun," he said. "I don't think I would do anything that I didn't enjoy a lot."

Restmyer is married to the former Kelley Kinnard, who works for NASA as a computer expert.