EX-RESIDENT HAS A HAND IN SHUTTLE EFFORT

A former Cape Girardeau resident has had a hand in the mission of the Discovery space shuttle.

Discovery was scheduled to make a landing shortly after 2 a.m. today at the Kennedy Space Center, the first such nighttime Florida landing in shuttle history.

Kurt Restemyer, 30, a 1979 graduate of Cape Girardeau Central High School, works at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, training astronauts on the use of the space shuttle's robot arm.

His father, Bob Restemyer, still lives in Cape Girardeau.

Restemyer, who has worked at the space center for the past 3 years, said the mechanical arm has become standard shuttle equipment. "It's used to deploy satellites. It's also used for satellite retrievals and space walk assistance."

Restemyer instructs astronauts on the use of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). "That's just NASA jargon for a big robotic arm," he said Tuesday. The device is 50 feet long.

The device is particularly suited to the weightlessness of space, Restemyer said.

"It can lift up to 60,000 pounds in space, but it can't lift its own weight here on Earth," he pointed out.

The entire system weighs 966 pounds, which includes the on-board computer and the hand controllers that astronauts must use to maneuver the arm. The arm itself weighs about 500 pounds he said.

Restemyer said he and other instructors will typically spend five or six months training crew members for the various shuttle flights.

The training involves working with an actual robot arm, as well as with simulators.

"Some days," he said, "it's like getting paid to play with a giant video game."

Restemyer works for Rockwell Space Operations. About 5,000 of the space center's more than 12,000 employees work for the private aerospace firm.

Restemyer said he enjoys the work. "It's working with real people in real situations, with a very highly technical subject.

"Obviously, it's not all glamour," he added. "But it is extremely exciting and rewarding when you see the mission lift off."

Restemyer said that when he was growing up in Cape Girardeau, he never thought he would work on space flights.

At that time, he was interested in automobiles. "I always thought I would be working for one of the Big Three (automakers)."

After graduating from high school, Restemyer went to work in auto racing. "I spent five years traveling around this country and Canada as an automobile racing crew chief."

But Restemyer said he grew tired of being on the road 30 to 40 weeks a year. He subsequently obtained a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Houston, graduating in 1987. Since then, he has worked at the space center.

Restemyer said the jobs of racing crew chief and RMS instructor have something in common. "Your work is always on public display. You are always under pressure to perform."

Working at the space center is a family affair for Restemyer, whose wife, Kelley, also works at the center.