GODWIN LOVES TEDDY GRAHAMS IN SPACE

You can't get a hamburger in space. But the steak isn't too bad, says astronaut Linda Godwin.

"The food we eat up there is pretty good food," Godwin told 700 people at a noon-time lecture Wednesday at the Show Me Center.

The event was part of Southeast Missouri State University's series of "Common Hour" programs. Many in the audience were area school children.

Godwin said Teddy Grahams are one of her favorite foods in space.

Astronauts generally can keep their food from floating around. "If it does float away, you are responsible for cleaning up your own mess," she said while showing slides of her space trips.

Washing your hair is a little difficult in space. You have to use a non-rinse shampoo, she said.

There are no hot showers on board the space shuttles. But Godwin doesn't mind. "I like being in space, as you might imagine. It's fun to float around."

Children in the audience had plenty of questions for Godwin.

"Can children go into space?" one student asked. "Not yet," Godwin replied.

The 44-year-old Godwin grew up in Cape Girardeau County and attended Jackson schools. She graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1974 with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and physics.

She joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1980. Since then, she has flown on three shuttle flights, spending 633 hours in space. That included a six-hour space walk.

She is married to former astronaut Steven Nagel. Prior to being married, they were on a shuttle flight together five and a half years ago.

She is currently deputy chief of the astronaut office. But she said she may one day return to space.

Nothing compares to the view from space. Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, she said.

"We orbit the Earth 16 times a day."

Godwin is looking forward to greeting astronaut Shannon Lucid, who is expected to return home next week from a six-month stay in space aboard the Russian Mir space station.

Godwin was aboard the space shuttle Atlantis that transported Lucid to the space station in March.

The Mir space station has been operating for 10 years. All of the equipment in it makes it a crowded place.

"When everything floats, it is tough to keep everything neat," she said.

Even in space, there is plenty of paperwork, Godwin said.

NASA is working on plans for an international space station that will involve the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and nine European countries.

"Every agency needs new projects," she said.

Shuttle missions won't last forever. The shuttles were designed in the 1960s and built in the 1970s.

But Godwin told reporters after her lecture that the four space shuttles might continue to fly through 2020.

In the future, however, spacecraft may be designed to deliver just cargo or people.

"The challenge is to do it cheaply," she said.

Man may one day land on Mars and live in a facility that would extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to produce oxygen for the astronauts to breathe, Godwin said.

It could take six months to fly to Mars. Astronauts might spend a couple years exploring Mars, she said.

"We don't have all the answers yet."