Biologist Is Out of This World--but Still in Arizona

When Abigale Alling entered an experimental module in Oracle, Ariz., where she is living for five days completely cut off from the Earth’s atmosphere and food chains, she joined the ranks of such pioneers as Christopher Columbus and Neil A. Armstrong, who walked on the moon. The 29-year-old marine biologist is testing the systems of Biosphere 2, a futuristic closed ecosystem that generates its own air and rain and is expected to provide a totally self-sufficient environment for eight “biospherians” for two years beginning in September, 1990. Inside the module, which looks like a greenhouse the size of an oversized garage, plants, organisms and solar-powered equipment are designed to purify the air and water and replenish the oxygen supply. Alling may choose her meals from 29 types of fruits and vegetables as well as two aquarium fish that she will kill and eat as part of the experiment. Alling’s module is a fraction of the size of Biosphere 2, which will put 5 million cubic feet under glass over a 2 1/2-acre site. Alling, who can communicate with scientists outside over a videotape hookup, said she has already learned to enjoy the enclosed environment, which she said “has the wonderful smell of a rich tropical rain forest.”

--United Airlines pilot David Cronin’s final flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to Honolulu was routine--unlike his penultimate journey. On that trip two weeks ago, he steered a crippled Boeing 747 with a gaping hole in its fuselage to a safe landing in Honolulu. This time, he said: “I had two more engines and I had more aluminum, so there’s quite a difference.” Cronin, 59, who retired after 35 years with United, was greeted by his family, friends, airport workers and some of the flight attendants who had been aboard the ill-fated Flight 811, on which nine people were killed. “It’s the first chance we’ve had to see him and say, ‘Thanks a lot.’ It means a lot,” said Sarah Shanahan, one of the flight attendants.