Students Aim for Stars in JPL Program : Education: They help scientists mark historic mission to Jupiter.

As the Galileo space probe plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere Thursday, three El Monte high school students monitoring the historic event at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory were launching their school into a mission of its own.

Through a new partnership between JPL and El Monte’s Mountain View High School, seniors Rommel Pesigan and Adrianna Granville, both 17, and junior Norma Sosa, 16, were invited to witness history in the making at the NASA facility as the probe began sending information about Jupiter back to Earth.

The Vikingnaut, an official NASA program named after the school’s mascot, is a one-of-a-kind partnership with JPL that aims to spark students’ interest in science.

“I hope it will inspire them to think about career paths and future life goals,” said Charles White, a JPL computer specialist who graduated from Mountain View in 1978.

White came up with the idea for the program last summer when he took a stroll through his old neighborhood and visited with school Vice Principal Art Harrington.

As the two men chatted, Harrington mentioned that the school, in a mostly low-income Latino neighborhood, could use some help with providing career opportunities to students.

“[White] said, ‘I came from this neighborhood. Now I can help,’ ” Harrington said.

And the Vikingnaut was born. The program offers a select number of students the chance to go beyond the school’s roster of science courses for scheduled visits to a world-class laboratory for hands-on science lessons.

To select this year’s participants, White solicited essays from students, asking why they wanted to be a part of the Galileo event.

In her essay, Granville wrote about the city pollution that blocks views of the stars. She described a fascination with astronomy that began in grade school, when she took part in a program called the Young Astronauts. Since then, Granville wrote, she has wanted to see firsthand what scientists view when they study the heavens with modern technology.

Sosa was puzzled with the very questions that bewilder scientists. “Is there life on other planets? Is time travel possible?” she pondered in her essay.

And Pesigan asked for a chance to be involved in an actual scientific experience. “I’ve been reading about science and watching Discovery all my life,” he wrote.

On Thursday, they got a taste of what it takes to be a real scientist on one of the most thrilling days in JPL’s history.

Dressed as astronauts-in-training with black pants, blue shirts, badges and NASA hats, the three students spent much of the morning preparing for the big moment. Meanwhile, 7,000 NASA employees rushed around and 2,000 visitors--including a swarm of international media--looked on.

In an assembly warehouse, the students saw a crew building the Cassini spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch in 2004 to explore Saturn.

“I never thought I’d see an actual spacecraft,” Sosa said in awe.

As 3 p.m. approached--about the time when the space probe was expected to reach Saturn--they gathered to watch. As Galileo hovered over Jupiter and the probe entered the ammonia-clouded atmosphere, radio information such as the planet’s temperature, pressure, density and composition was sent to JPL, where the students reviewed the information alongside NASA employees.

As part of their responsibilities, the students scribbled down information about the probe that they will share in science classes back at school.

Besides facts about Jupiter, the students were instructed to report to their classmates a list of career opportunities at the facility, aside from astronauts.

“There’s computer operators, sound technicians, engineers, mechanics, press people and even lawyers,” Pesigan said. “There’s so much that goes into a mission.”

At the end of their daylong adventure, the students enjoyed a celebration dinner with the JPL staff.

Since the program was announced at the school this year, science teacher Martin Knedel, the program’s advisor, said interest in science classes has increased. “It adds to the real meaning of going to school,” he said.

The three students agreed.

“Right now [students] think science is above their head,” Granville said. “This will get them interested.”

There are plans for four more field trips this school year, including a flight in a NASA plane and studying radar at JPL.

White says he hopes that the chance to interact with scientists inspires the students, much as he was encouraged when he met scientist Carl Sagan at JPL in the late 1970s, when Sagan did something that sparked White’s dream to work for NASA.

“He reached out and shook my hand,” White said.