Visit by Astronaut Is Sweet Reward

On Wednesday came the sweetest part for the schoolchildren who sold 32,000 candy bars to pay their way last month to Space Camp.

A real-life astronaut dropped in on Glassell Park Elementary School to praise the youngsters for their entrepreneurial skill--and for their interest in the U.S. space program that led to an overnight trip to the camp by all 115 of the school’s fifth-graders.

Franklin Chang-Diaz, the first Latino to fly in space, told youngsters who flocked back from summer vacation to meet him that his own career was launched when he was their age.

As a boy growing up in Costa Rica, he simulated space flight using a make-believe rocket constructed from a cardboard box, Chang-Diaz said.

During their Space Camp trip in early June, the fifth-graders climbed aboard a dozen training simulators similar to those used to train astronauts. Youngsters also designed and test-fired their own small rockets.

Although they live in one of Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods, the children raised enough money selling chocolate bars to pay their air fare and admission fees to the nonprofit camp, located next to NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

An account in The Times of their unusual candy drive caught the eye of NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, who arranged the Glassell Park visit.

“I’ve been running the space program for five years and never once have I seen a school sell 32,000 candy bars to get to Space Camp,” Goldin told the children.

“I’ve been to many, many schools. Believe me, I’ve never seen parents and kids work so hard in what they believe in. We at NASA are so proud of you.”

Although the school is closed this week and the former fifth-graders will enroll in middle school next fall, Principal Beatrice LaPisto was able to round up about 50 of them for Wednesday’s visit.

They were thrilled at the chance to talk about space exploration with professionals.

Michael de los Reyes, 11, chatted about the Pathfinder, scheduled to land Friday on Mars. Ernesto Osuna, also 11, had questions about the way into the space program.

Miguel Amador, 10, disclosed to Goldin that the rocket he built at Space Camp flew the farthest. Marco Vazquez, 11, recounted his experience in a Space Shuttle simulator there.

Ten-year-old Jennifer Renteria acknowledged apprehension about taking a real space flight. “The simulator was scary,” she said.

Goldin replied that such experiences will seem less frightening to youngsters as they grow older. But space exploration remains a challenge: “Sometimes we do risky things to learn things.”

LaPisto introduced 11-year-old Ramon Villarreal to the NASA pair. Ramon had revealed before the Space Camp trip that he was uncertain whether he wanted to become an astronaut or a baseball player. Now he’s leaning toward space, he said.

Chang-Diaz urged Ramon to keep aiming high. “You can be both an athlete and and astronaut,” he said. “We keep in shape. You can make more money as a sports person. But we have a lot more fun.”

The children listened intently as Chang-Diaz, 46, described his Chinese-Costa Rican background and his career--which includes five shuttle missions and more than 1,000 hours in space.

He has been involved in a research experiment now taking place aboard the shuttle Columbia that is geared toward finding a cure for Chagas disease, a sickness spread by insect bites that afflicts 24 million people in Latin America.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) watched as Goldin presented LaPisto with a space suit insignia and a small California flag that Chang-Diaz carried into orbit in 1989. Then the NASA pair signed autographs and handed out space agency lapel pins to the children.

Their visit, kids agreed, was as delicious as all those chocolate bars.