Southeast : Space Station Model Lands on Campus

Although they can’t do away with gravity, Cerritos College officials say their new space station prototype treats visitors to a convincing simulation of Earth orbit.

Recently donated by Rockwell Space Systems Division in Downey, the million-dollar, life-size model even offers a sense of cabin fever.

“If you’re gonna be up there for a month at a time, it’s not a very big area to be in,” said Norman Fujimoto, dean of science, engineering and mathematics.

The college in Norwalk offered tours of the model this week. College officials are undecided what to do with the model now. They are looking for money for television monitors and computers that would help simulate a space laboratory. In the meantime, officials may have to halt tours until the model can be moved from a parking lot into a shelter.

“If we can get [the model] into the building and get the equipment that we need, it can be a wonderful educational tool,” Fujimoto said.

Rockwell built the prototype for a contract bid to develop a manned capsule for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s space station project.

When McDonnell Douglas won the bid, Rockwell donated the model to the college, with hopes that it could be used to stimulate students’ interest in math and science, Rockwell logistics director John R. Cassidy said.

Transporting the model to the college proved to be a major task. It took three trucks nearly three hours to travel five miles as they slowly traveled down residential streets and avoided bridges and overhanging traffic signals.