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Chatham couple watches nephew spacewalk
  
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By Sesame Campbell
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
CHATHAM — A proud aunt and uncle recently watched as their nephew, NASA astronaut Col. Tim Kopra, took his first steps into outer space. Local freelance photographer Doug Stalker captured the moment when Herman Witthoft and his wife, Doris, viewed, in the comfort of their living room in Chatham, live pictures taken from their nephew’s helmet camera that were transmitted during Kopra’s historic moment.
“Herman and Doris called me to witness the event,” Stalker said. “They told me that they were watching their nephew on TV and I grabbed my camera and came over and took pictures.”
Stalker and the Witthofts watched Kopra emerge from the space modular. An outside camera on the space shuttle captured the moment as the hatch opened. “We watched for about half an hour as he and another person made the walk,” Stalker said.
Doris Witthoft said it was an incredible experience to watch her nephew on TV. “It was thrilling,” she said. “He has always wanted to do this and it really was thrilling.”
Kopra spent many of his childhood summers in Chatham and some Christmas vacations visiting his aunt and uncle and grandparents in the area. The Witthofts traveled to see the launch in person about a month prior to their viewing on TV. Sadly, the initial launch was canceled.
“My sister-in-law went back a month later to see Tim’s launch,” Doris Witthoft said. “She told me how touching it was. They played the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’ It was a teary moment.”
Among his many accomplishments, Kopra is the first NASA astronaut to “tweet” on Twitter while in space. “They call him Astro-Tim,” Doris said.
According to a statement released by NASA, Kopra has been awarded the Empire Test Pilot School Award for best Developmental Test thesis, Class 110, U.S. Navel Test Pilot School (1996) and the Bronze Order of Saint Michael, Army Aviation Award (1999). He has also been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, two Meritorious Service Medals, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal and various other service awards.
Kopra received his commission as a second lieutenant from the U.S. Military Academy in May 1985 and was designated as an Army aviator in August 1986. He then completed a three-year assignment at Fort Campbell, Ky., where he served as an aeroscout platoon leader, troop executive officer and squadron adjutant in the 101st Airborne Division’s air cavalry squadron.
In 1990, Kopra was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in Hanau, Germany, where he was deployed to Southwest Asia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He completed his tour in Germany as an attack helicopter company commander and an operations officer.
After returning to the United States and completing his graduate studies at Georgia Tech, Kopra was selected in 1995 to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Following his graduation, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Aviation Technical Test Center. There, he worked as an experimental test pilot on various projects and served as the developmental test director for the Comanche helicopter program.
Kopra began his NASA experience in September 1998 at the Johnson Space Center as a vehicle integration test engineer. In this position he primarily served as an engineer liaison for Space Shuttle launch operations and International Space Station (ISS) hardware testing. Kopra was actively involved in the contractor tests of Extravehicular Activity (EVA) interfaces for each of the space station truss segments.
In July 2000, he was selected as an astronaut and began his initial training the following month. After completing two years of intensive Space Shuttle, Space Station and T-38 flight training, Kopra served in the Space Station Branch of the astronaut pressurized modules. His focus involved the testing of crew interfaces for two ISS pressurized modules, as well as the implementation of support computers and operational Local Area Network on ISS.
Following a Russian language immersion course in Moscow, Russia, Kopra began training for a long-duration space flight mission in July 2005. As a result, he completed training at each of the international partner training sites and served as a backup crew member for Expeditions 16 and 17. Now, he serves as a flight engineer for Expedition 20, where he and other members of the crew of STS-127 were expected to complete their mission to the International Space Station and return to earth aboard the Space Shuttle Discover in early September.
“He was really dizzy when they first went up,” Doris said. “Now he’s doing fine. When you’ve known him since he was born, seeing him doing a thing like this is amazing.”
While he has been in space, President Tarja Kaarina Halonen of the Republic of Finland spoke with him and a taped conversation, including questions from children, shows Kopra encouraging the youngsters to work hard at whatever they are interested in because they can go as far as they want to. Holding up a T-shirt, Kopra told the young people to “work hard and be all that you can be.”
This mission marked the 40th anniversary of the NASA’s Moon-Walk program. “So much has happened in the last 40 years,” Stalker said. “If you think about technology and how it has advanced in the last 30 years, it’s really incredible.”
“Herman and Doris called me to witness the event,” Stalker said. “They told me that they were watching their nephew on TV and I grabbed my camera and came over and took pictures.”
Stalker and the Witthofts watched Kopra emerge from the space modular. An outside camera on the space shuttle captured the moment as the hatch opened. “We watched for about half an hour as he and another person made the walk,” Stalker said.
Doris Witthoft said it was an incredible experience to watch her nephew on TV. “It was thrilling,” she said. “He has always wanted to do this and it really was thrilling.”
Kopra spent many of his childhood summers in Chatham and some Christmas vacations visiting his aunt and uncle and grandparents in the area. The Witthofts traveled to see the launch in person about a month prior to their viewing on TV. Sadly, the initial launch was canceled.
“My sister-in-law went back a month later to see Tim’s launch,” Doris Witthoft said. “She told me how touching it was. They played the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’ It was a teary moment.”
Among his many accomplishments, Kopra is the first NASA astronaut to “tweet” on Twitter while in space. “They call him Astro-Tim,” Doris said.
According to a statement released by NASA, Kopra has been awarded the Empire Test Pilot School Award for best Developmental Test thesis, Class 110, U.S. Navel Test Pilot School (1996) and the Bronze Order of Saint Michael, Army Aviation Award (1999). He has also been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, two Meritorious Service Medals, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal and various other service awards.
Kopra received his commission as a second lieutenant from the U.S. Military Academy in May 1985 and was designated as an Army aviator in August 1986. He then completed a three-year assignment at Fort Campbell, Ky., where he served as an aeroscout platoon leader, troop executive officer and squadron adjutant in the 101st Airborne Division’s air cavalry squadron.
In 1990, Kopra was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in Hanau, Germany, where he was deployed to Southwest Asia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He completed his tour in Germany as an attack helicopter company commander and an operations officer.
After returning to the United States and completing his graduate studies at Georgia Tech, Kopra was selected in 1995 to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Following his graduation, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Aviation Technical Test Center. There, he worked as an experimental test pilot on various projects and served as the developmental test director for the Comanche helicopter program.
Kopra began his NASA experience in September 1998 at the Johnson Space Center as a vehicle integration test engineer. In this position he primarily served as an engineer liaison for Space Shuttle launch operations and International Space Station (ISS) hardware testing. Kopra was actively involved in the contractor tests of Extravehicular Activity (EVA) interfaces for each of the space station truss segments.
In July 2000, he was selected as an astronaut and began his initial training the following month. After completing two years of intensive Space Shuttle, Space Station and T-38 flight training, Kopra served in the Space Station Branch of the astronaut pressurized modules. His focus involved the testing of crew interfaces for two ISS pressurized modules, as well as the implementation of support computers and operational Local Area Network on ISS.
Following a Russian language immersion course in Moscow, Russia, Kopra began training for a long-duration space flight mission in July 2005. As a result, he completed training at each of the international partner training sites and served as a backup crew member for Expeditions 16 and 17. Now, he serves as a flight engineer for Expedition 20, where he and other members of the crew of STS-127 were expected to complete their mission to the International Space Station and return to earth aboard the Space Shuttle Discover in early September.
“He was really dizzy when they first went up,” Doris said. “Now he’s doing fine. When you’ve known him since he was born, seeing him doing a thing like this is amazing.”
While he has been in space, President Tarja Kaarina Halonen of the Republic of Finland spoke with him and a taped conversation, including questions from children, shows Kopra encouraging the youngsters to work hard at whatever they are interested in because they can go as far as they want to. Holding up a T-shirt, Kopra told the young people to “work hard and be all that you can be.”
This mission marked the 40th anniversary of the NASA’s Moon-Walk program. “So much has happened in the last 40 years,” Stalker said. “If you think about technology and how it has advanced in the last 30 years, it’s really incredible.”
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