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Space to Dream - Racine Journal Times, 27 April 2004
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Space to Dream
Nicole Barron, 9, working to help save the Hubble

by Jeff Wilford, Racine Journal Times, April 27, 2004

FRANKSVILLE - Nicole Barron, 9, likes space the way a lot of little boys like dinosaurs. Her bedding is decorated with stars and planets. Her bookshelf is filled with books about space. Her wall is covered with pictures from space - nebulae, galaxies, Mars - that come from magazines or the Hubble Space Telescope. In fact, working somehow with the Hubble has been Nicole's dream for awhile, at least since she met Max Mutchler, who works at the Space Telescope Scientific Institute in Baltimore, Md. He's a former classmate of Nicole's mother, Debbie Barron. The only thing that Nicole doesn't like about space is the math. Someone once told her she would have to know a lot of math if she wanted to be an astronaut. Nicole doesn't like math.

So when Nicole learned that NASA planned to stop sending space shuttle to service the Hubble, and to let the Hubble die a slow death in space, Nicole got angry. She also took action. She sent an e-mail to Mutchler: "Can kids sign a petition, or can it only be adults?" Mutchler responded that yes, kids can sign petitions. Just because they can't vote doesn't mean their opinions don't count. She started a petition to save the Hubble. She plans to send the petition to Wisconsin's U.S. senators, Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan. She has more than 130 signatures so far. Nicole learned of a Web site - www.savethehubble.org - where there is an online petition to keep the space telescope serviced and functioning. She wanted to take a laptop computer to a science fair at Gifford Elementary School, where she is in fourth grade, and have people sign the online petition. But she opted to create a petition of her own. Exactly how many signatures they hope to collect, or for how much longer, Debbie Barron wasn't sure. She said they should send the petition soon. That's because the House of Representatives and the Senate are due to soon consider a bill - respectively, HRES 550 and SRES 324 - to save the Hubble. The Barrons want Kohl, Feingold and Ryan to have the petition by then.

Nicole's interest in space started with an interest in rocks. Her dad, Ron Barron, had been interested in rocks when he was a kid and explained them to her. He told Nicole where rocks come from and how they are formed. He told her that planets are basically really big rocks. Nicole took it from there. At home, Nicole talks and talks about space. If she's not talking about it, she's reading about it, or watching a documentary about it. Ask Nicole why the fascination in space, and her bright blue eyes light up like you've just brought up her favorite topic. Ultimately, her answer to the question: "Because it's somewhere besides here."

Nicole, when she grows up, wants to look at the stars, from the Earth and from space. She wants to follow in Laurel Clark's footsteps. Clark was an astronaut who graduated high school in Racine and died aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003. Clark was something of a hero to Nicole. This fascination with space is no passing fancy, Nicole's parents said. "Nope. I think she's going all the way with this," Debbie Barron said. "I think the only thing that's going to stop her is that math problem." But Nicole said she could learn to tolerate math to pursue her dream, and Debbie Barron didn't expect math alone to deter Nicole. Batting her eyes up toward the sky, Debbie Barron said: "I think she'll be heading up there someday."

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2004/05/03/a_plus/iq_2842026.txt