Tish/NASAChatHost - 18 - 11:01:30 ]
We are ready to begin our chat with Pat Cowings. If you have not read her profile please do so at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/pc.html so you can compose thoughtful questions. This chat is moderated so you will not see your questions posted immediately. Please do not repost questions as it slows down the process. As soon as we see Pat online we will continue posting questions.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 19 - 11:16:33 ]
RE: [SaraApodaca-Mrs.Maline/ManuelL.Real] When did you decide that you wanted to be an astronaut?
I was about 9 years old

[ PatCowings/ARC - 21 - 11:18:22 ]
RE: [ThomasHepburn-Mrs.Maline/ManuelL.Real] How did your parents feel about your wanting to do a job that men did?
My parents wanted me do do what I wanted to do. With 3 brothers (no sisters), I learned long ago that anything they could do--I could do too.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 23 - 11:21:44 ]
RE: [Ashley-amiller/ndhs4girls.] Did anyone give you a hard time because you were a female?
Of course they did! I also had the double "problem" of being Black--you could say a "triple" problem because I was very young when I got my Ph.D. (23). But youth is something you get over if you live long enough. And MOST intelligent human beings will judge you on what you DO, not how you LOOK. I only wish MORE people were INTELLIGENT human beings.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 28 - 11:23:56 ]
RE: [vicky] Dear Pat, Are you dissappointed that you never had the chance to fly a space shuttle? How do they choose the people that do (fly in the shuttles)?
Yeah--I'll probably always be disappointed. Even though NOW I know that it's not such a glamorous job as it is a dangerous and uncomfortable one. I STILL want to go. How do they choose the people. But ability for sure, but there's also "political reasons". Don't kid yourself otherwise. Sally Ride wasn't the FIRST woman picked for the space program, but we all think she was the first to RIDE because of her name--it was easy to remember.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 33 - 11:27:40 ]
RE: [Ashley-amiller/ndhs4girls.] What specific job do you do?
That's a complicated question. I'm a scientist. I study how people adapt to unusual environments and I help them to adapt faster. I'm a teacher. I show people how to control their own heart rates, blood pressure and things like that. If you can make your heart rate slow down, you can get rid of panic. If you can make it speed up when you're really tired, you can do work that you need to do. I LOVE to work with people--they're my favorite laboratory animals!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 34 - 11:29:39 ]
RE: [ThomasHepburn-Mrs.Maline/ManuelL.Real] How did you improve your math skills?
I hate to say this--but I HATED math. I use statistics all the time. I used to call it SADISTICS. But I improved because my dad made me study and rewarded me when I did well on tests. Making my folks happy with me was very important--and now, dispite myself, I'm pretty good at math.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 35 - 11:31:54 ]
RE: [JoshHall-Mrs.Maline/ManuelL.Real] Why did you want to become an astronaut?
Because of star trek at first. Then, because I thought that it had to be the most important thing a human could do. We are the only animals that learned to leave the planet of our origin!! I wanted to be part of that human adventure.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 37 - 11:35:18 ]
RE: [Amber/6thgrade] Where you upset when you found out that you couldnt go into space? Or when you found out that they didnt have a suit to fit you?
Well, when I first trained, I KNEW it was just a dress rehersal and that I wouldn't be going soon. Although I DID have hopes for the future. When I was there, the folks at NASA had never worked with a woman crew-person before. You'd think some of these guys had never SEEN a woman. One guy said to me about the suit, "I don't understand it. If it fits in the chest, it's too big at the waist and the sleeves are too long. If it fits on your waist, the hips are too small". I told him to go home and look at his wife. Women are shaped differently than men!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 38 - 11:40:54 ]
RE: [SaraApodaca-Mrs.Maline/ManuelL.Real] What were the activities you completed in order to train to go into space? What is it like in space?
Well, I was a Scientist astronaut candidate--they're called Payload Specialists. My main job was to learn how to conduct the experiments on board the mission. The PS is picked from among the principal investigators because he or she is the best one to do her OWN experiment and has the skills to perform others. The hardest thing I had to learn was how to use the zero-g "liquid waste collection system". Picture in your mind a small vacuum cleaner tube with a funnel on the end. The "funnel" was the "female adapter. Now, imagine using this in the zero-gravity aircraft while NASA trainers watch how well you handle the task!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 39 - 11:42:06 ]
RE: [girlscouts] Hello Pat and Tish, The Girl Scouts are here from Cincinnati
hello girl scouts. I used to be one of you!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 44 - 11:44:31 ]
RE: [Ileana/5thgrade] Did you ever have time to go out or do fun things?
Of course! My boy friend at the time way my co-investigator. This year we'll be married 20 years! Our job was fun. That's the only reason I came to work for NASA. But dancing and movies and stuff were things we always found time for.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 45 - 11:47:53 ]
RE: [Gwen] Hi Pat- We would like to know if all astronauts use your Autogenic Feedback Training exercises? Who else uses them?
no. Unfortunately they don't. I am still trying though. Just last year we did a test that showed we could train people over the internet. Astronaut time is very precious, but if you've got a PC in your house, NOW I can deliver this training anywhere the internet can reach. I'm working with cosmonauts but the astronauts haven't worked with me since 1992. I'm told that THIS year, I'll get my chance to change their minds. Really, I think if I just had a chance to TELL them what I do, most of them would JUMP for it--after all, it's a way to Help Yourself!! without pills.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 50 - 11:50:22 ]
RE: [girlscouts] how old were you when you graduated from high school?
17 1/2 years old, just like everybody. But when I found out about psychophysiology in college--the study of the relationship between mind and body--and when I discovered that this was a way that people could learn to make themselves better, tougher, more adaptable. I just FLEW through the rest of the courses till my Ph.D.--I couldn't get enough!! I wanted to be the one who took this stuff to the next level!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 52 - 11:56:11 ]
RE: [Vicky] Dear Pat, regarding what they look for in the people they choose to go up in space, can ANYONE do it if they had the education, training, and physical aptitude? i.e, Can anyone be TRAINED for it, or do you have be a particular kind of person?
I've worked with a LOT of folks who've gone into space and I am absolutely CONVINCED that anyone can do this stuff. OF course you can be trained, of course education is necessary--but some of the things we may think as being important--like atheltic abilitiy or strength? NAH. I believe that amputees or paralyzed people should (and will) go into space. There's no handicap there if you can't walk. And, there's good scientific evidence that a Couch potatoe type person--overweight and out of shape, will probably adapt BETTER than an athlete.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 53 - 12:01:37 ]
RE: [Alicia/WE] What is it called Autogenic Feedback?
Autogenic is Latin for "self-generated". My treatment is called Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). It combines Autogenic therapy ( a psychotherapy that involves self-hypnosis), with Biofeedback (showing a person his own physiological responses, like heart rate, in real-time), Training (because the more you do it, the better you get--like most things), and Exercise, because what you're really learning how to do is to exercise or control "smooth" muscle--the muscles of your heart, blood vessels, and gut. Plus, you learn to regulate glandular responses as well. In my lab when we say "don't sweat" we mean just that. We can teach you how to increase or decrease sweat--on command! Some long sentences there!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 55 - 12:03:29 ]
RE: [Ileana/5thgrade] How did you get a PHD at such a young age. It takes at least seven years to get one.
There really isn't a time-limit to getting a Ph.D. I was just in LOVE with the study of psychophysiology. And when I learned that I could use this to HELP ASTRONUATS!! I was on FIRE to get out of school and down to business with NASA!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 56 - 12:06:42 ]
RE: [Amber/6thgrade] Are you glad that you picked the profession? I think its great that you think you can do anything and not worrying about what other people think.
Yes I'm glad I picked this profession. I think that studying the animal (human) that invented all the other professions, makes mine the best field of all. But it's not true that I can do anything without worrying about what other people think. I'm human too, ya know. You just HAVE to figure out that you can't please everybody--and that SOME people will be unhappy with you no matter WHAT you do. So, even though it's hard to ignore put-downs sometimes, you just HAVE to or you can't survive!

[ MrsMock/MontessoriSchoolofCorona - 57 - 12:10:01 ]
How many units did you take at a time to get through school so fast. How can that be done. My students think you are almost like Doogie Howser that kid tv doctor! Thanks again!

[ PatCowings/ARC - 59 - 12:13:46 ]
RE: [MrThompson] What other people would benefit from your Autogenic Feedback work? Do you ever work with the medical profession or high stress people?
Glad you asked. We've been working with some patients at the University of Tennessee who suffer from Dysautonomia. This means they have constant nausea and fainting spells. So far, the training seems to be working (over 44 people are feeling better). Also, people with inner ear problems have benefited. Some work I did with the army showed that AFTE improves pilot performance in High Stress enviroments like search and rescue!. I'm trying to get the word out--AFTE is aslo, basically, a CURE for motion sickness on Earth! Now, if only the NASA astronauts would let me play with THEM on a regular basis--I'd be a happy camper.

[ PatCowings/ARC - 60 - 12:16:29 ]
RE: [MrsMock] Thank you very much for chatting with us today. My students loved your answers!
You're welcome. It was fun