By Melissa Werthmann, News Staff
Junior physics major Justin Dowd might get to see Earth from a different perspective in 2014.
Dowd is a finalist in the Metro newspaper’s Race for Space, and the grand prize is a seat on a shuttle that will soar 120 kilometers, or roughly 394,000 feet, off the surface of the Earth. Most commercial jet planes fly between 30,000 and 40,000 feet.
Dowd says he saw an advertisement for the contest in the Metro last September while playing Sodoku on the T.
“I’ve always wanted to go into space,” Dowd said. “There’s no way I could ever pass this up.”
He submitted an animated time-lapse video of chalk murals, including drawings of the beach, the moon, Boston’s skyline and the galaxy.
“I was thinking about doing an animated video on relativity for a while in order to make myself stand out in this competition and for independent film festivals,” he said.
Dowd said he discovered his artistic ability while working as a food runner in a restaurant with a chalkboard.
“I used to draw murals on the chalkboard discovered that I’m pretty good with chalk,” he said.
Metro judges chose Dowd as one of 20 finalists last Thursday.
“Well when I found out I was pretty shocked because I knew this was kind of a long shot,” he said. “To be able to be win it was pretty exciting.”
Dowd will represent the United States and compete against 19 other contestants, one from each country where the Metro is published. A panel of astronauts and Metro officials will interview Dowd Monday and the winner will be announced April 28.
He said, “I think the second part is going to be much easier to win than the first part,” because the first round included 400 applicants and no interview. “In this second session I’m going to be interviewed at length. I am closer to winning this round than I was to winning the first round.”
The Space Exhibition Curacao, or SXC, flight is scheduled for early 2014 and Dowd said it will help raise publicity about tourism space travel, an industry Virgin Atlantic is also working on.
He said the flight is about an hour and a half round trip, and the jet reaches outer space just four minutes after take-off. The majority of the flight is gliding back down after 15 to 20 minutes of weightlessness looking down at Earth.
If Dowd wins, he must complete training programs in Holland to prepare for zero gravity and G-forces before the mission. Training includes flying in an empty 747 jet that will reach cruising altitude and then nosedive, creating a zero-gravity environment
Dowd said the experience is exciting, and although his family is supportive, they are worried about possible danger.
“My mom is scared ‘cause she’s not too crazy about the idea of me going into space,” he said. “I’m an adrenaline junkie so there was absolutely no way I wasn’t going to try to win it and now that I’m here I’m extremely excited about it and so are they.”
