NASA Langley engineers helped design miners' rescue pod

HAMPTON

Clint Cragg spent Wednesday glued to his desk, but he didn't get much work done. He was too busy taking calls from the media and watching the live feed from Chile on his computer.

Reporters wanted to know the same thing: How does it feel to see the miners coming up alive?

"It's a relief," Cragg said in an interview as rescuers pulled the 17th miner from the ground. "The capsule is working the way we hoped it would."

Cragg is an engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center, and he helped design the 13-foot-long pod that carried the miners to safety. "To see them in good health, to see them coming out smiling - it's a good day."

Cragg, who is 55 and spent 26 years in the Navy, became involved with the miners soon after they were

discovered to be alive. It was mid-August and the Chilean government had called the U.S. State Department looking for help. So the State Department called NASA headquarters, which called Cragg, who seemed a natural choice for the assignment.

Since leaving the Navy seven years ago, the Ohio native has worked for NASA's Engineering and Safety Center. The program was set up after the 2003 space shuttle Columbia disaster to analyze high-risk projects.

Three days after the call from headquarters, Cragg and three other NASA employees - two doctors and a psychologist based in Houston - were on a plane to Chile.

At first, Cragg had no idea how the Chileans might use his expertise. His only directive was to report to the mine site and help in any way they asked.

"We got there about a week into the rescue effort," Cragg said. "It was a very busy time. Breakthroughs were being made hourly." The Chileans were already talking about a rescue capsule, but they'd developed no plans for building it.

Cragg and his colleagues spent five days there, providing guidance on a range of issues, including the miners' medical, psychological and nutritional needs. Cragg drew on his time in the military to offer advice on organizing the rescue effort and coping in confined, below-the-surface spaces; he served on seven submarines, lastly as a commanding officer.

On its final day at the mine site, the NASA team sat down for a meeting with Chile's health minister. "We told him, 'You really need to start coming up with some very specific ideas for how this capsule is going to work,' " Cragg said.

Then they left. A few days after they got home, the health minister sent an e-mail. Can you help? he asked.

Cragg quickly assembled a team of 20 engineers. Roughly half worked from Hampton. The others were scattered in NASA offices across the country. They toiled 16 hours a day for three days, then sent the Chileans a paper containing 75 specific suggestions for the design of the capsule.

Among their ideas: The pod should move on spring-loaded rollers so it doesn't grind against rock as it travels up and down the rescue shaft. A loose harness should be installed in case a miner loses consciousness during the ascent to the surface. The capsule must be built so one person can operate it alone; someone's going to have to be the final person pulled from below.

The Chileans used many of NASA's suggestions in their final design. "We're just glad we could help," Cragg said.

He planned to spend Wednesday night at home with his family in Yorktown, watching the news until the last miner emerged.

Corinne Reilly (757) 446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com