CARIBBEAN TODAY


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Jamaican heads NASA team on space station expansion project


 GORDON WILLIAMS
W hen the "Di,.<,\,Lr\%
 space shuttle heads
 into space this
month it will carry a special
package 'gift-wrapped' by
a Jamaican-born engineer
and his team at National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) in
the United States.
 Glenn Chin is NASA mis-
sion manager charged with
delivering a Node 2 module
called "Harmony" that will
expand the docking area at the
International Space Station to
accommodate other space pro-
grams.
 Chin heads a multi-disci-
plined team of 30 to 40 engi-
neers and technicians at
NASA which is involved in
the testing, integration and
assembly processes that will
make "Harmony" ready for
launch inside "Di,, \L r\ ,
cargo bay on the morning of


Oct. 23. Once installed at the
space station, "Harmony" will
serve as a port for space pro-
grams from China and a com-
bined 13 European countries.
 "Harmony is a module
with six docking ports where
modules can
dock to make
the station
bigger,"
explained the -
43-year-old
Chin, who
attended high
schools in
Jamaica and Chin
the U.S. and
college at the
University of Miami, where
he earned a degree in
mechanical engineering.
 "It's like a six entrance
hallway that you can add
rooms to... It's actually the
gateway to the international
partners."
 That "hallway" or central
building block is 24 feet long
and 15 feet wide. It weighs


31,500 pounds.

SIMPLE TASK
 It was built in Italy, with
fine-tuning at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, where Chin and
his team are based. He
was involved in the early
design and construction of
"Harmony" as part of a spe-
cial team, which offered
NASA insight into the pro-
ject's progress. That required
him to travel to Torino
between 1998 and 2000. Other
work assignments temporarily
took Chin away from the
"Harmony" project, but he
would later return as mission
manager. His task is simple:
get "Harmony" ready for
launch and make sure it
works once it gets into space.
 But Chin is confident it
will. Discovery's transporta-
tion of "Harmony" this
month, also called "STS-120",
is not the only mission Chin
has been involved with at
NASA. He has been in charge


The space shuttle "Discovery" will trans-
port "Harmony" to the International
Space Station.

of 16, four of which he has
seen through to their launch.
However, despite acknowl-
edging a familiarity with the
procedures required for the
task, Chin said the different
types of "payload" he is
required to deliver in proper
working order keeps the chal-
lenge interesting.
 "It's pretty routine," he


said. "The processes are pret-
ty much the same. But the dif-
ferences in hardware for each
mission is unique. Each hard-
ware is unique."
 So is his background.
Chin is one of a handful of
Caribbean nationals working
at the Kennedy Space Center,
which employs some 18,000
workers. He is proud of his
heritage and credits his back-
ground for much of his suc-
cess in the U.S.
 "That's huge for me," he
said. "As a Jamaican I've
always been a hard worker,
persistent. When I came to the
States I realized the opportu-
nities here and went after it.
 "I have enough savvy to
know you can reach for your
dreams in this country."
 For the married father of
a son, his dreams extend to
outer space.

Gordon Williams is Caribbean
Today's managing editor.
0


Now getting here can be
almost as relaxing as a day
on one of our secluded beaches.


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NEW
change
New Y
Govern
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 Th
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 Th
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immigr
license


N.Y. reverses driver's license policy
YORK Under a policy Vehicles (DMV) will accept a
announced on Sept. 21, current foreign passport as
ork State Democratic proof of identity without also
nor Eliot Spitzer says he requiring a valid year-long visa
ue driver's licenses to or other evidence of legal
ean and other immi- immigration.
without regard to immi- Spitzer said the policy,
status. which does not require legisla-
e change reverses rules tive approval, will be phased
d four years ago under in starting in December and
-vious Republican will be tied to new anti-fraud
station of George E. measures. Those measures will
 Spitzer include authentication of for-
at administration had eign passports and the use of
t difficult, if not impos- not prove their legal status. photo comparison technology
or tens of thousands of Under the new rules to ensure that no driver has


rants to obtain driver's
s because they could


announced by Spitzer, the
state's Department of Motor


(CONTINUED ON PAGE 4)


'I.


- -~- -


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Miami-Dade cop with Jamaican links

 wounded in shootout with suspect


 woman with strong
 Jamaican ties was
 among four Miami-
Dade County police officers
shot last month in the line of
duty after they tried to stop a
man who was reportedly driv-
ing recklessly in South Florida.
 Officer Jody Wright, 31, a
two-year veteran of the force,
was hospitalized after being
shot in the leg, reportedly by
Shawn Labeet, a 25-year-old
resident of Margate, who the
police later said they killed in
a shootout at a condominium
complex in Pembroke Pines.
 Jose Somohano, 37, who
joined the Miami-Dade police
in 2003, died from shots the
police said were fired by
Labeet. Officers Tomas
Tundidor, 37, and Christopher
Carlin, 34, were also wounded.
 Family members of Wright


flew in from Kingston, Jamaica
following the incident. Her
father Dennis Dalley said doc-
tors at Miami's Ryder Trauma
Center, Jackson Memorial
Hospital, told him that his
daughter suffered a gunshot
wound to her knee-cap area,
which "literally wrecked a num-
ber of bones." She is expected
to undergo several surgeries,
including reconstruction.
 Dalley said Wright was
saddened by the death of her
friend and colleague Somohano.
However, he added that he was
grateful that she had survived
the shooting.
 "Thank God's she's alive,"
he told reporters.

ENCOUNTER
 According to the police,
the four officers were part of a
burglary surveillance detail


assigned on Sept. 13 near an
apartment complex in Miami-
Dade. The police said they
trailed Labeet, driving a red
Buick LaSabre, to his home
after they noticed he had
been driving fast. Once there,
Labeet reportedly fled and was
chased by the cops. Gunfire
was exchanged and the officers
were shot. Labeet reportedly
took his girlfriend's car and left
the area. Tips led police to the
condominium in Pembroke
Pines where they said Labeet
was killed in a shootout.
 According to Dalley,
Wright was never scared of the
possible dangers associated
with her line of work.
 "(She said) 'what is to be
will be'," Dalley explained.
"'I'm not afraid. I can't go out
there being afraid.'"
0


October 2007


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