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For adventurer, the sky is not the limit
By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS Joe Nolfo wants to go to space. Words can't express how much he wants to go. So he hopes his actions do. He plans to swim 40 miles in a pool to raise money to finance a study analyzing the complexities involved in sending a disabled person into space. That study would go to NASA, Nolfo said, and he hopes it will help NASA approve him for space travel. "I want to be the first person with a major handicap to go in a space shuttle," said Nolfo, 40, who lost a leg in a 1982 hit-and-run accident. "I want to live all the adventures I can. I want to compare myself to Ernest Hemingway and think he had nothing on me." Nolfo, a former jewelry shop owner, got the idea while recovering from the accident, which happened in Hillsborough County. After awakening from a five-week coma, Nolfo read National Geographic almost religiously and got hooked on stories about the U.S. space program. He then dedicated his life to raising money for various causes so he can gain enough attention to make his dreams come true. Since 1995, he has put himself through various endurance tests to raise thousands for children's societies, manatee protection efforts and animal humane societies. Some might best remember Nolfo as the "guy from Oldsmar" who used his wheelchair to make a cross-country trek in 1997. That event generated lots of newsprint, which Nolfo carefully clipped and preserved in black, three-ring binders. The walls of his home are covered with mounted and framed articles and paraphernalia from his 159-day trek, including a framed letter from singer Jimmy Buffett. Nolfo keeps another black binder full of his letters, e-mails and proposals for putting a one-legged man into space. They start in 1998 with a letter to Jan Davis, an astronaut who happened to be working on the Save the Manatees campaign with Nolfo. Davis told Nolfo to contact an official in charge of astronaut selection at NASA, Nolfo said, who referred him to an initiative to send disabled astronauts into space. The project was created by Mitchell Rappaport, 51, of Houston, who works for Wallace Publishing Corp. Rappaport, a disabled survivor of severe brain injuries, got the idea for the project while working on other civil rights issues in the 1960s. "It was kind of a vision," Rappaport said. "I wanted to go into space. Every young boy will have a desire to go into space on their own. I always say that what I've been doing is helping to pave the way." It was Nolfo who reinvigorated the initiative, Rappaport said. The two say they are now in talks with a NASA official who is on the agency's astronaut selection program. Nolfo said the man has indicated to them that NASA would consider a detailed proposal to put a disabled person into space. But the NASA official declined to respond to messages left with an agency spokeswoman. Eileen Hawley, a spokeswoman, said anyone who flies to space must be able to escape the shuttle quickly while it's still on land. Hawley said she could not confirm any official agency contact with Nolfo. She said she was unaware of any immediate plans to put a disabled person on a shuttle mission. "I really can't speculate on the future," Hawley said about that possibility. "Our current policy says (the person) can't compromise their own safety or the safety of others in the event of an emergency. It isn't just about being in space." Still, Nolfo is moving ahead. He and the group working to send a disabled person to space intend to find a scientist willing to study how a handicapped person could succeed in space. Then they must raise $75,000 to finance the study. The study would need to examine whether a disabled person is a threat to the mission or to himself in space. It also would consider other scientific factors NASA's doctors use to determine who qualifies for space travel, Nolfo said. As it stands, a disabled person cannot qualify for space travel. But then, neither can most of the U.S. population. You must have near perfect vision without the help of glasses, surgery or contacts. You must have a bachelor's degree or better. Military experience is a plus. NASA plans on operating a space station with several other countries. Anyone sent up in a flight would likely need to have some sort of skill that could aid in those efforts. The astronaut selection section of NASA's Web site currently lists only two kinds of people who can travel to space: mission specialists and pilots. NASA's requirements for those individuals are hefty. Those astronauts must have a degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. The Web site says nothing about "civilians" who are trained and allowed to go into space. Nolfo points to people such as the late Christa McAuliffe as an example of a nontraditional person selected for space travel. (McAuliffe was killed in the explosion of the Challenger in 1986.) Now, Nolfo asks, "What about me?" A hefty man, Nolfo says he can bench press hundreds of pounds -- far better, he insists, than anything any current astronaut can do. He can swim mile after mile and can get around faster on his crutches than most two-legged people. He has better than perfect vision. He refuses to get a handicapped sticker, lamenting that most folk who have the stickers aren't really disabled. "I'd rather save those spots for someone who needs it," he said. He rides motorcycles and has even competed in a sport bike race. He's sailed to Cuba and had a drink with Buffett in New Orleans. But most of all, he wants to fly to space. After all, Nolfo asks, who needs two legs in zero gravity? Nolfo is trying. He hopes to raise sponsorships for a 40-mile, uninterrupted swim slated for Aug. 3. After the study is completed, perhaps in two years, Nolfo hopes that NASA will take him on. He remains confident: "I think people who aren't born yet are going to read about me in their history books." The big swimJoe Nolfo plans to swim 40 miles in a pool at the Long Center on Aug. 3 to raise money for a study to analyze the complexities involved in sending a disabled person into space. For more information, contact him at courage1@gte.net.
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