NASA official visits his U-46 roots

As a teen and budding astronomer, Hal Getzelman spent much of his time at Elgin Area School District U-46's Observatory and Planetarium.

There, under the watchful eye of longtime observatory director Don Tuttle, Getzelman learned to make his first telescope, to study the constellations and the meridian line.

"In those days, students didn't get to go up in the observatory tower much," he said.

Today, Getzelman serves as NASA's lead capsule communicator for the International Space Station, facilitating communications with the station's crew on a daily basis.

In town for a wedding, the Bartlett native spoke about his work to junior high students from Larsen and Ellis middle schools in a talk also broadcast live from the Gail Borden Library on the city's Web page.

Afterward, Getzelman had the chance to return to the place in Elgin that inspired his career.

And this time, he even got to head up to the tower.

Together with Tuttle and several U-46 administrators, Getzelman first sat in the darkened planetarium as the star projector beamed the moon, stars and even the International Space Station onto the ceiling above.

Afterward, the group climbed the observatory's stairs and current director Gary Kutina cracked open the pumpkin-shaped dome and took out the observatory's old telescope.

The observatory, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in February, originally was built to set precise time for the Elgin Watch Factory.

In 1960, with setting time via telescope considered outdated, the factory gave the observatory to U-46. It added on a planetarium in 1963, Tuttle said.

Getzelman, a 1972 Elgin High School graduate, said the space race of the 1960s and the Cold War naturally drew many students, including himself, to studying the skies.

"I felt lucky to have gotten to see this in middle and high school," he said.

While it's often harder to interest students in the subject today, U-46 still has an edge.

U-46 Math and Science Coordinator Jennifer McDonnell said the district will be looking for grants to rehabilitate the observatory, so students and community members can better tour the entire building.

She also said lessons on space will be added to the eighth-grade curriculum.

"I think there's a renewed interest," she said.

Liftoff: Observatory built to keep time for watch factory