Glenbard East class watches alumnus lift off

With the room darkened, all eyes turned to the screen in the front of the class.

"We have a go for start. T minus five, four, three, two, one. Booster ignition and liftoff of Discovery," the smooth, calm voice described.

The classroom that once had a smattering of chatter flipped to a room softened with silence as the shuttle aimed for space Tuesday morning.

This was a mission with more meaning than usual for Glenbard East High School students -- one of the astronauts on screen was one of their own.

Dan Tani, Class of 1979, was aboard Tuesday's launch of the space shuttle Discovery, which was headed for the International Space Station with a new compartment for the structure. He's serving as a flight engineer on the nearly eight-week mission.

Kevin Cooper's students in the Principles of Technology course watched the live liftoff on screen via laptop, and seem periodically impressed at the phenomenal numbers and statistics announced by broadcasters -- as only teenagers can do.

"Are you taking us on a field trip?" one student said when shots of the launch pad flashed onscreen.

Not so much.

"Are you guys calculating acceleration?" Cooper asked his students as they watched the shuttle approach 3,500 miles per hour and jettison its booster rockets.

As the shuttle entered orbit, cameras inside the cabin broadcast shots back to the classroom showing the rapidly shrinking Earth in the distance. And on the rounded edge of the shuttle window, the blackness of space was visible.

"That's really cool," one of the students said.

Vince Nieves said he never misses a launch, even if it means recording it and checking in when he gets home from school. But the 17-year-old senior also recognizes he's in the minority.

Classmate Antonella Pinto, 16, said the last time she watched a launch was probably in fifth grade.

That amazed Nieves.

"I always watch," he said.