1960s space capsule has been rocketing Ophir children's imagination for decades

Its descendants rocketed to the moon but if fans of Ophir Elementary School's bright blue space capsule have their way, it won't be going anywhere soon.A relic of the 1960s space race, the six-feet-high capsule has been a presence in the schoolyard since the latter part of a decade that ended with astronauts triumphantly landing on the moon.Leading up to the Apollo missions and the monumental 1969 moonwalk, the U.S. spent the late 1950s and most of the 1960s perfecting the intricacies of rocketry that would beat the USSR to the prized sphere in the sky.Vernon Barnett, Ophir principal at the time, was able to requisition the prized piece of space memorabilia for the playground. Former Ophir School District superintendent John Bliss, now a school principal in Lincoln, said that Barnett had been in the military and used his pull to get the capsule for the school. The capsule's shape is a match to ones used on both the Mercury and Gemini programs leading up to the Apollo moon missions. Bliss said he understood that the capsule in the playground was one of the prototypes and didn't carry astronauts.Bliss said that new playground equipment was installed 15 years ago and the decision was made then to keep the capsule but move it to another location in the schoolyard."I thought it was a unique piece of playground equipment for the kids," Bliss said.This summer, with the school's parent group mounting a drive to buy newer playground equipment, the rumor began spreading that the capsule didn't have a future at Ophir Elementary.The story was particularly upsetting for parents Jenny and Jason Pierson - and not for any space-race-related history reasons.The couple, married for 11 years, had their first kiss behind the space capsule as sixth-grade students in the mid-1980s. "We warn our kids not to go behind the capsule," Jenny said with a laugh. "My husband and I would love to have it if they ever decide to remove it - maybe as a planter in our yard."Capsules average about 3,000 pounds so the move would take some heavy hoisting.Parent group vice president Jennifer Mallery-Parino said that the group is indeed attempting to earn funds for new play equipment and that the capsule is considered by some to be relatively unsafe because of the sporadic presence of spiders and snakes. But there are no plans to jettison the spacecraft."It's a false rumor that we're trying to get rid of it," Mallery-Parino said.Current Ophir superintendent Rob Reynolds said that children continue to like playing in and around the capsule."There's been no decision to move it," Reynolds said. "The capsule itself will likely stay."That's good news for the latest generation of Ophir students.Nine-year-old Wyatt Henson said the capsule is relatively isolated from the rest of the playground so it's the ideal spot to hide from girls during hide and seek.Tanner Cook, 9, said the capsule provides the raw materials for an imaginary fortress or taking a space trek."And it's fun to think that it was part of a real space ship - it looks like a rocket," Henson added.Ken Phillips, curator of aerospace programs at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, said that if the space capsule was from the Mercury or Gemini efforts, it would likely have been a boilerplate model used for testing. It may have been flown unmanned in drop tests or used in a wind tunnel to determine aerodynamics. "It's a valuable thing to have," he said.John Grant, a teacher at Ophir School during the 1960s and later the district's superintendent, said the capsule was obtained through NASA and the school held a dedication ceremony around 1969 after it arrived. He and Barnett were both in the Air Force before retiring and going into education."We lucked out after he wrote a letter," Grant said. "History has a way of not surviving and we thought the link with science was an important one."Grant said he'd like to see the capsule restored to a more prominent position in the schoolyard. But he doubts the school would part with the 1960s relic, even if it meant a healthy donation from a museum or private buyer to the school's playground or general fund."They've got many old-timers in Ophir that are pretty fierce about preserving history," Grant said.The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.