Post date: Apr 10, 2017 2:30:4 AM
Our flight left Minneapolis bright and early at 6:30 am! I thought we had an early flight and then found out that some teams had flights that left at 5:00 am! We arrived safely in Houston and started the program shortly after checking in!
We met the other participants and shared swap gifts from each team. We even got NASA patches! The education outreach coordinators shared with us the six main areas that NASA is currently focusing on.
NASA is with you when you fly. (Referencing NASA’s contributions to commercial flights.)
Exploring the solar system and beyond. “We’re out there.”
The International Space Station: Off the Earth for the Earth (Referencing the research being conducted on the ISS that will be used for future applications on Earth.)
Journey to Mars.
Technology drives exploration.
Earth right now. (We’re on it and it’s changing.)
Many people think that with the space shuttle program ending, NASA is no longer doing as much work, but as you can see from the list above, that is far from the truth! The two key areas that will be highlighted in our workshops this week are the International Space Station and the journey to Mars.
We also experimented with ways that we can teach lessons about bone density and growth in space. We explored how bone density changes in a microgravity environment using Kix cereal and a heavy object and what it would be like to set a broken bone in space using a sponge as the bone and popsicle sticks and masking tape as the cast.
One of the highlights of the evening for me was learning that the crew on the International Space Station will be switching out tomorrow. Because Johnson Space Center is an astronaut training facility the returning crew of astronauts and their families will be on site tomorrow and there will be a lot of extra activity!