Day Five: Team Exploration — Astronaut Simulation, Rocket Launch and Mission Endeavour

Everyone on our crew agreed that we would love to have a one-sixth gravity chair to play with at home.  You get to experience what it is like to walk on the moon.  Small actions make a big difference when you only have one-sixth of your weight to move around.  The second event was the gyroscope.  Ruth made us all laugh as she rode it laughing while asking them to stop.  Wow!  What a way to start your day.

We launched our rockets today.  Quite a sight to see.  Sixteen rockets all set on their launch pads.  Ruth’s launch went well.  My rocket was eaten by a rocket-tree when the wind blew it into some high branches.  Actually, I was relieved to have one less item to pack for our return tomorrow.

After the rocket launch, we headed off for our final STS mission of the week — Endeavour.  For this round, Ruth would be in mission control as the Flight Director while I would be sent up on the shuttle and then out to do a space walk to repair the heat shield.  We had a blast.  There are scripts to read and buttons to push that run a real computer.  If you don’t do something correctly or within the time frame, you don’t blast off (or worse you do not return to Earth).  As we were going through the series of events for launch, our Commander called out to switch off the umbilical cord, meaning some pump with a similar name.  All four of us in the orbiter got so tickled we could hardly move much less hear anything on our headsets over our own laughter.  But don’t worry, we launched the shuttle successfully.

Once in space, the other mission specialist and I went out to do our space walk to inspect and repair the heat shield.  We put on vests filled with ice packs so we would not overheat in the space suit.  With helmets and boots on, we were strapped into harnesses and hoisted eight feet into the air to complete the repair job.  What a trip!  You have to hold on to your tether to keep yourself in place the best you can.  You are hanging at 180 degrees.  We completed our repairs successfully, but not without banging into each other’s helmets multiple times. 

To end the day, we were all invited to the Sixth Annual Saturn Apollo Reunion with the people who worked on both rocket programs. 

This has been an amazing learning experience.  I am so fortunate to have spent this week being an astronaut in training.

Hanging eight feet off the ground to repair the heat shield.

One-sixth G Moon Walk Training

Commander of the STS Endeavour

Setting up rockets on the launch pad.

Ruth ready to launch her rocket.

STS Endeavour Crew

Ruth and Anne in front of the STS Pathfinder

Saturn V Rocket at Sunset

Day Four: Team Exploration — Ares, Rockets and New Mission Trainings

Day four of Space Camp.  Wow!  We have not stopped since we got here. 

Our morning began with an overview of the Ares Rocket Program which will take over for the space shuttle and carry humans back to the moon.  Our speaker was a Producability Engineer, Sheldon Sigmon from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.  He is the link between NASA who designs the rocket and Boeing who builds the rocket.  Currently, the schedule is the land on the moon by 2020, with a targeted launch date of 2018.  The shuttle will only fly until 2010.  The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is planned to service the ISS and do other explorations. 

From learning about the current status of the Ares rockets, we moved on to build our own rockets.  I am a bit worried to think that all seventy-five or so of us will be launcing real rockets with real engines that use ignitors.  Are you thinking what I am thinking?  We’ll see tomorrow.

After lunch we were greeted by Hoot Gibson, a Top Gun Navy fighter pilot from the first class of space shuttle astronauts of 1978, who traveled on the STS for five different missions.  He commanded the orbiter when it docked with the Russian Space Station Mir for the first time, a step in ending the cold war.

We ended our day preparing for our next shuttle mission — Endeavour with an EVA to repair the heat shield of the orbiter.  Take a look at the apparatus from which I will hang outside of the orbiter to make the repairs.  Our high tech material being used to repair the heat sheild is crisco in a caulk gun!  Makes for a messy job when you are hanging eight feet in the air from a line.

After our training, we boarded the buses and headed out to the Huntsville Museum of Art for a barbeque and a showing of NASA art of space flight in the last fifty years.  What a day!

Keisha building her rocket.

The black harness will suspend me while we repair the heat shield.

Exiting the Orbiter Simulator after our mission training.

Day Four: Team Inspiration Update

Greetings Earthlings this is Dr. Reed signing in to give you an update about mission Endeavour.  This mission is complete with a new role.  I have been assigned the role of CAPCOM which stands for Capsule Communicator.  I serve as the link between the astronauts and mission control.  I have yet to complete the mission, but I am sure that it will be an adventure that is worthwhile. 

I also had the opportunity to come in contact with a real live astronaut, Hoot Gibson.  He gave us a wonderful presentation about his experiences in outer space.  I encourage any educator out there that has the opportunity to come to Space Camp to accept the opportunity.  I feel that I am a part of history as we are surrounded by teachers from Hawaii, Australia, and Turkey, to name a few.  I have come to realize that we have much to learn from one another.  I appreciate the opportunity, and hope to come again. 

 Mission updates will be posted on tomorrow.  Dr. Reed signing off… 

Keisha and Hoot Gibson

CAPCOM Reed

 

Day Three: Toys in Space

Day three began by exploring Toys in Space.  How do you think magnetic marbles will act in microgravity?  How about a Slinky?  It was interesting to examine toys here on Earth in 1G and try to figure out how they would behave on the orbiter.  Video clips of astronauts playing with the toys in space helped us evaluate our predictions.  Wonderful way to teach a variety of physics concepts.

Our engineering skills were tested twice today.  Once as we designed a lander for Mars and then again late in the day to design a rocket.  (We are not just sitting by the pool over here.)  Having viewed videos of the design of the Mars Landers, we were prepared to decrease the acceleration of our “egg-craft” and cushion it as it landed on the red planet.

By the way — you can send your name to Mars on the next rover Curiosity scheduled to launch in 2011.  Go to marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.

The big event was our misson on the Shuttle Discovery.  Let’s just describe this as an emotional rollercoaster.  At Mission Control, your job is specific to certain tasks within the mission.  There are six other people talking in the room around you and you are on a tight time schedule.  My job was to guide the astronauts through their EVA to repair the Hubble Telescope. 

There was a diversion of the day.  We rode the Space Shot to experience free fall.  It is not fair how they suprise you and shoot you up into the air.  I would say that the fall takes your breath away, but I would be lying because I was screaming.

Ruth, Megan and Lisa with our Egg-Craft

Mr. Ben and his team after their landing.

Ruth, Ross and Seann after a victorious rocket launch.

Getting ready for a fly by to examine a new planet.

Douglas EVA in Mission Control

Team Exploration Mission Discovery

Day Three: Team Inspiration on the ISS

Dr. Reed preparing to command the ISS

Dr. Reed preparing to experience free fall.

Guess who was named Commander of the International Space Station?  That’s right none other than yours truly, Dr. Lakeisha Hamilton-Reed.  This was an experience that I truly enjoyed, as I had the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of young ladies.  We performed experiments and communicated with the mission control scientist.  My favorite part of the experience was when I was approached by our team facilitator with a scenario card.  The information presented stated that I was diagnosed with narcolepsy, which meant that I in turn had to perform as such.  I decided to take naps in the middle of experiments, and to call the station scientist by my husband’s name (Elbert).  Finally after the mission, I revealed my diagnosis to my teammates.

 The excitement did not stop there as our team traveled to the eventful rope course.  I was the last to partake in the momentous occasion.  I had the opportunity to be filmed by a local news station while exhibiting my rope handling skills.  Well as you can tell, I have had a very long day and need to rest up for tomorrow.  So until we meet again Dr. Reed signing off.

Response to Comments

I’ll check on answers to the rest of the questions posed.

When the Space Shuttle Main Engines ignite, it causes the shuttle to lean over a bit in a phenomenon called “twang“.

For today’s simulated mission Ruth is conducting the EVA as a Mission Specialist in the orbiter.  My role is the person who coordinates the EVA from Mission Control.  The directors tell us that if we are doing well in the simulation, they will trigger alarms we have to fix.  If we aren’t doing so well at running the mission we won’t be given problems to fix.  Think about that in terms of differentiation.  I have not seen the other team members to get their mission information.  You will have that soon.

I’m off to start the day.  We go from 7:30 am to about 8:30 pm with thirty minutes each for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day Two: Mission Orientation and High Ropes for Team Exploration

The day started with a breakfast with Tony Jones and Dwight the Engineer from Boeing.  A wonderful welcome and encouraging words about the important role teachers play in science, math, engineering and technology careers.  Thanks to Boeing for providing this wonderful experience for us.

Our first order of business for the day was Shuttle Orientation.  If you think education is filled with acronyms, try learning all of the abbreviations you need to understand on the space shuttle.  The enormity of all of the jobs required to launch the shuttle is overwhelming.  Major point — what most of us call the shuttle is actually the orbiter as it is the only piece that goes into orbit.  Never knew that the sparklers that go off before ignition are to burn the hydrogen that may have leaked from the fuel tanks.  Also never noticed the water that is poured out before launch that cools the launch pad and dampens the sound waves that result from the launch. 

Do you know what twang is?  The shuttle rocks twenty-four inches when the engines are ignited.  When it returns to its original orientation you are ready for liftoff.  When the shuttle clears the tower, responsibility shifts from Kenndy Space Center to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  So when they are up, if there is a problem, tha’s Houston.

Understanding the overall process of a shuttle launch, mission and landing will assist us in our Mission that will take place on Wednesday.  We each have roles as we go up in space to repair the Hubble Telescope.  Ruth will be the astronaut doing the EVA actually out in space fixing the telescope.

Interesting fact of the day:  Astronauts tried drinking soda in space.  The problem with gas in your system in microgravity is that the gas doesn’t rise, so you don’t burp and therefore experience some gastrointestinal pain.  Amazing how much we have learned about drinks in space.  When they tried to add potassium to Tang, there was a similar result.  However the astronauts did have gas which was recycled in their space suit.  Hmmm . . . .

Everyone wants to know about, how do I say, relieving yourself in space.  There are two options: The Target and Mr. Thirsty.  There was a demonstration of how the closed circuit camera is used to position yourself over the target to assure you have a good seal so that no solids are released into the orbiter.

Our day ended at the high ropes course.  Cannot say I have ever wanted to jump off of a fifty foot tower, but we did it.  The facilitator made a great connection for all of us.  The fear we felt when we jumped off of the tower is similar to what some of our students feel when we ask them to do certain tasks at school.  So look around and make sure your students are ready to go, and if they are not, give them the encouragement they need to go it alone.  Success is within everyone’s reach.

Day One: Arriving in Huntsville for Orientation

Armando tries on his flight suit.

Team Exploration with Ed Buckbee

We have all made it to Space Camp.  Each person is assigned to a team:  Keisha — Team Inspiration; Armando — Team Destiny; Ronald — Team Unity; Anne and Ruth — Team Exploration.  After an uneventful flight, we boarded the Space Camp Shuttle greeted by the crew in blue flight suits.  Upon arrival at the hotel we were issued our own blue flight suits.  Ed Buckbee, author of The Real Space Cowboys, gave an entertaining talk about the real exploits of some of the astronauts from the beginning of the space program.  The things they don’t teach you in school — and probably shouldn’t. 

Each team follows their own schedule, so we will have to provide individual updates.  Team Exploration spent the hour after dinner learning about the symbolism of each of the mission patches, as it is our task to design a patch for each of our teams.  The other three teams experienced Shuttle Orientation — learning important acronyms and understanding the roles involved in each shuttle mission.

Space Camp attendees represent sixteen states and nine countries, so we all have the opportunity to network with educators who come with a variety of experiences. 

Fact of the day:  We learned that there is a treaty regarding lunar property.  You own what you take up to the moon but there is no lunar real estate.

Our day begins at 7:30 in the morning at a breakfast with executives from Boeing.

Getting Ready for Space Camp

Ten days from now, we will be landing in Huntsville, Alabama, thanks to the generosity of The Boeing Company, submersing ourselves into the Space Camp experience.  We are a team of five:  Armando and Ronald are middle school science teachers; Ruth is a middle school math teacher; Lakeisha is our science specialist for A2TeaMS; Anne is the Science Team Leader for A2TeaMS.  All of us are members of the Academy of Advanced Teaching in Math and Science — A2TeaMS, a part of the Secondary Curriculum Department in Houston ISD.  At the end of each day we will update this blog with pictures and reflections on our experiences.  Stay tuned for updates.

Welcome to the A2TeaMS Blog

Here we go.  An online site for us to discuss and share.  Make sure to keep up with the A2TeaMS blog in July when a team of five of us attend Space Camp.