Michigan Students Connect with Orbiting Astronauts for Out of this World Conversation
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WASHINGTON -- Astronauts orbiting 220 miles above Earth will discuss
science with students of the Troy School District in Troy, Mich., on
Feb. 1. The call between the students and International Space Station
Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi
Noguchi will take place from 9:10 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. CST at Athens
High School in Troy.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, state Sen. John
Pappageorge and state Rep. Marty Knollenberg also will be in
attendance. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin will send the students a video
welcome.
To develop an understanding of microgravity and orbital motion in
preparation for the call with the astronauts, students wrote
proposals for NASA programs to design, build and test their own
microgravity experiments. Four teams from Troy Athens High School
were selected for NASA's Dropping In a Microgravity Environment, or
DIME, program and a team from Smith Middle School was selected for
NASA's What If No Gravity? or WING, program.
The teams will send their science experiments to NASA's Glenn Research
Center in Cleveland to be tested in its drop tower, where the falling
experiments will experience a few seconds of weightlessness, similar
to the microgravity astronauts experience continuously in space. The
experiments and resulting data will be returned to the teams so they
can prepare reports about their findings.
Reporters interested in attending the event should contact Tim McAvoy
of the Troy School District at 248-823-4035 by 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan.
29.
On the day of the call, students also will have the opportunity to
look at the sun through telescopes and walk through a 2-D map of the
space station created by third grade classes. They also will explore
booths set up by local science and engineering companies, Michigan
State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State
University to promote student interest in careers in science,
technology, engineering and math.
The event is part of a series with educational organizations in the
U.S. and abroad to improve teaching and learning in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics. The in-orbit call, as well
as the DIME and WING programs, are part of Teaching From Space, a
NASA project that uses the unique environment of human spaceflight to
promote learning opportunities and build partnerships with the
kindergarten through 12th grade education community.
NASA Television will air video from the space station during the
event. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video
information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For information about NASA's DIME and WING student competitions,
visit:
http://spaceflightsystems.grc.
For information about NASA's education programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
For information about the International Space Station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
Source: NASA
