NASA Briefing Highlights Education Outreach During Next Shuttle Flight
HOUSTON -- NASA will highlight the educational activities planned on
the next space shuttle mission during a news briefing at 12 p.m. CDT,
Tuesday, March 9. The briefing will originate from NASA's Johnson
Space Center in Houston and be carried live on NASA Television and
the agency's Web site. Reporters will be able to ask questions from
participating NASA locations.
Astronaut and former school teacher Ricky Arnold will be joined by
Cindy McArthur from the Teaching from Space Office to discuss
educational activities involving astronaut and former teacher Dottie
Metcalf-Lindenburger during the STS-131 shuttle flight.
Metcalf-Lindenburger will be the last of the three school teachers
selected as mission specialists in the 2004 Educator Astronaut Class
to fly on the space shuttle. Arnold and Joseph Acaba flew on the
STS-119 shuttle mission in March 2009.
The educational activities on the STS-131 shuttle mission to the
International Space Station will focus on robotics and careers in
science, technology, engineering and math. The briefing also will
explain how educators can become involved in learning activities
during and after the shuttle mission.
Without robotics, major accomplishments of building the station,
repairing satellites in space and exploring other worlds would not be
possible. Metcalf-Lindenburger will operate the space shuttle's
robotic arm and a 50-foot Orbiter Boom Sensing System to inspect the
shuttle for any damage that might have occurred during launch or in
space. A digital camera and laser system on the boom's end provide
three-dimensional imagery used by analysts to assess the health of
the shuttle's heat shield.
For more information about robotics education, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education/
The education briefing is part of a series of news conferences to
preview the STS-131 mission. Metcalf-Lindenburger and her crewmates
will be available at 1 p.m. during a crew news conference from
Johnson that will air on NASA TV. For Metcalf-Lindenburger's complete
biography, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/
Discovery is targeted to launch April 5 from NASA's Kennedy Space
Center in Florida. Following STS-131, only three more shuttle flights
are scheduled. For more information on the mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Source: NASA
