NASA News: NASA Awards Knowledge Sharing And Curriculum Contract
HAMPTON, Va. -- NASA selected InuTeq, LLC in Greenbelt, Md., for afollow-on contract award for support services for the agency's Office
of the Chief Engineer's Academy of Program/Project and Engineering
Leadership (APPEL).
InuTeq, LLC is a Small Business Administration 8(a)-certified small
disadvantaged business. The company will provide services for
developing NASA's technical workforce in systems engineering,
engineering, and program and project management.
InuTeq also will provide curriculum development and knowledge sharing
services; support for international collaboration; implementation of
e-Learning into the APPEL program; and publish the Academy Sharing
Knowledge Magazine.
The contract period of performance is five years, including options,
with a maximum total value of $35,884,987.
For more information about NASA's APPEL program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/
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NASA Briefing With Commercial Crew Development Award Winners
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA will host a media briefing at 11 a.m. EDTThursday, April 28, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to
highlight the four companies selected for the second round of the
agency's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) efforts.
The briefing is part of the countdown activities for the final
scheduled launch of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission to the
International Space Station. Lift off is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. on Friday, April 29.
The news conference participants are:
-- Phil McAlister, acting director, Commercial Spaceflight
Development, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- Ed Mango, program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program,
Kennedy Space Center
-- Rob Meyerson, program manager, Blue Origin, Kent, Wash.
-- Mark Sirangelo, program manager, Sierra Nevada, Louisville, Colo.
-- Garrett Reisman, program manager, SpaceX, Hawthorne, Calif.
-- John Elbon, program manager, The Boeing Company, Houston
On April 18, NASA awarded $269.3 million to these companies to
accelerate the availability of U.S. commercial crew transportation
capabilities and reduce the gap in American human spaceflight
capability. Through this activity, NASA also may be able to spur
economic growth as potential new space markets are created. Once
developed, crew transportation capabilities could become available to
commercial and government customers.
The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed at:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
The NASA News Twitter feed will be updated throughout the shuttle
launch countdown, mission and landing. To follow, visit:
http://www.twitter.com/nasa
Kennedy manages the agency's Commercial Crew Development efforts for
the NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.
http://www.nasa.gov/
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NASA Explorer Schools Symposium Showcases Student Research
WASHINGTON -- Students from across the nation will gather at NASA'sKennedy Space Center in Florida May 4-7 for the NASA Explorer Schools
symposium. Future leaders in science, technology, education and math,
or STEM, will present their work to NASA scientists, engineers,
fellow students and educators.
The competitively selected group of fourth through 12th-graders
consists of 58 students and 29 educators. The various research
projects were designed to improve teaching and bolster interest in
STEM disciplines.
"NASA's mission of research and discovery is a powerful context for
learning," said NASA Explorer Schools Project manager, Rob LaSalvia.
"Each year students amaze us with presentations that mirror the work
of our scientists and engineers."
The students were required to complete an original investigation
focused on existing NASA missions or research interests. Participants
presented their work to experts at virtual regional symposia held
January through March at NASA centers using the agency's Digital
Learning Network.
In addition to presenting their work at the national symposium,
participants also will learn more about NASA's research activities
and exploration missions. Students will tour a variety of operational
facilities at Kennedy, including the space shuttle launch complex.
The NASA Explorer Schools project offers multiple pathways for
participation and requires no application process. Teacher
participants must be a U.S. citizen, have a valid education
certification as an administrator or educator in a nationally
accredited education institution within the United States or
territories, Department of Defense or State Department schools.
For more information about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit:
http://explorerschools.nasa.
For more information about NASA's education programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
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NASA Offers Students And Teachers Flight Experiences
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- Students and educators nationwide will have theopportunity to interact with NASA engineers and scientists through
two newly developed NASA flight initiatives.
The programs, developed at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia,
are designed to give students and educators hands-on flight
experiences using NASA sounding rockets and scientific balloons.
The Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers and Students (WRATS) will
provide high school participants with a technical flight experience
to reinforce science, technology, engineering and mathematics
concepts. Teachers and students will participate in person or
virtually in authentic, hands-on experiences based on NASA's sounding
rocket engineering and science data collection. WRATS will include
interactive Web based data to give students and educators lessons in
physics and engineering. Teachers also receive resources to integrate
the data into classroom lessons.
Selected participants in other NASA education projects will have the
opportunity to attend a rocketry flight week June 19 - 24, at
Wallops. Participants will learn about the dynamics of launch, safe
flight operations and view a NASA Terrier-Orion sounding rocket
liftoff on Thursday, June 23.
The Wallops Balloon Experience for Educators (WBEE) provides
opportunities for high school teachers to fly experiments on
scientific flights. WBEE will build upon an existing partnership
between NASA and the Louisiana Space Consortium, which has developed
student outreach programs, including the High Altitude Space Platform
(HASP) and Louisiana Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for Students (LaACES).
Since 2002, the programs have flown multiple missions involving
hundreds of students in undergraduate though post-graduate programs.
WBEE will expand the LaACES platform into secondary education with a
focus on core principles and future partnership with educators and their institutions.
WBEE will involve teams of selected educators who have participated in
other NASA education projects. They will visit the Columbia
Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, for a week-long
workshop in July. Participants will be involved in classroom and
hands-on balloon science activities. The teams will have the
opportunity to build and test their own science payload for a flight
to the edge of space under the direction of NASA and Louisiana Space
Consortium personnel.
The WBEE experience culminates with the launch of these payloads
aboard a NASA scientific balloon. WBEE will be an intensive course
involving a broad-based learning experience educators may implement
at their home schools.
The Teaching From Space office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston is partnering with Wallops to provide the flights. The
program continues NASA's investment in the nation's education
programs by supporting the goal of attracting and retaining students
in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines
critical to future space exploration.
For information about WRATS and WBEE, visit:
http://education.wff.nasa.gov/
For information about NASA's Teaching From Space program, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education/tfs
For information about NASA's broad range of education programs, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education
Source: NASA
