NASA News: NASA Announces Student Winners in Space Game Design Challenge
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Three school student teams in the fifththrough eighth grades have been selected as the winners of NASA's
second annual Spaced Out Sports challenge. The students designed
science-based games that will be played by astronauts aboard the
International Space Station (ISS).
The games illustrate and apply Newton's laws of motion by showing the
differences between Earth's gravity and the microgravity environment
of the space station. The challenge is part of a broader agency
education effort to engage students in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities.
To design their game, students use up to five items from a two-page
list of objects aboard the ISS. The list includes such items as
socks, exercise putty, bungees, cotton swabs, tape, rubber bands,
zipper-top bags, chocolate-covered candies and drink bags.
Students at Pierremont Elementary MOSAICS Academy in Manchester, Mo.,
earned the top prize with their game "Starfield." In this activity,
astronauts will travel through a course to gather "power stars" and
throw them through a "black hole target."
Second-place honors went to students at East Brook Middle School in
Paramus, N.J., for their "Outstanding Obstacles" game. It calls on
astronauts to race through obstacles including "hair band shooting"
and "ring toss."
The third-place winners are students at Tyngsborough Middle School in
Tyngsborough, Mass., for their "Learning Takes You Around the World"
game, in which astronauts will propel through rings, collecting slips of paper.
"Congratulations to the 2012 Spaced Out Sports winners," said Leland
Melvin, associate administrator for education at NASA Headquarters in
Washington and two-time shuttle astronaut. "By combining solid STEM
skills with imagination and teamwork, these students have
demonstrated that they have what it takes to be our next generation
of engineers and designers."
The Spaced Out Sports challenge is a NASA Teaching from Space activity
and was first offered in 2010. Using an accompanying curriculum,
teachers lead students through a study of Newton's laws, highlighted
by hands-on activities and video podcasts featuring NASA scientists
and engineers explaining how the laws are used in the space program.
"The three top games were selected but everyone really is a winner in
this challenge," said Katie Wallace, director of NASA's Stennis Space
Center Office of Education near Bay St. Louis, Miss., where the
challenge and accompanying curriculum were developed. "Every student
involved wins by learning more about science and establishing an
educational foundation that will serve them well throughout their
careers and life."
For information about Teaching from Space, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education/tfs
For information about NASA's Science and Sports curriculum and related
resources, visit:
http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/
For information about NASA education programs, visit:
www.nasa.gov/education
For information about Stennis, visit:
www.nasa.gov/stennis
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Space Shuttle Discovery to Fly Over Washington Metro Area April 17
WASHINGTON -- NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) with spaceshuttle Discovery mounted atop will fly approximately 1,500 feet
above various parts of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area on
Tuesday, April 17.
The flight, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration,
is scheduled to occur between 10 and 11 a.m. EDT. NASA Television and
the agency's web site will provide live coverage.
The exact route and timing of the flight depend on weather and
operational constraints. However, the aircraft is expected to fly
near a variety of landmarks in the metropolitan area, including the
National Mall, Reagan National Airport, National Harbor and the
Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center. When the flyover is complete, the
SCA will land at Dulles International Airport.
Discovery completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the
Earth 5,830 times, and traveled 148,221,675 miles. NASA will transfer
Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum to begin its new
mission to commemorate past achievements in space and to educate and
inspire future generations of explorers.
If the flight must be postponed for any reason, an additional notice
will be released.
For more information about NASA's transfer of space shuttles to
museums, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/transition
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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NASA Releases New Open Government Plan
WASHINGTON -- NASA today released version 2.0 of its Open GovernmentPlan, which includes a flagship initiative to build a new web
architecture and a renewed focus on open data sharing, open source
development and a variety of technology acceleration efforts.
The plan also features a directory of more than 100 participatory,
collaborative and transparent projects, offering citizens
opportunities to understand, support and engage with the agency.
Throughout the next year, NASA will continue to add projects to the directory.
NASA's Open Government efforts launched two years ago in response to
the December 2009 Open Government Directive, which called on
executive agencies to become more open and accountable. Since then,
the agency has worked to implement 147 goals addressing policy,
technology and culture throughout its centers and offices. Also
released today is an infographic summarizing the status of progress
made toward these goals, available at:
http://open.nasa.gov/plan/
"Open Government principles are already evident in numerous activities
underway throughout the agency," said Sasi Pillay, NASA chief
technology officer for IT at the NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"This revision of the Plan captures these activities in one place for
the benefit of all."
The new plan provides a strong framework to better support the
agency's vision to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown.
To read the plan, visit:
http://open.nasa.gov/plan
To learn more about the White House Open Government Initiative, visit:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open
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