Space Academy for Educators, Expedition 43

The highlight of my summer professional development was spending a week at Space Camp for Educators at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. The schedule was jam packed with great activities and lesson ideas on top of all the goose-bump inducing history on display. The best aspect of the week was the camaraderie of fellow teachers and the passion of the educators and especially Education Program Manager Dan Oates who put the whole thing together. We quickly became close friends and the time went by so fast! Special thanks to Andrea “Duckie” Tribo for great lessons and sharing of resources, and our Crew Trainers Ashley, Andy, Jon and Danielle.

I’m sometimes baffled by the engineering in space science and concepts in astronomy, so part of my motivation was to get more inspired and that mission was accomplished. The group of 19 teachers got to relive the “thrill” of spartan college dorm life on the University of Alabama, Huntsville campus. As we checked in we were sized up for our fabulous flight suits and other teacher swag like this bragging t shirt.

Each morning we rose up early to travel together a few miles to the camp. It is a bustling complex of facilities with about 800 children attending each week and a popular tourist attraction. (click on pictures for more detail)

On Thursday we met Ed Buckbee, a founder Space Camp with Dr. Werner von Braun in 1982. He gave an inspiring presentation, we took a picture with him and were presented signed books.

For us teachers and learners “failure” is an option, when learning something new, we need to take risks. In the context of a space mission with human lives at stake, failure is not an option, though.

Next we split into our two mission groups, team Columbus and team Destiny, and began designing our mission patch, which is a thing with NASA and all its missions. Thanks to awesome science teacher Dave Harms for working tirelessly on the artwork for Columbus.

After that we had lunch, the first of several meals shared in the hectic atmosphere of the camp cafeteria. Then we had a workshop on rocketry and built our own rockets, which we later decorated and a few days later shot off.

Later that first day we got to meet Space Shuttle astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson, who shared stories and images from his experiences. He also took a picture with us and we got a signed picture. He showed us several striking images including the first untethered space walk and his handshake that ended the Cold War.

On Thursday evenings, the Davidson Center for Space Exploration building turns into a German Biergarten under the Saturn V rocket, so we got to check that out as well.

Over the next few days we had some excellent teacher workshops presented by NASA educators John Weis and others. we Later got to fill our bags with units from the NASA Teacher Resource Center. A highlight of those sessions was meeting NASA scientist Alex Few who is working on the Solar Sail project. He brought in samples of the materials he is working on and shared some of his work flow with us. Would you believe that photons or particles of light itself (not a solar panel) could propel a spacecraft?

In addition to NASA educators, there were great hands-on engineering projects led by Space Camp teachers. Tribo and Andy really brought it. Later on Friday after we got into our flight suits for our official team picture and we got to meet renowned author and the inspiration behind the film October Sky, Homer Hickam. He read to us from Rocket Boys, took a picture with us, and gave us signed copied of the book. Classy.

Next we learned about the types of hardware involved in rocket launch and were rewarded for our attention with a thrilling demonstration of a model of solid rocket fuel in action. (shown in time reverse here).

As with all the activities, lesson plans and activity guides were shared if we want to reenact or modify these at our school sites. Finally, we began preparing for the first of our two team missions in the scale simulator of the ISS, with some anomalies thrown in. Shout out to co-specialist Tammy who put up with my hi-jinks.

Our lanyard was a pass to ride Space Shot and G Force as many times as we wanted.

Saturday was the most exciting day. After we launched our rockets, we got to try out the MAT (Multi Axis Trainer) that helps astronauts train for an out of control tumble spin.

Then we ventured out to a lake facility to experience simulations of a helo dunker in case the capsule sinks after splashdown,

and an escape from the launch pad in case of emergency.

After we dried off, we began a team engineering challenge to protect some eggcelent cargo.

Then it was time for us to do our ISS mission for real. My job was to hit a few switches and then go do some science experiments, like this one.

On Sunday we experienced another classic astronaut training apparatus, the 1/6 gravity chair.

Then it was time for some training and another mission in the simulator, this time to Mars on the Orion capsule. My job this time was Mission Operations Director which meant I had to do a a lot of script reading, pay super close attention at all times and couldn’t make any jokes. Next time I will cry if I don’t get to suit up and do an EVA.

Here is the screen that I was monitoring and trying to understand as Mission Operations Manager.

There was not much time to reflect as next we quickly headed out to “Area 51” for a low ropes course-type of team challenge.

We completed three quick challenges which made us want to come back and do more. I love this kind of team building stuff. We solved a challenge much better when we were not allowed to talk.

After that we had a choice of doing either electronics sodering or explore the conditions necessary to support life on an exoplanet. I went with building a UV flashlight but the other activity looks great too.

On our last day we began with the Imax film screening of “Dream Big”. That was followed by more activities of our choice, either a simulation of Ablative Shielding for reentry, using various materials in an engineering challenge…

Or programming SPRK+ robots to navigate a model of the Martian landscape. It was cool how Tribo had painted a sheet and used it to cover various objects underneath, creating a Martian robot obstacle course.

After that we worked together to complete a “Space Escape” Breakout Edu game, an early dinner and then into our flight suits for the official graduation ceremony.

Although everyone was tired from a whirlwind of activities, most of us just kicked up into another gear and we hung out until early in the morning celebrating our wonderful experiences. No pictures of that.

Here are some more of the pictures we took around the rocket center complex.

My best pals on the missions, Lauren and Dave. More of our collaborations will hopefully be in future posts.

Relief in space. It too has a patch.

We all agreed that next year we would try to reunite for an extended and Advanced Space Academy that would include the underwater training that looks like this.

At one point we were asked to pose for a picture with this child, we didn’t dare tell him we weren’t real astronauts.

And not to be forgotten is the treasure trove of human engineering and historic artifacts open to the public and vital for all of you to see in person. Whenever you can, plan a trip to Huntsville.

They do an interesting job of making the Lunar Rock sample disk that teachers can borrow for their classrooms more interesting with this interactive exhibit: