The flight vests were one-size-fits-all.
The view outside the spacecraft during launch was a video of a rocket taking off.
But to fourth-graders from Greenville and Sorento, it was the beginning of an out-of-this-world mission they had spent a month preparing for in their classrooms.
“A comet is like a dirty snowball,” Commander Erin Tyree said about their target in space. About 40 crew members, all 10 or 11 years old, giggled. The point, she said, is that as it travels through space, it collects all kinds of interesting debris that can be examined.
Their mission?
“We are going to rendezvous with Comet Enke today. You’ll be trying to get a probe into the comet” as it approaches Earth’s orbit.
We are going to rendezvous with Comet Enke today. You’ll be trying to get a probe into the comet.
Commander Erin Tyree on the crew’s mission
First, they donned flight gear (with adjustable Velcro tabs) and security badges that designated six teams and their assignments: communications/data, navigation, probe, medical, isolation and life support, and remote work.
So began a daylong exploration of space at the Challenger Learning Center on the campus of McCluer South-Berkeley High School in Ferguson, Mo. The award-winning center was developed in 2003 as a creative environment where children immerse themselves in a problem-solving space mission. They use their math, science and communication skills.
Trained employees Tyree and Ron Schowalter, who were the “commanders” of this expedition, led youngsters through an examination of the comet, which was discovered in 1819.
Tasmyn Front, the center’s director, said
Article source: http://www.bnd.com/living/magazine/article81553002.html
