By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL
The International Space Station is the greatest engineering feat of modern technology, and was the subject of our Live Chat last night with electrical engineer Sharish patel from Kennedy Space Center. 46 12th grade seniors heard a brief overview of the mission of the ISS, and had an extended Q & A with Mr. Patel. Mr. Patel answered questions about the future of the ISS, careers in computer engineering, and even the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence! This chat will available in the Live Chat Archive as an Elluminate file, an MP3 audio file, and a Quicktime video for downloading to your portable media device. Next week, Curtis Frodge from Johnson Space Center will talk about Robotics and Robonaut 2 to our freshman class. Be there at 8 pm CT on Thursday November 4!
One technical aspect of last nights chat that was unique was that I moderated it from a hotel room in Oklahoma City. I and my fellow INSPIRE education specialist spent the week at home base in Stillwater, Oklahoma with our valued staff at Oklahoma State University. They do so much to provide the support we need to have a viable, thriving virtual community. We planned for the remainder of the school year, and you are going to enjoy seeing some of the changes and improvements in the OLC over the coming months.
One more thing - I will be tweeting live from the Monday November 1 launch of Discovery. Follow @Nasainspire and leave me questions.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
I Knew Them When
David Hitt, MSFC, AL
One of the cool things about working and writing for NASA is that you get the chance to meet and talk to astronauts. It adds something to watching a shuttle launch when I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of the people on board. It makes it a little more personal, a little more real.
And it’s always very cool to me when a shuttle mission flies carrying an astronaut that I met "back when."
The crew of STS-133, for example, includes three astronauts that I’ve had the chance to meet. First, there’s Alvin Drew. When I met Drew, he had just returned from the fairly high-profile STS-118 mission that flew the first education mission specialist astronaut, and had been named by People magazine as one of the nation’s hottest bachelors.
Eric Boe and Tim Kopra, on the other hand, I met fairly early in their careers. Both of them had not yet flown in space the first time I saw them. I met each when they piloted planes to bring other astronauts to Marshall Space Flight Center to talk about recent missions.
Since then, Kopra has gone on to spend two months in space as a crew member on the International Space Station, and Boe was part of a space shuttle mission that added a bathroom, kitchenette, two bedrooms and gym equipment to the space station.
And the “fourth” member of the crew I met “back when” -- Robonaut 2.
Except he wasn’t Robonaut 2 when I met him; he was still just Robonaut. I saw an early version, still in development in a lab in the back of Johnson Space Center’s Building 9, best known as the home of spacecraft mock-ups used in astronaut training. But the coolest thing -- I got to look through his eyes. Robonaut’s head features two cameras, that let a remote operator see what’s in front of Robonaut via a 3-D headset. And I got to put on the headset, and see what Robonaut saw. Very cool. And now he’s about to fly into space for the first time. Even cooler.
Cooler still, thanks to Robonaut 2’s Twitter account, @AstroRobonaut, you’ll be able to do the social networking equivalent of what I did -- see spaceflight through Robonaut’s eyes. Look how far he’s come.
I’m excited about seeing what Boe, Drew and Kopra (and their crewmates) will do on the STS-133 mission. But I have to admit that, personally, I’m even more excited about following Robonaut 2’s adventures in space. I’m enough of a science-fiction geek that I find the idea of real-life robots working on a real-life space station somewhat futuristic and more than a little cool. Granted, Robonaut 2 won’t be the first robot on the space station. There are the robot arms and Dextre, the “robot hand,” mounted on the outside of the station. And there are the free-floating bowling-ball-sized SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) that can fly through the space station -- and which can run programs written by college and high school students on Earth!
But Robonaut 2 is a little different. R2 is a little closer to the science-fiction ideal of the “android” member of a spacecraft’s crew, a little slice of “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” brought to life. I had the opportunity to write a feature for students about Robonaut 2 recently, and the potential R2 presents down the road is pretty incredible -- humanoid robots performing spacewalks to repair the space station, or even exploring the surface of other worlds. As the old saying goes, tomorrow’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact!
One of the cool things about working and writing for NASA is that you get the chance to meet and talk to astronauts. It adds something to watching a shuttle launch when I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of the people on board. It makes it a little more personal, a little more real.
And it’s always very cool to me when a shuttle mission flies carrying an astronaut that I met "back when."
The crew of STS-133, for example, includes three astronauts that I’ve had the chance to meet. First, there’s Alvin Drew. When I met Drew, he had just returned from the fairly high-profile STS-118 mission that flew the first education mission specialist astronaut, and had been named by People magazine as one of the nation’s hottest bachelors.
Eric Boe and Tim Kopra, on the other hand, I met fairly early in their careers. Both of them had not yet flown in space the first time I saw them. I met each when they piloted planes to bring other astronauts to Marshall Space Flight Center to talk about recent missions.
Since then, Kopra has gone on to spend two months in space as a crew member on the International Space Station, and Boe was part of a space shuttle mission that added a bathroom, kitchenette, two bedrooms and gym equipment to the space station.
And the “fourth” member of the crew I met “back when” -- Robonaut 2.
Except he wasn’t Robonaut 2 when I met him; he was still just Robonaut. I saw an early version, still in development in a lab in the back of Johnson Space Center’s Building 9, best known as the home of spacecraft mock-ups used in astronaut training. But the coolest thing -- I got to look through his eyes. Robonaut’s head features two cameras, that let a remote operator see what’s in front of Robonaut via a 3-D headset. And I got to put on the headset, and see what Robonaut saw. Very cool. And now he’s about to fly into space for the first time. Even cooler.
Cooler still, thanks to Robonaut 2’s Twitter account, @AstroRobonaut, you’ll be able to do the social networking equivalent of what I did -- see spaceflight through Robonaut’s eyes. Look how far he’s come.
I’m excited about seeing what Boe, Drew and Kopra (and their crewmates) will do on the STS-133 mission. But I have to admit that, personally, I’m even more excited about following Robonaut 2’s adventures in space. I’m enough of a science-fiction geek that I find the idea of real-life robots working on a real-life space station somewhat futuristic and more than a little cool. Granted, Robonaut 2 won’t be the first robot on the space station. There are the robot arms and Dextre, the “robot hand,” mounted on the outside of the station. And there are the free-floating bowling-ball-sized SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) that can fly through the space station -- and which can run programs written by college and high school students on Earth!
But Robonaut 2 is a little different. R2 is a little closer to the science-fiction ideal of the “android” member of a spacecraft’s crew, a little slice of “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” brought to life. I had the opportunity to write a feature for students about Robonaut 2 recently, and the potential R2 presents down the road is pretty incredible -- humanoid robots performing spacewalks to repair the space station, or even exploring the surface of other worlds. As the old saying goes, tomorrow’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Live Chat Roundup: October 21, 2010
By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL
Our Live Chat last night featured engineer/scientist Phil Chamberlin from Goddard Space Flight Center. Phil is the deputy project manager for the Solar Dynamics Observatory. His presentation about studying the Sun also included the SOHO and SORCE observatories. 43 11th grade students were on hand to watch the presentation and ask questions.
Next week, we travel back to Kennedy Space Center where my good friend Shirish Patel will talk about the International Space Station. This chat is for 12th grade OLC members and will begin at 8:00pm CT. Other grades will be able to view the chat in the archives.
Just a reminder about the archives: You can actually find chats archived in to different places. You can access the Elluminate file in the Online Room Area as early as Friday morning after the chat. From the Connect page, click the Live Chats link, then click the Archives link in the top left window. Clicking a file here will open an Elluminate window and play the chat as a recording: use the arrow buttons in the lower left of the window to control the video.
The second way to see a file is by going to the Archives on the lower left column on the Home Page. Click Live Chat Archive, and you'll find archived files cataloged by month and year. Here, the chat is available as an Elluminate file as well as in MP3 and QuickTime format. These can be downloaded to your computer or media device for later viewing. These files will usually appear on Monday morning.
So remember: if you don't see the chat in the Home Page Archive, check the Live Chat archive off the Connect page. And don't forget to go to 'Quizzes' on the Discover page to take the quiz! You'll find the quiz passcode at the end of each chat. Good luck!
Our Live Chat last night featured engineer/scientist Phil Chamberlin from Goddard Space Flight Center. Phil is the deputy project manager for the Solar Dynamics Observatory. His presentation about studying the Sun also included the SOHO and SORCE observatories. 43 11th grade students were on hand to watch the presentation and ask questions.
Next week, we travel back to Kennedy Space Center where my good friend Shirish Patel will talk about the International Space Station. This chat is for 12th grade OLC members and will begin at 8:00pm CT. Other grades will be able to view the chat in the archives.
Just a reminder about the archives: You can actually find chats archived in to different places. You can access the Elluminate file in the Online Room Area as early as Friday morning after the chat. From the Connect page, click the Live Chats link, then click the Archives link in the top left window. Clicking a file here will open an Elluminate window and play the chat as a recording: use the arrow buttons in the lower left of the window to control the video.
The second way to see a file is by going to the Archives on the lower left column on the Home Page. Click Live Chat Archive, and you'll find archived files cataloged by month and year. Here, the chat is available as an Elluminate file as well as in MP3 and QuickTime format. These can be downloaded to your computer or media device for later viewing. These files will usually appear on Monday morning.
So remember: if you don't see the chat in the Home Page Archive, check the Live Chat archive off the Connect page. And don't forget to go to 'Quizzes' on the Discover page to take the quiz! You'll find the quiz passcode at the end of each chat. Good luck!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Orionid Meteor Shower This Week
By John Entwistle, NASA Explorer Schools
A stream of meteors believed to be leftovers from Halley's Comet is expected to streak across the skies this week, but a full harvest moon will compete for attention and may obstruct some of the show.
The meteors are called the Orionids because they appear to shoot from the second-brightest star in the Orion constellation, or from the hunter's elbow. On Oct. 20-22, observers in the Northern Hemisphere may see around 20 meteors per hour at maximum, while observers in the Southern Hemisphere may see around 40 meteors per hour. The radiant of the shower will be observed north of Betelgeuse, the brightest star in the constellation Orion, the Mighty Hunter.
The annual show usually happens from Oct. 17 to Oct. 25, and this year it'll peak before dawn on Thursday. But that's also when a full moon will appear over North America, perhaps dimming the light of the meteors. So the best viewing times should be earlier in the week, when the moon isn't as bright. The best places from which to view the meteor shower are in locations with no light pollution.
For more information, visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/19oct_orionids/.
A stream of meteors believed to be leftovers from Halley's Comet is expected to streak across the skies this week, but a full harvest moon will compete for attention and may obstruct some of the show.
The meteors are called the Orionids because they appear to shoot from the second-brightest star in the Orion constellation, or from the hunter's elbow. On Oct. 20-22, observers in the Northern Hemisphere may see around 20 meteors per hour at maximum, while observers in the Southern Hemisphere may see around 40 meteors per hour. The radiant of the shower will be observed north of Betelgeuse, the brightest star in the constellation Orion, the Mighty Hunter.
The annual show usually happens from Oct. 17 to Oct. 25, and this year it'll peak before dawn on Thursday. But that's also when a full moon will appear over North America, perhaps dimming the light of the meteors. So the best viewing times should be earlier in the week, when the moon isn't as bright. The best places from which to view the meteor shower are in locations with no light pollution.
For more information, visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/19oct_orionids/.
Monday, October 18, 2010
I Never Knew What to Expect
By Chelsea Partridge, 2010 KSC SSE Intern
As I grow up and go on throughout my life, my experience with NASA INSPIRE is one I will always look back on and feel the same excitement and joy that I’ve felt throughout my time in the program. This is my second, and last, year in INSPIRE, and the program has blessed me with some of the greatest opportunities and memories in my life. I started the OLC when I was a junior, and participated in most of the activities, chats, and was active in the discussion boards. Through this, I met and talked with a lot of awesome people that had similar interests to me, which was something that I wasn’t really used to. Then, amazingly, I was selected to participate in the Residential Internship at Kennedy Space Center. This summer was, by far, the best summer of my life. I spent the summer in the Prototype Development Lab, working with some of the coolest people I ever met. I was able to see and go to many places within Kennedy that many people do not, and was able to do work and designs for the Shuttle Program and more. I never knew what to expect from day to day, because each day there brought something new and amazing. Interning at Kennedy created so many life-long memories and friends. And now, thanks to INSPIRE, I have the ambition to co-op and work with NASA someday- it’s the only thing I want to do! I am beyond grateful for how INSPIRE has shaped me, and am ever thankful for INSPIRE and their wonderful and caring staff. Thanks for everything you have done for me, INSPIRE. You have changed my life.
As I grow up and go on throughout my life, my experience with NASA INSPIRE is one I will always look back on and feel the same excitement and joy that I’ve felt throughout my time in the program. This is my second, and last, year in INSPIRE, and the program has blessed me with some of the greatest opportunities and memories in my life. I started the OLC when I was a junior, and participated in most of the activities, chats, and was active in the discussion boards. Through this, I met and talked with a lot of awesome people that had similar interests to me, which was something that I wasn’t really used to. Then, amazingly, I was selected to participate in the Residential Internship at Kennedy Space Center. This summer was, by far, the best summer of my life. I spent the summer in the Prototype Development Lab, working with some of the coolest people I ever met. I was able to see and go to many places within Kennedy that many people do not, and was able to do work and designs for the Shuttle Program and more. I never knew what to expect from day to day, because each day there brought something new and amazing. Interning at Kennedy created so many life-long memories and friends. And now, thanks to INSPIRE, I have the ambition to co-op and work with NASA someday- it’s the only thing I want to do! I am beyond grateful for how INSPIRE has shaped me, and am ever thankful for INSPIRE and their wonderful and caring staff. Thanks for everything you have done for me, INSPIRE. You have changed my life.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Live Chat Roundup: October 14, 2010
By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL
Last night’s Live Chat started with a little excitement as we announced live the winner of the INSPIRE Team Patch Challenge. Cindy Zheng, a junior from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, created the winning entry with her design featuring the Big Dipper and an elaborate math equation. Cindy was on hand to talk about her design, which can now be seen in the Online learning Community banner. Congratulations to Cindy, and big thanks to all students who submitted designs for the challenge. You’ll soon see many of these on the Showcase page.
After that excitement, we proceeded into the presentation by Erin McKinley about the Goddard Space Flight Center (our scheduled speaker had a last minute conflict and will be rescheduled). Erin talked of the formation of GSFC in 1959 and it’s mission to study the Earth and space environment. 74 students were present, with many asking questions of Ms. McKinley. The chat is now available in the Live Chat archive and will appear in the Home Page archive soon. Don’t forget to use the pass code to take the quiz for 50 points!
Next week’s chat will be for our junior class and feature Goddard’s Phil Chamberlain talking about the Solar Dynamics Observatory and other spacecraft that monitor the Sun. We’ll see you then!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Greatest Experience
By De'Von Cross, 12th Grade OLC
Hello to all INSPIRE students!!!!!!! My name is De'Von Cross. I am a currently a senior and was an INSPIRE student my junior year also. I recently attended a Summer STEM experience under INSPIRE this past year at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. To all who may be concerned about taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity I'd advise that you apply for it when the time comes. I LOVED THE EXPERIENCE! You can't get any closer to working for NASA in a STEM career field than through an internship with the NASA foundation itself. It's one of the greatest experiences of my life thus far.
Hello to all INSPIRE students!!!!!!! My name is De'Von Cross. I am a currently a senior and was an INSPIRE student my junior year also. I recently attended a Summer STEM experience under INSPIRE this past year at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. To all who may be concerned about taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity I'd advise that you apply for it when the time comes. I LOVED THE EXPERIENCE! You can't get any closer to working for NASA in a STEM career field than through an internship with the NASA foundation itself. It's one of the greatest experiences of my life thus far.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Desert RATS: What now?
By Dr. Jacob Bleacher
Dr. Jacob Bleacher is a Planetary Geologist working at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. For the 2010 Desert RATS field test, Dr. Bleacher was the geology crew member on rover B during week one.
Now that the field test is over, what will our team be doing? Some of you might have heard that one goal of this field test was to experiment with several different operational modes. Two different exploration strategies that we examined included different approaches to using two rovers at the same time, and two different communications capabilities. The two approaches to using both rovers were called "Lead and Trail" and "Divide and Conquer."
During "Lead and Trail" operations, both rovers and crew operated in close proximity to each other, often exploring similar geologic terrains. In general, the rovers maintained line of sight, but most important was maintaining communications during these operations. If line of sight and communications were lost for a period of time, both rovers were required to return to the last location in which they had communication with the other rover. In general, this resulted in the rovers being no farther apart than 1-2 km.
During "Divide and Conquer" operations, both rovers were free to explore different geologic terrains without maintaining line of sight or as strict communications. This enabled both crews to cover more ground as a team, but should something go wrong, they would be farther apart from each other and less able to help each other out of trouble.
The two communications scenarios that we tested were called "Two-a-day Comms." and "Continuous Comms." Together, these two scenarios represent the opposite extremes of how we might set up our communications capabilities for future missions.
During "Two-a-day Comms," the crew were not in communication with the science backroom or Mission Control during the day. Crew were responsible for making sure that they arrived to predetermined sites, at which our communications hardware would enable us to touch base with the backrooms. As we slept in the rover overnight, the backrooms would work to download all of the data that we had collected the day before. At the beginning and end of each day, while we were still in communication with the backrooms, we would have meetings to discuss what we had seen during the day, and what the plan was for the new day.
During "Continuous Comms," the crew were able to communicate directly with both Mission Control and the science team at all times. This enabled the science team to keep track of what we had done all day, and took some pressure off of them while working through the night to interpret all of our data.
As you might suspect, each scenario resulted in slightly different outcomes. As we have read already, the Human Factors team was tasked with keeping track of how the crew physically responded to the work environment, which is strongly influenced by these different scenarios. Meanwhile, the Science Team was keeping close track of which combination of scenarios provided the greatest science value.
Now that the test is over, it's time for the team to evaluate what the outcome was of these different scenarios. Each scenario will also need to be balanced against the cost it takes to make it happen. So, which one was best? What do you think? Stay tuned. You might very well see the answer to that question in the way that our future missions are designed to send humans to the moon and other planets. And you can say you saw it all unfolding when you kept track of the Desert RATS and other NASA Analog Field Tests.
Dr. Jacob Bleacher is a Planetary Geologist working at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. For the 2010 Desert RATS field test, Dr. Bleacher was the geology crew member on rover B during week one.
Now that the field test is over, what will our team be doing? Some of you might have heard that one goal of this field test was to experiment with several different operational modes. Two different exploration strategies that we examined included different approaches to using two rovers at the same time, and two different communications capabilities. The two approaches to using both rovers were called "Lead and Trail" and "Divide and Conquer."
During "Lead and Trail" operations, both rovers and crew operated in close proximity to each other, often exploring similar geologic terrains. In general, the rovers maintained line of sight, but most important was maintaining communications during these operations. If line of sight and communications were lost for a period of time, both rovers were required to return to the last location in which they had communication with the other rover. In general, this resulted in the rovers being no farther apart than 1-2 km.
During "Divide and Conquer" operations, both rovers were free to explore different geologic terrains without maintaining line of sight or as strict communications. This enabled both crews to cover more ground as a team, but should something go wrong, they would be farther apart from each other and less able to help each other out of trouble.
The two communications scenarios that we tested were called "Two-a-day Comms." and "Continuous Comms." Together, these two scenarios represent the opposite extremes of how we might set up our communications capabilities for future missions.
During "Two-a-day Comms," the crew were not in communication with the science backroom or Mission Control during the day. Crew were responsible for making sure that they arrived to predetermined sites, at which our communications hardware would enable us to touch base with the backrooms. As we slept in the rover overnight, the backrooms would work to download all of the data that we had collected the day before. At the beginning and end of each day, while we were still in communication with the backrooms, we would have meetings to discuss what we had seen during the day, and what the plan was for the new day.
During "Continuous Comms," the crew were able to communicate directly with both Mission Control and the science team at all times. This enabled the science team to keep track of what we had done all day, and took some pressure off of them while working through the night to interpret all of our data.
As you might suspect, each scenario resulted in slightly different outcomes. As we have read already, the Human Factors team was tasked with keeping track of how the crew physically responded to the work environment, which is strongly influenced by these different scenarios. Meanwhile, the Science Team was keeping close track of which combination of scenarios provided the greatest science value.
Now that the test is over, it's time for the team to evaluate what the outcome was of these different scenarios. Each scenario will also need to be balanced against the cost it takes to make it happen. So, which one was best? What do you think? Stay tuned. You might very well see the answer to that question in the way that our future missions are designed to send humans to the moon and other planets. And you can say you saw it all unfolding when you kept track of the Desert RATS and other NASA Analog Field Tests.
 |
| Space Exploration Vehicles A and B come home at the end of the Desert RATS mission. |
Monday, October 4, 2010
Here Comes Comet Hartley 2!
(Bill Cooke was one of our Live Chat presenters last year. We hope to have him back! JG)
A pale green interloper among the stars of Cassiopeia, Comet Hartley 2 shines in this four-minute exposure taken on the night of Sept. 28, 2010, by NASA astronomer Bill Cooke:
Still too faint to be seen with the unaided eye, the comet was 18 million miles away from Earth at the time. Cooke took this image using a telescope located near Mayhill, N.M., which he controlled via the Internet from his home computer in Huntsville, Ala.
Comet-watching from the comfort of your living room! Modern astronomy is truly amazing...
More About Comet 103P/Hartley 2
Comet 103P/Hartley 2, a small periodic comet, was discovered in 1986 by Malcolm Hartley, an Australian astronomer. It orbits the sun about every 6.5 years, and on Oct. 20, the comet will make its closest approach to Earth since its discovery. In this case, "close" means 11 million miles, or 17.7 million kilometers. A moonless sky will make for promising viewing conditions in the northeastern skies, especially just before dawn.
Comet Hartley 2's nuclear diameter is estimated at 0.75-0.99 of one mile -- 1.2-1.6 kilometers -- and it's believed to have enough mass to make approximately 100 more apparitions, or appearances, near Earth. The 2010 appearance also marks one of the closest approaches of any comet in the last few centuries.
A pale green interloper among the stars of Cassiopeia, Comet Hartley 2 shines in this four-minute exposure taken on the night of Sept. 28, 2010, by NASA astronomer Bill Cooke:
Still too faint to be seen with the unaided eye, the comet was 18 million miles away from Earth at the time. Cooke took this image using a telescope located near Mayhill, N.M., which he controlled via the Internet from his home computer in Huntsville, Ala.
Comet-watching from the comfort of your living room! Modern astronomy is truly amazing...
More About Comet 103P/Hartley 2
Comet 103P/Hartley 2, a small periodic comet, was discovered in 1986 by Malcolm Hartley, an Australian astronomer. It orbits the sun about every 6.5 years, and on Oct. 20, the comet will make its closest approach to Earth since its discovery. In this case, "close" means 11 million miles, or 17.7 million kilometers. A moonless sky will make for promising viewing conditions in the northeastern skies, especially just before dawn.
Comet Hartley 2's nuclear diameter is estimated at 0.75-0.99 of one mile -- 1.2-1.6 kilometers -- and it's believed to have enough mass to make approximately 100 more apparitions, or appearances, near Earth. The 2010 appearance also marks one of the closest approaches of any comet in the last few centuries.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Live Chat Roundup: September 30, 2010
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - SELECTED BY INSPIRE SENIORS AS MOST IMPORTANT NASA MILESTONE!
By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL
NASA Milestones was the topic of last night's Live Chat, and I had the privileged of not only hosting the chat but also providing the presentation. 69 OLC seniors logged in to hear about many of the important milestones in NASA history. We then used a 'Sweet Sixteen' bracket to allow the seniors to vote for their choice as the most important milestones. The final four were the Space Shuttle, Apollo 11, Medical Telemetry, and the ISS. The ISS, which represents a permanent human presence in space, was selected for top honors. I greatly enjoyed the lively question and answer time that followed. If your question was not answered, or you want to comment on the final selection, check out the appropriate thread on the Discussion Board.
I do want to thank my team mates, Beth Ingrum and Beth-Ann White for their support with last night's chat. We have just completed a mini-conference with our INSPIRE partners from all the NASA Centers at a hotel in Orlando, FL. I was able to have a great connection to the internet from our meeting room, and Ms. Inrum and Ms. White kept me company as we chatted (Ms. White was even enlisted as a tie breaker for a couple of rounds!). Next week, I'll be back at KSC for another exciting week on the Online Learning Community, and a Live Chat for freshman with Dr. Don Neill from CalTech and the GALEX mission.
By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL
NASA Milestones was the topic of last night's Live Chat, and I had the privileged of not only hosting the chat but also providing the presentation. 69 OLC seniors logged in to hear about many of the important milestones in NASA history. We then used a 'Sweet Sixteen' bracket to allow the seniors to vote for their choice as the most important milestones. The final four were the Space Shuttle, Apollo 11, Medical Telemetry, and the ISS. The ISS, which represents a permanent human presence in space, was selected for top honors. I greatly enjoyed the lively question and answer time that followed. If your question was not answered, or you want to comment on the final selection, check out the appropriate thread on the Discussion Board.
I do want to thank my team mates, Beth Ingrum and Beth-Ann White for their support with last night's chat. We have just completed a mini-conference with our INSPIRE partners from all the NASA Centers at a hotel in Orlando, FL. I was able to have a great connection to the internet from our meeting room, and Ms. Inrum and Ms. White kept me company as we chatted (Ms. White was even enlisted as a tie breaker for a couple of rounds!). Next week, I'll be back at KSC for another exciting week on the Online Learning Community, and a Live Chat for freshman with Dr. Don Neill from CalTech and the GALEX mission.
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