 |  | | | | | OVER THE TOP - Yahoooooo!
|
06.10.04
| |
When Alissa Kuseske was eight years old her family traveled to Florida where they visited NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Image to left: Alissa Kuseske fulfilled her dream of flying on NASA's KC-135 aircraft. Credit: NASA
While visiting the space exhibits and museum a passion was kindled in young Alissa which is still alive today.
According to her, "I loved anything that had to do with space travel, space food, KC-135 and floating like an astronaut, building models with my dad, NASA mission patches, astronauts... I had to get my hands on anything that had to do with space. I wanted to be an astronaut ever since I can remember and if you ask any friend or relative they would tell you the same thing: She is crazy about space!"
Image to left: NASA Explorer School educator Alissa Kuseske worked with her students' spinning tops experiment. Credit: NASA
That passion turned into reality for Alissa and five other educators in April 2004. NASA had selected three NASA Explorer Schools (NES) to participate in a pilot program which included a trip to Houston, Texas, where the teachers would fly onboard NASA's microgravity platform KC-135 aircraft and test experiments planned by their students.
Students and teachers from Crossroads Elementary School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Sioux Central Middle School in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, and Pender Public School in Pender, Nebraska, worked with NASA scientists and NASA education specialists to develop experiments that could be tested in the weightless environment of NASA's KC-135. Months were spent designing and preparing the experiments to make sure that the projects met the guidelines for flight.
Image to right: Team members from Pender Public School in Pender, Nebraska, were ready to fly. Credit: NASA
"One of the goals of the NES program is to provide teachers and their students with unique opportunities that are inquiry-based, 'as only NASA can'," said Peggy Steffen, NASA Explorer Schools program manager. "Developing an experiment to fly on the reduced gravity aircraft with the assistance of a NASA scientist-mentor provided the students an opportunity to investigate a real-world application of physical science."
Before the teachers traveled to Houston, students and teachers from all three NES locations participated in a video conference hosted by the Digital Learning Network (DLN) at NASA Johnson Space Center. Donn Sickorez from the KC-135 program and Chris Chilelli from the DLN provided background information about the KC-135 aircraft and communicated with the students about their experiments. A follow-up videoconference occurred while the teachers were in Houston.
Image to left: Alissa Kuseske and the other teachers went through pre-flight tests before the flight. Credit: NASA
After arriving in Houston the teachers experienced what the astronauts did in their pre-flight training. They first underwent program orientation and then physiological training in a hypobaric chamber.
Next was the test readiness review to make sure that all parts of the experiments were ready for flight. Then the excitement began! They divided into two groups and over a 2-day period alternated flight times and flew like the astronauts!
Image to right : Kim Anderson from Sioux Central Middle School never thought she'd be flying with the astronauts. Credit: NASA
The NASA KC-135 Reduced Gravity Program has been providing a three-dimensional "weightless" test and training environment for researchers since 1959. Originally the province of astronauts, and used primarily in support of NASA missions, the Boeing KC-135 provides other researchers with a venue for fabricating and testing reduced gravity experiments.
A typical KC-135 mission is 2 to 3 hours long and consists of 30 to 40 parabolas or arcs. These parabolas can be flown in succession or with short breaks between maneuvers to reconfigure test equipment. During each arc there will be 20 to 25 seconds of weightlessness.
|
|
Image above: Once the KC-135 goes over the top of the arc there will be 20 to 25 seconds of weightlessness. Credit: NASA |
And what did educator Alissa Kuseske think about her flight above the Earth?
"Astronaut Dan Barry gave me this advice before I flew on the KC-135. 'Remember to take the time to make the memory.' I took the time to look around the cabin when Flight Director John Yaniec yelled those three spectacular words, "Over the top!" I took the time to memorize the feeling of the body floating so I could bring the memory back to my students and family. It really was important to me to get it right; I didn't want to miss a second. This was my dream, and it could very well be a student's dream in my classroom or school. I wanted to make sure I made my time in the KC-135 count. I could not let my students down."
|
|
Image above: Flight Group A flew in the KC-135 in the morning. Credit: NASA |
The NASA Explorer Schools Program, started in June 2003, establishes a three-year partnership between NASA and 50 new NASA Explorer School teams annually. The teams consist of teachers and education administrators from diverse communities across the country. During the commitment period, NASA invites teams to NASA Centers to spark innovative science and mathematics instruction directed specifically at students in grades four through nine. The selected schools are also eligible for up to $17,500 in grants over the three years of involvement, pending continued funding. Applications for the 2005 NASA Explorer Schools Program will be available this fall.
|
|
Image above: Flight Group B flew in the KC-135 in the afternoon. Credit: NASA |
Highlights of the KC-135 Flights:
|
Ready to Go!
NASA Explorer School teachers board NASA's KC-135 aircraft at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. While onboard the teachers performed experiments created by their students. Part of the clip shows an animation of the flight plan that the aircraft followed to create a weightless environment.
+ View video
|
|
Pender Public School
Teachers from Pender Public School in Pender, Nebraska, experimented with balloons filled with Helium, Argon and air. The students and teachers worked with NASA scientists to develop research projects that were flown on the KC-135.
+ View video
|
|
Sioux Central Middle School
Educators Craig Cadman and Kim Anderson from Sioux Central Middle School in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, tested their students' "Turtle Project." Students developed sets of instructions that were uploaded into the Lego Robotic Controller unit while on the KC-135, and the teachers videotaped the execution of the program. The video tapes will be analyzed by the student teams.
+ View video
|
|
Crossroads Elementary School
Dr. Bill Lindquist, science teacher from Crossroads Elementary School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, flew with his students' STiMG (Spinning Tops in Microgravity) experiment. Their goal was to study the rotational motion of different types of spinning tops and compare the 1g results to the 0g results.
+ View video
|
|
What a Day It Had Been!
It had been an exciting day for the teachers. They had experienced a series of parabolic maneuvers just as the astronauts do while training for space flight missions. There were lots of stories to share with their students and colleagues back home.
+ View video
|
Reduced Gravity Student Opportunities Program
http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/
NASA Explorer Schools Program
http://explorerschools.nasa.gov
Crossroads Elementary School
http://crossroads.spps.org/Reduced_Gravity_Flight.html
| |
| |
|
 | |
| |
| |
| 
What's the Vomit Comet?
Astronauts fly in it and it sounds messy.
+ View | |
|
| 
Ride a Roller Coaster in the Sky
How is the KC-135 like a roller coaster? Find out here!
+ View | |
|
| 
Inside the Vomit Comet
See what it looks like inside the KC-135.
+ View
+ Download viewer | |
|
| 
Ups and Downs on the KC-135
NASA's Explorer Schools program takes teachers on the ride of their lives
+ View | |
|
|
