Flight Day Completed

The teachers have returned from their flight.  They are now debriefing with NASA staff.  Soon the experiment will be offloaded and we will begin our travel home.  I am anxious to hear their flight stories and to hear about out experiment.  What an experience of a lifetime - I am sure!

NASA FLIGHT DAY

The wait is over.  Flight Day is finally here.  Mrs. Lillo, Mrs. Freundlich and Mrs. Heimann boarded the Zero Gravity Plane and are currently heading over the Gulf of Mexico. They donned their flight suits, took their anti-nausea medication, and boarded the plane!  The flying and data collection have begun! 

Day 5 - Flight Grounded due to Weather

It's raining here in Houston.  The number one priority here at NASA is Safety First!  Following the announcement that the flight would be grounded, we had the opportunity to listen to Astronaut Leland Melvin.  Astronaut Melvin has had an exciting career path living out his dreams.  From being drafted to the NFL to being a research assistant in college to actually flying on multiple missions with NASA - he has led an exciting life.  He challenged us all to live our dreams by not allowing any challenges or obstacles to hinder our vision.  "Every problem is an opportunity" is one of his life mottos. 
As teachers, we have decided not to let the obstacle of weather hinder our dreams.  Tomorrow the weather looks all clear and we will be out of here - flying with our experiment in microgravity.

Day 4 - Loading the Experiment

Flexibility is the Word of the Week.  The first zero-gravity flight was scheduled and then delayed and then cancelled again due to weather conditions.  Although emotions of the scheduled flyers have been up and down like the parabolas that they were scheduled to fly, we are SO very thankful that NASA's first concern is for the safety of all involved.  This afternoon has involved preparing the experiment for flight.  The experiment was weighed and secured to the glove box that it will fly in on the plane.  Our NASA mentor, Jeremy Hart, has been with us for a couple of hours guiding us through this process.  Now, we wait....wait to see if the weather will cooperate.  We will keep you posted! 

Thinking of our Students.....

Today we enjoyed a trip to Starbucks in Houston.  We enjoyed this treat thanks to our students who gave us Starbucks Gift Cards for the Holidays.  Know that we are thinking of you each day and are anxious to get back to share all of the wonderful things we have learned with you. (Mrs. Armstrong thanks you, too, from behind the camera.  Can you see me in the window? Is it "reflection" or "refraction?)

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR TESTS!

Day 3 Continued.....Houston, We Do Not Have A Problem!



We were so excited to step into Mission Control on the grounds of Johnson Space Center.  Imagine our excitement when we saw the sun rising over the Earth from the satellite above the International Space Station!  We watched the scientists hard at work keeping the astronauts safe and maintaining the sensitive equiptment on the Space Station. Your Eastern teachers also took a VIP tour of the original mission control center and saw the replica of the American flag that Neil Armstrong placed on the Moon! 

     Here are pictures of  the former Mission Control Center.  You might recognize this room from archival photos from famous NASA missions.

Day 3 - Tour of Johnson Space Center....A Behind the Scenes Look

We had a fantastic VIP Tour of many sights at the Johnson Space Center.  We had the opportunity to visit the Neutral Buoyancy Lab where we saw Astronaut Dr. Jeanette Epps prepare to mimic zero gravity by going in the Netural Buoyancy Lab Pool.  The pool is 202 feet long by 102 feet wide and 40 feet 6 inches deep. The astronaut put on her space suit and practiced moving in her space suit under water in the pool.  This procedure will help Dr. Epps determine how she will move and use space tools on the International Space Station. 

Prototype for Planetary Landings

This evening after a full day of classes and experiment preparation, we had the opportunity to go with our mentor, Jeremy Hart, to see the project he is currently working with other NASA engineers to complete.  His project, Morpheus, is a prototype vehicle which will one day collect samples of the soil on other planets.  Morpheus will allow small rover vehicles to be placed on other planets for investigation.  Tomorrow Jeremy and his team will be completing another field test with Morpheus.  It was exciting for our team to have this "behind-the-scenes" tour of NASA engineering.

Learning from NASA Engineers

We spent our afternoon learning about more resources that we can use with our students in our classrooms.  A NASA engineer named Heather Paul taught us about actual Space Suits.  She taught us about the history of Space Suits and how NASA has learned from previous Space Suits and modified their designs to solve problems that the astronauts have encountered on various missions.  It is a fabulous opportunity to learn from the experts!

Day 2 - WE PASSED!!!!

Mrs. Freundlich, Mrs. Heimann, Dynae Fullwood - Teaching from Space Coordinator, and Mrs. Lillo

Our experiment passed!!!! We are thrilled that with NO revisions the team of experts at NASA said that we are READY TO FLY!  It was a rigorous panel of NASA professionsals who listened to Mrs. Lillo present the information and the explanation regarding our experiment.  After a few questions from NASA specialists we received the Green Light!  We are ready to fly!

Day 2 - Will Our Experiment Pass Inspection?

We are sitting in an airplane hanger in Houston, Texas. We are sitting with our NASA mentor, Jeremy Hart. Jeremy has helped us evaluate whether our experiment is ready to fly. Jeremy graduated from the University of Wisconsin and has worked for NASA for 12 years. Will our experiment pass inspection? We will wait and see...

NASA Day 1

NASA Security Badges

We had a full day during our first full day in Houston!  We spent the morning at Johnson Space Center learning about how our bodies will react to different levels of altitudes and gravity.  After that session we filled out paperwork and received our security clearance badges.  We spent the afternoon in the airplane hanger working on setting up our experiment.  We then took a tour of the Weightless Wonders Airplane to see how we will set up our experiment for the flight.  It was a full and exciting day!

Weightless Wonder Plane

We Made It!

We are official! We arrived in Houston last night and are in an Aerospace Physiology Briefing learning more about the ear and the how air pressure can affect the ear. Hope to be able to send you more information soon!

Optometrist, Dr. Elizabeth Frankhouse, Teaches Eastern 5th Graders about the Eye

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Dr. Frankhouse demonstrates a Convex Lens.

Today our 5th Grade Students had the opportunity to learn more about Light, Reflection, Refraction and the parts of the Eye from Optometrist Dr. Elizabeth Frankhouse.  Our students enjoyed asking questions regarding being colorblind, eye color and different eye diseases.  We all appreciated Dr. Frankhouse taking her day off of work to help us learn!



Studying Electricity

I have enjoyed teaching the current unit on Energy to our 5th graders.  We had many fun experiments where the students created a series circuit, a parallel circuit, a switch and an electric motor.  The hands-on activities make learning science fun!

Commemorative Pin

One of our team members, Michelle Lillo, commissioned Eastern Elementary's Art Teacher, Mary Haas to create a pin to commemorate this very special trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  As Mrs. Haas began this creative endeavor she decided to invite one of our students, Isaac Calloway, to help her in this project.  Together, Mrs. Haas and Isaac created this wonderful pin for each team member.  We so appreciate Mrs. Lillo's thoughfulness and Mrs. Haas and Isaac's willingness to share their gifted artistic ability to create this precious keepsake for us.