Education

NASA: Imagine the thrill of floating out of the International Space Station and into the emptiness of space and what it would be like to work on the orbiting science laboratory. NASA has developed a new video game, Station Spacewalk, to give young people an "out of this world" virtual opportunity to experience the thrill of working on a mission to the International Space Station from their computers.

This week marks the beginning of the GalileoMobile Project, a two-month expedition to bring the wonder and excitement of astronomy to young people in Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Supported by ESO and partners, a group of astronomers and educators will travel through a region of the Andes Mountains aboard the GalileoMobile, offering astronomical activities, such as workshops for students and star parties for the general public. Professional filmmakers on the trip will produce a multilingual documentary capturing the thrill of discovery through science, culture and travel.

This past weekend Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G(R)), the first and only FAA-approved provider of commercial weightless flights, hosted its exclusive ZERO-G Weightless Experience in Washington D.C. ZERO-G awarded 14-year-old Leaunteen Barnes of Howard University Middle School of Math and Science the Zero Gravity Striving for STEM Excellence Award. ZERO-G awarded Barnes the unique opportunity to experience complete weightlessness after she was recognized by her school as the most improved student.

Backdropped by Earth's horizon and the blackness of space, a Dual RF Astrodynamic GPS Orbital Navigator Satellite (DRAGONSat) is photographed after its release from Space Shuttle Endeavour's payload bay by STS-127 crew members on 30 July 2009. DRAGONSat will look at independent rendezvous of spacecraft in orbit using Global Positioning Satellite data. The two satellites were designed and built by students at the University of Texas, Austin, and Texas A&M University, College Station. high res (0.9 M) low res (42 K)

On 2 October 2009 a group of teachers from Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland participated in Northrop Grumman's "Weightless Flights of Discovery" program. This experience involves flying a series of parabolas aboard Zero Gravity Corp's G Force One jet during which you experience periods of weightlessness. After they returned to Earth, SpaceRef/OnOrbit caught up with two of the teachers, Catherine Bloedorn from Hammond High School in Columbia, Maryland and Jane Carter from Castlewood High School in Castlewood, Virginia and asked them to describe their weightless experience.

This is a clip of the VadoHD video camera at an altitude between 80,000 ft and 100,000 ft. The camera is attached to the payload of a research weather balloon. The balloon was launched from the lawn of the University of Houston and traveled approximately 20 miles East to Baytown TX before the balloon burst and the payload fell to Earth by parachute. The VadoHD survived ambient air pressures as low as 1/100th of an atmosphere, temperatures as low as -60C, and even survived being run over by an industrial lawn mower 1 week after falling to Earth. Incidentally we never would have found the payload if it hadn't been run over by this lawn mower. All of the data was intact on the camera and though a lawn mower blade destroyed the LCD screen, the VadoHD still takes great video!