Check Out Day

Today was a GREAT day. It was our last day at Ellington Field. We did not have to report to the field until 1:00 today. It was kind of sad. We have made a lot of friends here and we will miss not seeing them on a daily basis. We all gave presentations on our experiment, our experience here, and our plans when we return home. We then had to check out. We then met Col Johnson for awhile. We had a great time and I posted a picture from our visit tonight. We are going to just hang around the hotel tonight and plan what we are going to do with the students when we return on Monday. It was a gorgeous day here today. Tomorrow is our last day in Houston. We will finish our blog tonight. We have really enjoyed sending stuff back to everyone each night and we hope you have enjoyed it as well. We look forward tom sharing our experience when we return. We would like to thank everyone who made this trip possible including the people at the reduced gravity office, Doug, and especially our mentor Fernando. See Ya Monday. Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Cantu, Mrs. Damm, and Mrs. Myers

Tour Day

We are trying something new tonight. We have three videos for you to watch. You are going to have to be creative though and turn your head sides. Hey we are just learning this stuff. Mrs. Myers is doing most of the talking. The video of the Saturn V is a combination of the Apollos 18, 19 and 20 missions that were never flown. The hardware was complete when they abandoned the Apollo Missions. So it was assembled here to preserve it for future generations to see. It is unbelievable how big it is. Today we went on tours. We went to Building 9 which is where they have full size mock ups of space station, the shuttle, the Soyuz, the new Orion capsule, and we saw our mentor's robots there as well. The lunar rover is a project of his. We also have a picture of Spider. I bet you can guess where it got that name. Pretty impressive!! We then went to Mission Control. The picture taken at mission control that is really dark has a special person in it. Yes, we were fortunate enough to see our own Col. Johnson at work. He will be working CapCom during the next mission so he was busy at work preparing while we were there. We went to another building to learn about space suits and how they are going to make the next generation space suit. Mrs. Myers can be seen giving her imaginary friend a high five. This evening we went to Khima. There is a boardwalk there where there are carnival type attractions, restaurants, and shopping. We went there last year. This was the place that I showed my students that was covered in about 8 feet of water from the storm surge after Hurricane Ike. I was afraid of what we would see. To our amazement they have reconstructed a lot of it already. The damage is sad. Just across the water from where we were standing was a restaurant that was completely destroyed. The area is coming back. We talked to a local woman who said that the area will be in full swing again by this summer. That is good news for the people who live in the area.

Flight Day Two

Well we all survived. No on got sick on the plane. Mrs. Allen was a little bit disoriented but she did OK. I am not sure she would want to do it again though. Mrs. Cantu said that was a phenomenal experience and she can not wait to share it with others. She can only wish that she has the opportunity to do it again and take students. She said that she is in dreamland with that one though. As for me it was a once in a life time experience that I was able to experience not once but twice. Things were different this time. I was not as cautious and was more of a risk taker. Once we collected the data it was all play. I wanted to do things that I did not due the first time. I was not able to look out the window this time because this plane did not have the windows that the plane did last year. I tried to do more filming this time so that our students could get more out of the experience. As far as your questions are concerned our hair did float, it made us look funny in some of the pictures. We think that the density experiment that one of the teams did had water in it but we are not sure. We could not toss anything like food up into the air. This is called FOD or Foreign Object Damage. If a little piece were to get loose it could cause severe damage to the plane due to the environment that we are in. We all want to say hello to our students and that we look forward to seeing you next week. Tomorrow we are going on tours and should have some great things to share right now we are a little bit tired from the exciting day and the medications they had to give us prior to flight. Mrs. D

Flight Day One

WOW.....That is what I have to say. Today was a great experience. It was sooooo exciting to be able to float. At first it was really weird. They told us that we were going into 2G's and there was a lot of pressure on my body and it was really hard to move. When they told us that we were coming out and going into microgravity I just floated right up to the ceiling. The first couple parabolas I just got used to floating around and feeling what it was like to be an astronaut. It was cool!!! Once we got to the third parabola, Fernando (our mentor) and I started to do the experiment. I found that at first the washers and the paperclip would float toward the top too but them on some of them they would stick to the coil. Almost toward the end of us collecting data I started to float away in microgravity and tried to push down our experiment and held onto it instead and pulled the experiment box along with me. That was pretty funny because I was just floating and I couldn't get control of where I was going. I just said "Oh boy, here I go....uhhh help I'm floating with my experiment". Once we got done collecting our data it was time for us to play around and have some fun. I took out a slinky and a paddle ball and wanted to see what it would do in microgravity. Guess what.....it floated. Don't worry we got some of it on video. Once we hit the lunar parabola it was very different and i could jump and then come back down a little easier. I also did push ups with our mentor on my back (they were really easy to do push-ups). Martian I could jump and bounce. Overall I had a great time and would do it again anyday.....and no I didn't get sick one bit. Mrs. Myers

Flight Suit Day

Today was a day of hurry up and Wait. We had to be at the field early today to prepare for our TRR or Test Readiness Review. This is where NASA's safety OKs us to fly. It was no big deal for us. Then we waited and waited and waited until it was time to get our flight suits and load our experiments on the plane. There were a lot of people on the plane and it was hard to move around especially when they had a huge section of the side of the plane open for the forklift to load the experiments. We then watched an anti motion sickness video and learned how to NOT throw up on the plane. That was it for today. Mrs. Myers flies tomorrow so we are going to try and get her to bed Early, that is not easy by the way. I am sure she will have fantastic stories for you tomorrow. Mrs. D

Houston Museum of Natural Science

Trivia question for today. How many gallons of water does the NBL pool hold? First student with the right answer gets the prize.

Ms. Wagner was wondering about the flight schedule. They will be making two flight on Tuesday and two flights on Wednesday. Mrs. Myers will fly on Tuesday and the rest of us on Wednesday. Our DLN will be held on Wednesday. I think the plan is that the students who worked on the experiment will participate and then it will be recorded and shown to the rest of the students later.

We had an exciting day of touring today. We went to Galveston Island. The hurricane damage was unbelievable. I will post some pictures tomorrow. I cant tonight because they are on Mrs. Myers camera. It was very hard to see the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike.

We then went into downtown Houston where we went to the Houston Museum of Natural History. We saw many dinosaurs and fossils including the ones that I post tonight. We also saw the human body plastintation exhibit. It was fascinating to see how complex the human body was.


We then met our mentor Fernando for cake for my birthday. It was a wonderful birthday today. Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Cantu, and Mrs. Myers bought me some frog things since I am such a fan of frogs.

The plan is that we will get up tomorrow and make the drive to San Antonio where we will see the Alamo. Better get to bed as it is almost midnight. Mrs. D

Chamber Day

Well Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Cantu, and Mrs. Myers survived the Chamber. The three of them had four hours of training where they were scared into all of the possibilities of the things that could happen to them in the Chamber and during flight. They also learned what they need to do to avoid getting sick during the flight. They learned a technique on how to get their ears to pop during flight. This is very important during flight because of the altitude changes. All three teachers had different experiences in the Chamber but all three did very well. While in the Chamber they needed to breathe pure oxygen for thirty minutes through a pilots mask. This allowed their bodies to purge themselves of nitrogen so that they would not develop problems later. The NASA employees then began pumping air out of the Chamber until it thinned out to the equivalent to 25,000 feet. They were then instructed to take off their masks for 5 minutes. The masks could not be off any longer then this due to NASA regulation, because during this time their brains were being deprived of oxygen. They had to take a simple test during this time which as I remember was not that easy. Mrs. Myers said that during that time she felt very happy and giddy. Mrs. Allen said that she was anxious and really hot. She got really dizzy and had to put her mask back on. Mrs. Cantu did not seem to have any problems. They said that a few people from the other teams did not due very well. We think that a few people were not where they were supposed to be again but we are not sure and will have to wait until Monday to find out.

The three were then able to tour the Neutral Buoyancy Lab which is the pool in which astronauts train for space walks. They said there were astronauts training in the pool at one point today.

I think I forgot to tell everyone that I learned yesterday that I am going to be able to fly again this year. I am so excited. Mrs. Myers will be flying on Tuesday with out mentor and Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Cantu and I will be flying on Wednesday.

None of the students in the school district tried to answer my question about the vans yesterday so that prize goes back into the bucket for another day. The vanes are from all of the relief workers that are still here from the hurricane that went through.

Well watch be sure to read what we do over the weekend. We are going to take some trips and will have some interesting pictures posted.

Unpacking Day

All Right All right. Yes we admit we were not the best role models for healthy eating with the cheesecake. As for the flavors two of us had banana cream and the other two had chocolate mousse. Like we covered in C3 though it is all about moderation. I don't think any of us finished our pieces and brought them back to the hotel. Other than the one time we have been eating healthy. We took packed lunches with us today with lots of fruits and veg tables. As far as dinner have long days but go out for dinner when we are finished for the day.

We had a question about our flight. It was nice to have a direct flight and not have to change planes in Atlanta like we usually do. The trip was OK but we were in a small plane. Mrs. Cantu had a rough time. She gets claustrophobic. It was a little bumping on take off and landing. It was worth it when we were able to take our coats off by the afternoon as we were sweating.

None of us are nervous. We are just excited to be here. We were able to get to know the rest of the teams today. There are ten school teams here for a total of 40 participants.

We found out today that the plane we will be flying on is a 727. It is not here yet, but will be flown in on Monday. We should be able to post pictures of it on Monday.

Tomorrow is a big day for everyone except Mrs. Damm. The three others will be doing their physiology training and going into the hypobaric chamber. Mrs. Damm was certified last year. She will be staying back at the hotel and doing homework all day. Yes, adults have homework too!!

Today we unpacked our experiment and set it up. We also sat through many meetings on rules and procedures. You should hear all of the rules and procedures that we have to follow. It is amazing. There were a few teams that learned the hard way about being late today. One of our rules is that you can not be late to anything. If you break rules twice during the time here your team will not be allowed to fly. They need you to demonstrate that you are dependable. Three teams were late to a meeting this afternoon. They only get one more opportunity and if something else happens they will not be able to fly. When we unpacked our experiment two of the wires had broken during shipment. We are going to need to solder them back together. No worries though everything is going to be fine.

One of the pictures tonight is of a few of the MANY white vans that take up our hotel parking lot. The parking lot at night is almost full of them. Can anyone guess what all of the white vans are for? Well, I will close for tonight but I am sure that there will be MANY stories to tell tomorrow night. Mrs. D

Arrival Day

Well we are all here in warm but not to sunny yet Houston. We left Jackson at 5:30 this morning and arrived in Houston at 11:30 am local time. We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and then went shopping for some warm weather clothes. We had to drive through a very busy downtown Houston before arriving at our hotel. We then checked in and went to do some grocery shopping. All healthy food for all of you seventh graders:) We actually had business this evening. We had to attend an orientation meeting. The main business of the meeting was to set up logistics for meeting in the morning and introducing ourselves. After the meeting we all went to a shoe store to buy shoes with white bottoms. This is a requirement for the plane so that we do not damage the floor.

Mr Hilger's class was asking a question about the cameras that we will be using on the plane I assume. We are taking up a digital Canon Sure Shot and a Sony HandyCam for video. You have to promise that you will not be critical of my pictures:) I am not a very good photographer.

Well it is getting late and we need to meet early in the morning. So this will be a short one tonight. Tomorrow will be a full day and I am sure that I will have some more pictures to share with you then. Good night. Mrs. D

YEAH!!! It is there. Our experiment arrived at the reduced Gravity Office yesterday. We are making last minute details back here in Michigan. The important stuff like what to pack and wear. HA HA. Seriously. We are making plans with students and Mr Marsh who will be handling our DLN, getting our cameras and DVD recorders that kind of stuff. Stay Tuned

Equipment is off

Well the equipment is off. Thanks to the wonderful packing job of a local mail center our equipment is safely on its way and being tracked across the country as it makes its way to Houston. If all goes well it should arrive safely at the Reduced Gravity Office tomorrow.

Another Year of Flying

Well folks here we go again. Yes Parkside was the only school selected nation-wide this year to fly again. We are flying the same experiment this year. We have a new team this year. I will still be going as the principle investigator. Mrs. Cantu, Mrs. Myers, and Mrs. Allen will be flying this year. If I am lucky i will get to fly also. We also have a new mentor this year. His name is Fernando Zumbado. He works in robotics at NASA's Johnson Space Center. We have been busy with the finishing touches on the hardware and will be shipping it to Houston soon. We booked our flights yesterday so we know we are getting close.

On our last day in Houston we toured Johnson Space Center. The above photo shows us at Rocket Park where a Saturn 5 rocket is stored that would have been used for Apollo 18. The huge door we are in front of is for a giant vacuum chamber used to simulate outer space conditions. We visited a lab where actual size training models of the ISS, space shuttle, and other awesome equipment is used to train astronauts. We even saw the crew of STS 126 working and another crew practicing emergency escape maneuvers. Glenn especially enjoyed our tour of historic mission control!

Thank you for following our blog. We look forward to sharing many more photos, video, and information with our students, collegues, and friends.

Go Parkside!!

Today Mr. Marsh, Mrs. Wagner, and Mrs. Weatherwax ran Parkside's experiment on the microgravity plane. Everything went smoothly and they even had extra time to run some toy experiments and do some interesting activities such as sommersaults, handstands, and the lizard, which is moving in a circle around the walls, floor, and ceiling of the plane. We are pleased with the data that was collected and can't wait to share more detailed information with everyone.

After the flight we had a DLN with the entire Parkside student body and staff. It was so great to see and talk to everyone! Thank you so much to Ron Boyle and Parkside staff for taking the time and effort to bring the students to the assembly! Students, you had such great questions and the people here at NASA were impressed with fact that the whole school came to the DLN. Parkside rocks!! Please check out the link below for more NASA photograhps from today's flight.

Today was flight day for me. Yes, I did

have just as much fun as it looked like I did. The picture was taken of me trying to use a paddle ball in micro-G. It is definitely a game that need gravity to work. I took the medication that was given to me in a pre-flight briefing to prevent motion sickness. After that we boarded the plane we took off out over the Gulf of Mexico. A few minutes into flight they let us get out of our seats to get our experiments in place. Our experiment is very efficient and only took a few minutes to set up. They gave us fifteen minutes to get things ready and then gave us the warning signal that the parabolas were starting. Everyone at NASA was very helpful and told us when we were going to enter 2-G each time. That was tough. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. They would give us the get ready signal to enter micro-G. Next thing we knew our feet were coming out from underneath us. We had to be careful not to kick anyone around us. I did somersaults and what they call ed the lizard climb, where you climb the walls and ceiling of the plane. I also did push ups with people on my back that simulated the gravitational pull on the Moon. I even looked out the window in 2-G and micro-G. Mr Caitlin and Mr. Riedel. I did it all without throwing up once. To all of the staff and eighth grade students: Do you recognize the person in the Parkside sweatshirt. You win!!! It is Col. Johnson. We met him tonight to talk about his upcoming mission. He has read you cards and really appreciated them. He is going to come see us when he returns from his mission which is due to launch in two weeks. Well everyone else will fly tomorrow. I am sure it will be just as amazing as mine was. We will talk to everyone at the video conference Wednesday afternoon. Some of our pcitures have been posted from NASA photographers. Look at the dates for our group. Mrs. Damm http://zerog.jsc.nasa.gov/2008_NES/viewer.cgi

We prepared our experiment for the first day's flight. We posted our Parkside signs and put out our data collection materials. Mrs. Weatherwax practiced her microgravity moves for her turn on the flight tomorrow.

Mrs. Damm and Mr. Petternill from NASA are on the plane as we write this entry. We are anxiously awaiting their return in anticipation of hearing about their experience and the experiment results. More photos will be posted tonight. Thank you for viewing our blog! Go Parkside! Go JPS!!

Monday's Photos

This is the "Weightless Wonder." It is a converted C-9 which NASA uses to run experiments in microgravity. The hangar also houses other various NASA jets. Many people work in this hangar working on the planes as engineers, repair and maintainance technicians, safety inspectors, and program directors.

Here we are loading our experiment on the plane. We had to make sure all parts were securely fastened and met all NASA safety requirements. The Parkside microgravity experiment is GO FOR FLIGHT!

Today we had our test readiness review, the latest big hurdle between us and flight day. This was where we presented our hardware to a bunch of NASA people for their review. They were looking at safety issues and we must be cleared by them in order to fly. The NASA officials were impressed by the simplicity yet efficiency of our experiment. We all received our flight suits today. We went out and bought some toys tonight that we can video tape in micro-gravity. Mrs. Damm will be flying tomorrow morning. We have to report to the field early in the morning for here flight briefing. The rest of the team will be working on reports while she is flying. We look forward to telling you all about it. Weather is still warm here but not as warm as this weekend.

We took a day off from our NASA duties. We started our day out healthy with a workout at the gym. We went to The Space Center at Johnson. We toured the boardwalk at Kemah which is along the Gulf of Mexico. Ms. Wagner and Mrs. Weatherwax had to clean off their feet in the fountain after playing in the mud. We visited a historic schoolhouse where Mr. Marsh was not well behaved and Mrs. Damm had to escort him out of the schoolhouse. Tomorrow we will be going to Galveston and looking at historical places there.

Pictures Friday February 22, 2008

Neutral Buoyancy Lab - 6.2 Million Gallons H2O.

Inside are mock-ups of International Space Station nodes and the long item is a mock-up of the ISS Truss. The dots on the modules are air holes to prevent the pieces from floating to the surface.

Shown above is the hypobaric Chamber in which we trained to get accustomed to conditions in micro-gravity. We are shown at right geared up for the chamber and are pleased to say that we all successfully completed the requirements for flight.

The NBL employs divers that conduct research and assist the astronauts in their training, physicians that work with the hypobaric chamber tests and training/research activities at NBL, engineers that design and construct the pool facilities and mock-ups, and many other support personnel. There are many exciting career opportunities for Parkisde students at NASA NBL and other NASA facilities.