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.