posted 08-27-2010 03:57 PM               

Historic launch pad reimagined as classroom

The launch pad from which the first United States astronauts left Earth for orbit may soon be revived as an engineering classroom for a new generation of rocket builders, where laid off space shuttle technicians are the teachers.

Jennifer Scheer, who will soon end her eight-year career servicing NASA's orbiters, conceived the idea, which she has dubbed "Project Mercury Rising." She has proposed restoring Cape Canaveral's Complex 14 launch pad to give students hands-on engineering experience working with a replica Mercury-Atlas rocket.

This space camp for budding rocket builders would then trade the replicas for the real thing, sending payloads the students build into space on commercial rockets launched from a nearby active pad...