Topic: STS-17: Georgia elementary school shuttle sim
Joel Katzowitz Member
Posts: 808 From: Marietta GA USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 05-12-2015 10:39 AM
On Thursday, May 7, STS-17 rumbled off the launch pad at Russell Elementary School in Smyrna, Georgia. I attended last year's STS-16 launch and was issued credentials to attend this years launch. It was spectacular. I also scored a mission patch.
The program is run by Chris Laster along with his enthusiastic support team. Mission duration was about 24 hours, thankfully the middeck is equipped with bunk beds.
This year they added an EVA to the mission, which necessitated fabricating an airlock and an EVA "environment" complete with an animated earth view. The program affords an amazing learning experience for the students involved and the enthusiasm it generates is shared by the parents, the school, and the entire community.
Joel Katzowitz Member
Posts: 808 From: Marietta GA USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 05-12-2015 10:40 AM
Joel Katzowitz Member
Posts: 808 From: Marietta GA USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 05-12-2015 10:40 AM
Joel Katzowitz Member
Posts: 808 From: Marietta GA USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 05-12-2015 10:40 AM
Joel Katzowitz Member
Posts: 808 From: Marietta GA USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 05-12-2015 10:40 AM
space1 Member
Posts: 853 From: Danville, Ohio Registered: Dec 2002
posted 05-12-2015 11:24 AM
Really impressive!
Lunar rock nut Member
Posts: 911 From: Oklahoma city, Oklahoma U.S.A. Registered: Feb 2007
posted 05-12-2015 11:42 AM
Wonderful story! I was feeling down this morning and this article lifted me into orbit.
4allmankind Member
Posts: 1043 From: Dallas Registered: Jan 2004
posted 05-12-2015 12:14 PM
Thanks for sharing this. Too cool. Our schools need more of this.
p51 Member
Posts: 1642 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
posted 05-12-2015 12:41 PM
I remember as a kid, I remember seeing on TV where a school somewhere did a sim of an Apollo launch, but I don't recall it being as well-built as this.
Now that I'm grown up, I realize what a comically substandard education I got as the schools had no money for almost anything (seriously, I thought school nurses was something Hollywood invented, I didn't realize some schools actually had them until I was in my 20s). I can't imagine what my life might have been like had I been exposed to something like this at that age.
Ronpur Member
Posts: 1211 From: Brandon, Fl Registered: May 2012
posted 05-13-2015 08:59 AM
This is awesome. The Mission Control even has the past mission patches on the wall.
My school had some kids do an Apollo sim too. It was a cone shaped tent and the wore KFC buckets painted white for helmets. And I brought my Revell Saturn V to be displayed. But we still followed the flights, charting every step of the Apollo 12 flight, since it happened during the school year.
posted 05-12-2015 10:39 AM
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