Teachers in Space

July 12, 2010 — Russell Senate Office Building — Teachers in Space announced the start of a new astronaut-teacher competition at a Capitol Hill press conference today.

The non-profit Teachers in Space program is working with US companies that are developing reusable suborbital spacecraft, which promise dramatic improvements in the cost and safety of human spaceflight. Teachers in Space already has 15 seats that have been donated or purchased for teachers, but the program’s goals go far beyond 15 teachers. In the long-term, Teachers in Space plans to fly at least 200 teachers a year. “We want to put a thousand astronaut teachers into American schools within the next decade, said Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright.

Teachers in Space has already selected seven Pathfinder astronaut teacher candidates. The Original Seven, who were announced on July 20, 2009 at NASA Ames Research Center, have already begun training for their flights into space, which are expected to occur in about two years.

VToday, Teachers in Space announced that it will be selecting three additional Pathfinders. The new competition, which is expected to last about a year, will begin within the next few weeks.

Teachers who wish to be notified as soon as the competition begins should email apply@teachersinspace.org, with “New Competition” in the subject line. Details on the new competition will soon be available at www.teachersinspace.org.

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July 1, 2010 — Dayton, OH —  As one of seven Pathfinder astronaut teacher candidates selected by the non-profit Teachers in Space program, Steve Heck plans to make history by becoming one of the first teachers to fly into space and return to the classroom. Today, however, he recreated history when he flew a replica of the Model B Wright Flyer.

The Model B Wright Flyer, built by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1910, was the successor to the original Wright Flyer and the first aircraft offered for commercial sale. The Model B Wright Flyer replica was built by Wright B Flyers Inc. in 1980.

Heck hopes that his flight will inspire students by showing how far aviation has come in the 100 years since Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the Model B from a field near Dayton, Ohio. “We stand on the shoulders of giants,” Heck said. “A century ago, giants like Orville and Wilbur Wright opened up the new age of commercial aviation. Today, a new group of giants are opening up an even more exciting age of safe, affordable, routine public space travel. Companies like Virgin Galactic, Armadillo Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, Rocketplane LLC, and XCOR Aerospace are developing reusable spacecraft that will soon make it possible for thousands of Americans to travel into space.”

Heck believes this new age of space travel will be key to inspiring American students to study math and science. “Like the Wright Brothers , we have the opportunity to excite and engage the next generation of Americans. By inspiring our students to excel in STEM education, just think what they will accomplish in the next 100 years. The sky is no longer the limit.”

Teachers in Space began as a NASA program in the 1980’s, which was discontinued after the Challenger accident. Today, it is being revived in the nonprofit private sector by the Space Frontier Foundation. Instead of flying teachers on the Space Shuttle, as NASA planned to do, the new Teachers in Space program is working with private companies that are developing America’s new suborbital spacecraft. These new vehicles will enable Teachers in Space to fly not just one or two teachers, as NASA planned to do, but large numbers of teachers. “We want to put a thousand astronaut teachers into American schools within the next decade,” Heck said.

For Steve Heck, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, teaching is a second career. Prior to becoming a teacher, Heck accumulated more than 2800 flying hours in jet aircraft and set two world records in KC-10 aircraft. Flying the Model B was a new experience, however. “It does not fly like the aircraft of today. No computers or fly-by-wire assistance, it takes all of your flying skills to fly it. You might say it’s the original relaxed-stability aircraft.” Heck said he found a new admiration for the Wright Brothers and their accomplishments.

Heck is the only pilot among the seven Pathfinder astronaut candidates, most of whom have more ordinary teaching backgrounds. “Not everyone could fly the Wright Flyer,” Heck said, “And not everyone could fly the Space Shuttle, but now we are moving into a new age where space will be more accessible to large numbers of people. Soon, a new generation of vehicles will open space just as the airplanes that followed the Wright Flyer opened the air.”

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Four teams have been selected for NASA’s Balloonsat High-Altitude Flight Student Competiton.

The selected teams and their experiments are:

• “The effect of a Near Space Environment on Escherichia Coli Bacteria,” Charlottesville High School (VA)
• “The effect of Near-Space Conditions on Microbial Life Forms,” Upper St. Clair High School (PA)
• “Thermal Moisture Penetration,” Team Daedalus (Utah)
• “Variations in Polyethylene Hard Disk Radiation Shields,” North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (North Carolina)

NASA plans for Balloonsat to become an annual competition. For more information, visit http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/balloonsat/.

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 Teachers in Space will announce the start of its second selection competition for Pathfinder astronaut teacher candidates in mid-2010.

Teachers in Space planned to announce the start of the competition by the end of February but was delayed by unforeseen circumstances. Details of the competition were to be finalized at a working meeting in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, the week selected for the meeting was the week Washington got hit by a record snow storm. We apologize for the delay.

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Pathfinder astronaut candidates Maureen Adams and Lanette Oliver will appear at the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in Galveston Texas November 5, 6, and 7.

Adams and Oliver will both appear at the Teachers in Space exhibit (booth #1315, right next to the Johnson Space Center booth) in the CAST exhibit hall. More than 5,000 science teachers are expected to attend CAST 2009, and we look forward to meeting all of them.

Lanette Oliver will appear at the booth on Thursday, Nov. 5; Friday, Nov. 6, and Saturday, Nov. 7. Maureen Adams will appear on Friday and Saturday.

Lanette and Maureen both hail from Texas, so please stop by our booth and say howdy.

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Teachers in Space has submitted a white paper, New Opportunities for Scientific Research Afforded by the Emerging Commercial Spaceflight Industry, to the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Research Council is currently conducting a Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space. The Teachers in Space white paper can be downloaded via this link: EdwardWrightITRHS-TSESP.pdf

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Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX — February 7, 2009 — Teachers from across the nation met here today to help design a new training course for astronaut teachers. The workshop, attended by more than 50 teachers, was sponsored by Teachers in Space, which aims to put hundreds of American teachers into space.  “Teachers in Space is a nonprofit program working with the companies that are now developing low-cost, reusable spacecraft,” said Teachers in Space project manager Edward Wright. “Our long-term goal is to fly 200 teachers a year, four from each and every state in the Union.”

Before those teachers fly, they will train. Teachers in Space plans to offer a three-week astronaut teacher training course for those chosen to fly. “The course will include about three days of spaceflight safety instruction and two and a half weeks of professional development for teachers,” Wright said. “Astronaut teachers will fly during the summer and return to the classroom in the fall with a priceless payload of knowledge and first-hand experience. Every astronaut teacher will reach and inspire hundreds of students every year. For the first time, space can have a real effect on American education.”

Teachers in Space is now working with teachers to design the content of the professional development program. “Over the next year or two, we will be conducting a series of workshops like this one in various locations around the United States,” Wright said. “We want teachers to tell us what activities they’d like to see in the astronaut teacher course. It is their ideas that will fuel our program.”

Teachers in Space has also begun the process of selecting its first Pathfinder astronauts, who will be the first astronaut teachers to fly in space  and return to the classroom. “The Pathfinders will lead the way for the large number of astronaut teachers who follow,” Wright said, “They will go back into the classroom, but we hope that they will return each summer to help teach the new astronaut teacher course.”

Rob Radnich, a physics and computer science teacher from Meadville, PA was one of the teachers who attended the first workshop, which was held at the Space Exploration Educators Conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Radnich feels that Teachers in Space “can be used to boost America to the same drive we felt in the 50’s and 60’s, to become a world leader in all areas, especially technology.”

Harry LaForge, an aviation teacher from Missoula, MT agreed. ”We must find many ways to excite the next generation of aviators,” LaForge said.

Teachers in Space is a joint project of the Space Frontier Foundation and the United States Rocket Academy. More information about Teachers in Space is available on the project website.

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