Four specially selected Tehachapi students attend NASA Dryden space camp
Four specially selected Tehachapi students attend NASA Dryden space camp
By: Jeniffer Hukill, Tehachapi News Assistant
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Four Tehachapi middle school students were among only 25 chosen to attended a summer camp at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center located on Edwards Air Force Base, during the week of July 30. Through a competitive essay contest, the students were chosen to attend the camp.
Sarah Mace-Rodon, a student from Carden School, said she wrote her essay on how technology is crucial as a veterinarian, the profession she hopes to pursue. She has always been fascinated with other planets and loves to learn about technology.
As space cadets for the week, the students examined travel to, and how to sustain life on the moon and Mars. Guest speakers, C. Gordon Fullerton and Vance Brand, both former NASA astronauts shared their experiences with the kids, while NASA Dryden education specialists lead various experiments and discussions.
According to Mallory Wink, 12, a Jacobsen Middle School student, “The best experiment so far, was the ‘Mars Transport’ project.”
The student’s objective was to design and build a test “spacecraft” to simulate how to the protect a “rover,” or “microrover,” a remote-controlled robotic vehicle, from a 20-foot drop. Students utilized materials such as water balloons, tape, plastic bags and hot glue to protect the rover.
Julie Fuller, a 12-year-old Carden School student, said she is most excited about building a robot and designing a space suite for a mission to the moon.
Kimberly Irizarry, NASA Dryden’s Digital Learning Network Program Coordinator, lead the “robotics” project. Using Lego parts, the kids built, programmed and tested the robotic rover.
The students gave Power Point presentations at the conclusion of the camp, before a panel of scientists and engineers from NASA, as well as their families and friends. The presentations described a future mission to the moon, incorporating the information the students were introduced to during the camp.
For his presentation, Eddie Patterson,12, a Jacobson Middle School student, chose to detail a mission to Mars. He thinks that people will live in space in his lifetime and the biggest challenge to sustaining life in space will be having oxygen readily available. When he “grows up,” Patterson wants to be an engineer, like his mom.
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