Andrew Yee
March 15th 06, 12:21 AM
Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia March 14, 2006
(757) 824-1579
Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1761
RELEASE: 06-094
NASA SELECTS STUDENT EXPERIMENTS TO FLY ON SOUNDING ROCKET
NASA selected 10 student experiments from across the country to fly on
a rocket mission June 7 from the Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops
Island, Va.
During the weeks leading up to the launch, students and their teachers
will work with engineers and technicians at Wallops to prepare their
experiments for flight. The student experiments will be flown on a
NASA Orion suborbital sounding rocket.
In its ninth year, this program provides students the unique
opportunity to participate in all aspects of a science mission. Five
of the experiments will fly in the main body of the rocket's payload
section, called the Suborbital Student Experiment Module, while the
other five will be placed in the nosecone.
Launched early in the morning, the 20-foot rocket is expected to carry
the experiments more than 25 miles above the Earth. After descending
by parachute and landing in the Atlantic Ocean, the experiments will
be recovered and returned to the students later in the day. The
students will examine and analyze their experiment data and present
their preliminary findings to NASA personnel the following day
"The students design the experiment, build the hardware, participate
in the launch process, support removing the experiments from the
payload after launch and recovery, analyze the data and present their
results," said Phil Eberspeaker, chief of the NASA Sounding Rockets
Program Office at Wallops. "This will be an experience they remember
all their life and hopefully will guide them into science and
engineering careers."
Wireless communications, magnetic fields, fluids and payload
temperatures during flight are the focus of the main payload
experiments. Students also will study the effects of the flight
environment, such as radiation and high gravitational forces, on a
variety of materials placed in the nosecone and the payload section.
Approximately 40 students and teachers are expected to attend flight
week activities at Wallops, June 5 through 8. While at Wallops they
will receive instruction in rocketry and electronics and tour the
NASA rocket, scientific balloon and aircraft facilities.
The schools and organizations selected:
Columbus High School, Columbus, Ga.
GlenBrook North High School, Northbrook, Ill.
Parkside High School, Salisbury, Md.
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va.
Harriet Tubman School, Dolton, Ill.
Key Peninsula Middle School, Lakebay, Wash.
Wendover High School, Wendover, Utah
Graham High School, St. Paris, Ohio.
Cub Scout Pack 151, Salisbury, Md.
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia March 14, 2006
(757) 824-1579
Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1761
RELEASE: 06-094
NASA SELECTS STUDENT EXPERIMENTS TO FLY ON SOUNDING ROCKET
NASA selected 10 student experiments from across the country to fly on
a rocket mission June 7 from the Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops
Island, Va.
During the weeks leading up to the launch, students and their teachers
will work with engineers and technicians at Wallops to prepare their
experiments for flight. The student experiments will be flown on a
NASA Orion suborbital sounding rocket.
In its ninth year, this program provides students the unique
opportunity to participate in all aspects of a science mission. Five
of the experiments will fly in the main body of the rocket's payload
section, called the Suborbital Student Experiment Module, while the
other five will be placed in the nosecone.
Launched early in the morning, the 20-foot rocket is expected to carry
the experiments more than 25 miles above the Earth. After descending
by parachute and landing in the Atlantic Ocean, the experiments will
be recovered and returned to the students later in the day. The
students will examine and analyze their experiment data and present
their preliminary findings to NASA personnel the following day
"The students design the experiment, build the hardware, participate
in the launch process, support removing the experiments from the
payload after launch and recovery, analyze the data and present their
results," said Phil Eberspeaker, chief of the NASA Sounding Rockets
Program Office at Wallops. "This will be an experience they remember
all their life and hopefully will guide them into science and
engineering careers."
Wireless communications, magnetic fields, fluids and payload
temperatures during flight are the focus of the main payload
experiments. Students also will study the effects of the flight
environment, such as radiation and high gravitational forces, on a
variety of materials placed in the nosecone and the payload section.
Approximately 40 students and teachers are expected to attend flight
week activities at Wallops, June 5 through 8. While at Wallops they
will receive instruction in rocketry and electronics and tour the
NASA rocket, scientific balloon and aircraft facilities.
The schools and organizations selected:
Columbus High School, Columbus, Ga.
GlenBrook North High School, Northbrook, Ill.
Parkside High School, Salisbury, Md.
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va.
Harriet Tubman School, Dolton, Ill.
Key Peninsula Middle School, Lakebay, Wash.
Wendover High School, Wendover, Utah
Graham High School, St. Paris, Ohio.
Cub Scout Pack 151, Salisbury, Md.
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home