I Had A Wonderful Time Talking About Human Space Flight To 3rd Graders At Starling Elementary Today!

Behind the scenes documentary about the Voyager probes.

This is so freakin’ cool! I’m already working with raw data from Perseverance! This image was taken today! Keep in mind, this is from a camera that’s like a backup cam on your car. The main cameras haven’t been deployed yet. That’s when the real fun starts! #perseverance #mars #nasa #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/CLk23M7jGSl/?igshid=phqp9inq7owd

1) Check weather conditions for a town in New Mexico. 2) Remotely access a telescope in New Mexico. 3) Select target and parameters (Andromeda Galaxy, 60 second exposure...) 4) Wait until next morning to see results. 5) Open email to see A FREAKIN’ PLANE OR SATELLITE HAS JACKED UP YOUR OTHERWISE GORGEOUS IMAGE!😳🤬🤬 https://www.instagram.com/p/B95s_87HE6e/?igshid=1nodpm0ocwj3i

Kids These Days...

Before judging the first round of submissions in the NASA / JPL Name the Mars 2020 Rover Contest, I didn’t quite know what to expect from the various young minds. I knew I was going to see the occasional Rover McRoverface, or the overly complicated acronyms.

However, some of these kids really got what this is all about. Their essays conveyed how much they really want to invest in science and the future of space exploration. You could see the amount of research that went into their name choices. Several times, I had to look up words or the meanings behind possible name choices. Leave it to me to accidentally ok a cool sounding name that belongs to an anime character who farts a lot. (didn’t really happen)

It wasn’t just the scientific names and essays that were rewarding. Some students wrote passionate essays about naming the rover after a beloved relative or pet. The level of respect and/or compassion from the minds of fifth graders almost had me in tears at some points.

mars.nasa.gov

Mars 2020 Rover

NASA Mars 2020 Rover - overview, videos, images and information

Lucy has just started her 12 year mission to visit 7 asteroids! Lucy Mission NASA Solar System Exploration #STEM #NASA #NASASocial @jbrackettssa @lucy_mission https://www.instagram.com/p/CVFeLFhLWwy/?utm_medium=tumblr

Great fun talking to kids and their parents at Trip Elementary School’s STEM Night! The kids learned about NASA Artemis, the International Space Station, and the JWST! #space #STEM #Artemis #SolarSystemAmbassador #spacescience https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn5rbfXuG6y/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

The Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle program, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011. The four reusable orbiters were launched vertically, like conventional rockets, and then landed horizontally on a runway. The program became politically untenable after Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 were lost. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft in history. It was designed to be launched vertically, then land horizontally on a runway. The Space Shuttle program was a major part of the United States' space exploration efforts. It began with the development of a space shuttle proposal in 1972, which was approved for production as part of an inter-agency program between NASA and the Department of Defense. The first test flight occurred in 1981 and its first operational flight was STS-5, which launched on November 11, 1982. After a series of delays due to both technical issues and external events like the 1986 Challenger Disaster and 2003 Columbia Accident, it flew on 135 missions from 1981 until its decommissioning in 2011; its final launch being STS-135 by Atlantis on July 8th 2010. In 2011, the United States' Space Shuttle was retired from service after 30 years of service. In the current era of spaceflight, the United States is planning for its next crewed spacecraft Orion and its primary launch vehicle SLS; their first flight is set for 2022 with no crew members onboard followed by a crewed flight in 2023. Orion has been under development since 2004. It was originally planned to be launched atop an Atlas V rocket but has since switched over to being launched by a new SLS rocket under development by NASA as part of its Space Launch System program. The first mission using this new vehicle will be Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) which will send astronauts on a lunar flyby mission before returning them safely back home again via parachute landing system similar to what occurred during the Apollo era. #explorepage #sts #spaceshuttle #nasa #columbia #challenger #discovery #atlantis #endeavour #kennedyspacecenter #stemeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/CfwYMqPuUMc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Hosted a “Story Time From Space” event today at Kate’s camp. The kids learned about the ISS and all of the exciting experiments taking place up there. They also made artwork for the Space for Art Foundation’s BEYOND project. @issnationallab @spaceforartfoundation @iss #iss #space #issnationallab #astronauts #spacestation #science #stem @nasa #nasa https://www.instagram.com/p/CDCKwFKnIG3/?igshid=116ibjl2qrlwa

I’m flying! (Image credit: NASA/JPL/Johnathan Brackett) . . . . . #nasa #jpl #mars #perseverance #ingenuity #mars2020 #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/CN2vTpRjGVd/?igshid=1nw6vdmuy9nmj